Akame ga Kiru/アカメが斬る 1. Chapter 1

Akame ga Kill: Plan B

**Author's note: Thank you to those who read my other fanfic Akame ga School, I really appreciate everyone who read, fav, followed, and reviewed it and I will update it soon. I have had school finals so I have not had time to write a lot. I've had the idea for this story for a while and the way to write it came to me earlier this week so it's one of those things that I just had to write down when it was fresh in my head. I hope you enjoy it and again for those who read my other story, thank you, and I will update it soon.**

**Story:** This story takes place in the same universe as the manga and will have all the same events in the manga happen till after Chapter 38. The story will branch off from the original path as Night Raid and Tatsumi will take a different path that will affect the events of the future. **Spoiler Alert: If you are not caught up to this point in the manga and do not want to get spoiled you should not read it as some of the events that happened before, during, and after chapter 38 could be brought up in the course of this story.**

Disclaimer: the usual stuff, I do not own Akame ga Kill.

The plan for Night Raid to assassinate Borick the second in command of the Path of Peace was underway. Borick who was actually under the control of the Empire was under orders from the Prime Minister to get into the a leadership position within the Path of Peace and to one day when the time was right kill the current leader and gain control of the group in order to use its power and influence that had potential to threaten the Empire and instead use it to further their control and power over the people.

All of Night Raid knew that this would be no walk in the park because with this job their greatest threat would be in front of them, the Jaegers and their leader Esdese. The Jaegers were under orders to protect Borick from Night Raid as they knew that he would be the next target for Night Raid given his importance of gaining control of the Path of Peace and therefore its power over the people. Even though they knew the dangers of this mission it could not be ignored no matter who or what the dangers as the Revolutionary Army needed the Path to Peace to help further the rebellion into its final stages as the Revolutionary Army was about to mobilize. Once mobilized they required the Path of Peace with its thousands upon thousands of followers to rise up with them against the oppression of the Empire and Capital, but in order to do this Borick had to be killed so as not to gain control of the organization and quiet the talks of rebellion that its people spoke of. So no matter what the odds, Night Raid had to not only take the mission but be successful at all cost if the next phase of the revolution was to start.

The plan was relatively simple in design but was not that easy to execute. One team made up of Najenda, Leone, Susanoo, and Tatsumi would assault the church from the ground and fight the enemies that lied in the church while Mine, Lubbock, and Akame came from the skies to distract and split up the enemy's numbers in order to help the inside team success rate go up. In the best case scenario they would also be able to defeat the enemies that would come to intercept them and rejoin the main group to assist them in the assassination of Borick and at the same time flank the enemy and also provide an escape route for everyone. However Night Raid did not put all their eggs in this basket as it would most likely take a while to defeat the enemies on the outside because more than likely some Jaeger members would be sent to deal with them and Teigu other Teigu users were not easy to defeat, especially those of the Jaegers. So the main plan called for Tatsumi to use his Incursio's invisibility while masking his presence to assassinate Borick undetected while Najenda, Su, and Leone distracted the remaining enemy in the church.

This plan was in affect at the moment but it would be difficult as the primary person guarding Borick was none other than Esdese herself. Najenda knew that this would most likely be the case and that even with all of Night Raids' power combined they had a very slim chance for success and that death for herself and her team could be a very likely outcome.

As they entered the church Najenda's and Esdese's eyes met for the first time since Najenda left the empire but not before Esdese took her right arm and right eye. They began to exchange words with each other after their long awaited reunion.

"It's been a while hasn't Najenda," Esdese said greeting her former general.

"Yeah it has," Najenda replied.

"You went through the trouble of coming here, so I'll treat you with my Teigu." Esdese drew her rapier and continued, "And let's catch up afterwards in the torture chamber," Esdese finished with a sadistic tone and smile.

Najenda simply responded with, "I'll pass; I don't really want to talk to you."

"You're so cold, I even prepared a trump card for you," Esdese said as she pointed her blade at Najenda.

Najenda looked surprised, "I thought that you Teigu, Demon Extract, had no such thing as a trump card."

Esdese replied with a satisfied look on her face, "That's right, that's why I invented it on my own. Isn't it amazing?"

"Did she just want to brag," commented Susanoo.

"A trump card isn't something you invent on your own, is it?" finished Leone

"That's just like Esdese, breaking the limits," Najenda said not looking all to surprise at her former colleges remark.

"But then again, it's a technique that uses a significant amount of energy. I won't use it unless I have to." Esdese said before she thought to herself, "_I look forward to the fight that forces me to use it_."

Najenda then looked around to analyze the situation, "_Akame's group still isn't here, so we'll go on the offensive and divert Esdese's attention._"

And just as planned Tatsumi who was already stealth began to go towards Borick to finish the mission, but while Esdese was in front preparing to fight with Night Raid, Kurome was also in the church close to Borick to add extra difficulty and protection.

"Kurome, focus on guarding Borick, we never know where their other members will strike from," Esdese said as she prepared for the fight.

"Roger," Kurome responded as she thought, "_If it's my sister, she'll definitely do something_."

All Tatsumi could think to himself was, "_I have to be patient. My role is to strike down Borick in the midst of the commotion; I have to focus on that!_"

"NIGHT RAID, SHALL WE BEGIN!" Esdese screamed as she summoned a huge block of ice in the sky and hurled it at Najenda, Susanoo, and Leone.

Susanoo immediately jumped at the block of ice and crushed it into dust with his immense power. But Esdese was far from done as she then began to throw sharp icicles at her opponents. Susanoo got between the icicles and his team and either reflected or took the icicles into his body. Any normal person would be dead or severally wounded from such an act, but Susanoo was no ordinary person, he was a biological teigu that couldn't be killed unless his core was destroyed.

"So you're the biological teigu from the reports, huh?" Esdese said as she prepared another wave of icicles, "This is getting more interesting by the second!"

Esdese shot the next wave of icicles, but this time Susanoo, Najenda, and Leone had no intention of standing still and taking this wave as they all leapt forward dodging the attack and preparing to go on the offensive. But Esdese was not the strongest in the Empire for nothing, as Susanoo attacked first but was stopped as Esdese yelled, "I skewer you!" and put a giant ice spike through Susanoo's stomach. Leone then tried to use this chance to attack Esdese from the back but with almost god like speed Esdese dodged her attack and put her rapier through Leone's back. Najenda then shot her mechanical arm at Esdese but it was dodged with ease as both Leone and Susanoo fell back to Najenda's position. Two of Night Raids members took heavy damage and would be dead if not for Susanoo being a teigu and Leone having regenerative abilities, but because of this attack Tatsumi was able to get ever closer to Borick.

"I've found some interesting specimens, I'll capture you all," Esdese said as she continued her attack. She sent out a huge trail of ice spikes toward her opponents, they dodged but using her insane speed got behind Najenda and stuck her in the back of the neck into the ground. Leone tried to help Najenda but was instantly kicked in the back and was smashed into the ground. Susanoo attacked from behind but before he knew it Esdese hand was on his face.

"Freeze," Esdese said and in a blink of an eye Susanoo was encased in a huge block of ice, "Capture complete."

Leone looked on with terror as Esdese turned to her and said, "Your recovery powers are very interesting, does the recovery rate differ depending on the part of the body? Let's test it out."

Esdese sadistic side showed as she began stabbing Leone testing her regenerative abilities. Leone began to scream out in pain as the general kept gouging out body parts while out the same time her body began to recover.

Tatsumi and Najenda looked at this in horror. Tatsumi was about to attack out of sheer rage and blow his cover, but then he looked over to his boss Najenda as she gave a sign that signaled to Tatsumi a backup plan, a plan B, a last resort that Night Raid had planned should the operation go in a bad direction like what was happening now. Tatsumi regained his composer before he let out any more killing aura that Esdese would've picked up on from her years of experience and would allow her to acquire his location and blow the mission all together. Tatsumi gritted his teeth and began to move into position and begin the plan B that Night Raid had planned the night before the mission.

**Flashback**

"So that's the mission I have planned" Najenda said to her team as they were around a table looking at blueprints of the church and its surrounding areas. "Does anyone have any questions?"

Everyone in the room responded with a, "No."

"Good, then I would like to add one more thing, a backup plan should things go south," Najenda said.

The other of members of Night Raid looked at each other in surprise as it was not like their boss to leave out information like this till the end, but they all looked at her to receive further instruction.

"To be honest I would like to avoid this plan and not even bring it up, but under the circumstances it has to be done." Najenda continued, "As you know the Jaegers will almost definitely be present trying to stop us on this mission. That also means their leader Esdese will be there as well. I am not going to lie to you in saying that even if we all attacked her at once with our full power would we be able to defeat her even is Akame used her teigu."

All of Night Raid looked frustrated as other than Tatsumi and Najenda none of them had experienced her true power first hand. They also knew of Najenda's past with her former general ally and out of anyone she knew her the best and was not lying when she said what she said.

"Even when I was still a general for the Empire and worked with her could I find or see any kind of weakness, and now I have gotten weaker and she has gotten even stronger. So I'll ask you all if you can think of any way of defeating her in her present condition?"

Everyone began thinking, Akame then said, "All I need to do is to get one cut on her and it will be over," as she thrust out Murasame the blade that could kill any living thing with one cut.

"I am not underestimating your abilities Akame, but as I said even with you present I do not believe we could even get close to killing her…that's just how powerful she is," Najenda said

Everyone looked disheartened as that seemed like the only reliable way to win against an opponent of Esdese's magnitude.

"What about you Tatsumi you have spent time with her during your capture, any ideas?" the boss asked her subordinate.

This was a question Tatsumi has thought about before as he too had experienced Esdese's power back when they were sent to the deserted island. However, back then and still now could he think of any possible way to defeat her.

"No, I'm sorry boss but it is as you say she has no apparent weakness," Tatsumi said as he clenched his fist in anger at his uselessness.

"That's okay Tatsumi she is a frightening opponent you shouldn't blame yourself for not being able to find anything," she said to Tatsumi as she could noticeably see the frustration he had in his eyes. "But I believe I have recently come up with something that we could use as a weakness, however I would prefer if we never have to use it."

"What is it boss," Tatsumi was the first to comment what everyone wanted to ask, "We'll do anything we can."

"I'm glad to hear that from you Tatsumi because the thing I was thinking of using was you," Najenda responded to the young boy.

Tatsumi looked surprised, "Me, what can I do?"

Najenda began to explain to him, "Tatsumi, from your reports and from what you told everyone about you interaction with Esdese has led me to believe that she has genuine love and concern for you. Sure she has always been kind to her subordinates before but with you she seems to care well beyond anyone else. I have never seen these kinds of reactions from her before and I think we could use these feelings against her. It is the first sign of weakness she has shown and it might be her only."

Tatsumi looked at her boss with almost a blank look of not knowing what to say. He agreed with her in that she probably did love and care for him but how could they use that in a battle. He thought to himself, "_Does she want me to reveal to her that he was inside Incursio and throw her for a loop? Would that even work for someone as battle hardened like her?_"

"I'm sorry to ask this of you but should the mission turn sour I want you to get into a position behind Susanoo or I using your invisibility when I give a certain signal and then when the moment is right I want you to act as a hostage."

Everyone looked surprise but none more than Tatsumi. He could only respond with, "Would a hostage even work against someone like Esdese? You should know better than anyone how heartless she can be boss."

"I know, but I have never seen her show such compassion for anyone, this is probably the first time she has experienced the emotion of love and it might be something we can exploit given the right opportunity."

"But…" Tatsumi said as he was lost deep in thought.

"Look I only want to do this as a last resort, I don't have a 100% guarantee that it will even work but this plan could mean life and death for your fellow comrades. I'm not going to force you but I would like to know that if I call upon you to do this this that you will do it with no questions ask and without hesitation" Najenda said staring directly at Tatsumi, "Can you do that for your allies and me?"

Tatsumi looked around the table at the different faces of his friends. He didn't know what to do because he did not want to go back with Esdese and leave his friends again, but he didn't want any more of his friends to die either. Seeing this as the only option Tatsumi put his head up with determination and said, "Alright I'll do it!"

"Good," Najenda responded, "Now if you are to be captured again due to circumstances I want you to stay with the Jaegers and not try to escape this time."

"What?!" Tatsumi responded back.

"If you are captured again I find it difficult to believe that Esdese would let you go a third time if she is really in love with you as much as we think. Therefore I want you to act as a full time double agent in order to find out even more information and gain more trust from the Jaegers and the Empire. We will then try to establish contact with you so you could relay the information we receive to the Revolutionary Army which could prove invaluable to the revolutions success," Najenda explained in her leadership tone.

"But Boss, who knows what Esdese will do to him if she gets a hold of him again, he barely got away last time unscathed," Mine replied with concern for her comrade. While she was scared for him as a friend she was more scared of him being seduced again as she had just realized her own felling of love for him after she had saved her life. She knew it was selfish but nonetheless it bothered her.

"I agree, I don't like the idea of him being with her at all," Leone chimed in.

"Me too Boss it to dangerous and there is no guarantee of success," Akame said voicing her concern about the plan.

"ENOUGH!" Najenda shouted, "I know it's dangerous and selfish to ask of Tatsumi to take on such a burden but it might very well be the only way we can win this war!"

Everyone went silent from their leader's outburst.

"Tatsumi I know it's asking a lot and I don't know what will happen to you. I'm sorry but will you accept this selfish request of mine?" His own boss said as she bowed his head.

"Boss…" Mine started talking but was interrupted.

"It's okay Mine," Tatsumi said, "Thank you everyone for your concern, but if I can sacrifice myself to ensure you guys lives and help change this country, then I will do whatever I can to do that." His determination apparent in his voice his friends all gave a wary smile in acceptance not wanting to throw away their comrades commitment to the cause.

"Thank you Tatsumi, I promise I'll only use this plan in a life or death situation," his boss reassured him. "Now then…" Najenda began to explain everyone's role need the situations arrive.

Tatsumi again clenched his fist and thought, "_I really don't want to have to do this, but I won't let any more people die and I will change this corrupted country!_"

**Present Time**

Tatsumi saw the signal and felt anger not so much that he had to do the plan but for the situation coming up in which they had no choice. While Esdese was distracted with Leone he swiftly got behind Najenda and patted her on the back to showing her that he was getting in position. Tatsumi then left the church through the giant hole they broke through to get in. He undid Incursio and hid behind the wall of the church near the makeshift entrance. He then found the rope they brought with them for this occasion and he tied his arms up to make it appear like he was really their hostage. He then smacked his head into the wall so he would bleed and appear to have been roughed up by his capturers. He was all set on his side and waited for his comrades to finish the rest.

"Esdese!" Najenda shouted at her enemy, "You better stop what you are doing or you'll regret it!"

"Oh?" Esdese responded with an amused tone as she left the blond hair women alone to turn towards Najenda.

Leone was alive but breathing heavily, even with her regenerative abilities the amount of stress and damage she felt from Esdese's inspection was taking its toll on her.

"And who are you to be demanding things from me? From my point of view you should be begging for your life," Esdese said laughing.

"We will see about that," Najenda said before she shouted, "Magatama Manifestation!"

Instantly the block of ice that Susanoo was in exploded and emerged a new Susanoo with white hair and a giant wheel on his back. This was his trump card that gave him great power but at the price of his master's own life force.

"Susanoo it's time for the backup plan!" Najenda shouted.

Knowing exactly what to do Susanoo followed his master's orders and quickly went to get Tatsumi.

Esdese looked surprised but was confused when the biological teigu ran towards the exit. "So this is your trump card, but it looks like your own teigu is running away. It doesn't matter though even if it boosted your teigu's strength you are still no match for me."

Najenda stood up and said, "You are probably right but this isn't my only trump card to play."

As soon as she said that Susanoo returned now between his master and Esdese with a new "package".

"I think this though might belong to you and I would hate it if I couldn't return it" Najenda said as she pointed back to their "hostage".

Esdese immediately gasped as she was reunited with the person she cared the most for in this world. However she never imagined that they would meet again under circumstances like these.

"TATSUMI!" Esdese shouted at the top of her lungs. She was a furry of emotions as happiness, sadness, and rage swirled together upon seeing her lover for the first time in months.

Tatsumi said in a weak tone to appear to be weakened by the "enemies", "Esdese I'm sorry."

"It's alright Tatsumi I promise I will get you out of here," she said in a caring but scared voice. "You bitch, what did you do to him?"

Najenda put on an evil smile trying her best to look like the bad guy, "You see ever since your little show at the tournament where you knocked this kid out, we in Night Raid knew that he wasn't your average subordinate to you. So we began to monitor you and him to exploit any weakness he might bring out of you. We got lucky when we were observing you two on the top of that mountain. We were surprised when you disappeared but when this guy came out of that weird light without you, we took that chance and kidnapped him. I know you better than anyone so I know you have no weakness…that's until today, you let your guard down with this one I'm afraid."

Esdese eyes were now pointed at Najenda with pure rage. Never in her life had she experienced such anger, not even when her entire tribe died along with her father, never. She began to grit her teeth; the sheer aura she unleashed from this anger was more frightening than any danger beast would ever be. Even though Najenda was afraid she kept on her stage mask to sell the hostage situation as best she could.

Kurome was also in shock as she saw her "comrade" in the hands of the enemy, though she was confused at the dialogue that was going on between the general and formal general. Borick was also in shock as he didn't know what to make of the situation and only really feared for his life.

"Now if you don't want anything to happen to the boy I suggest you let us kill that scumbag your protecting and then we will be on our way," Najenda said making the demand to Esdese.

Esdese for a moment was considering it as she cared little for this guard duty and the person she was guarding but then realized the most important thing…her trump card. She had boasted about it at the beginning of the fight and now was the perfect time to use it.

"I'll say it again Najenda," she said brining her hands up to her tattoo, "you are in no position to be demanding anything from me. Everything freezes before me," she said before parting her hands from her tattoo and screaming, "Mahapadma!"

Everything stopped, literally stop and was frozen in motion. Esdese had frozen time and space no one moved, talked, or even breathed.

She then said, "I have frozen time and space with my powers," she then turned to the frozen Najenda, "This was actually perfect as I had created this power so Tatsumi could never escape again, saving him with it is even better though." She walked over to the biological teigu and stabbed him and then froze the lower half of his body. She then took Tatsumi carefully into his arms and with a sigh of relief said, "Thank goodness". She then went back to her original position, undid the bindings around Tatsumi's arms, and set him on the wall of the stage in the front of the church where Borick and Kurome were atop of. She had wanted to stab Najenda as well in this frozen space but the time limit of her trump card was almost over and she prioritized Tatsumi's safety above all else. She then kissed the boy on the forehead and said to him, "You're safe now, don't worry I won't let anything happen to you ever again." Time then started back up and everyone "awoke" in confusion.

"What the hell?" Najenda said as she came to, to realize that Susanoo was stabbed in the chest and half frozen and Tatsumi was behind Esdese.

Tatsumi was equally confused as his capturers had switched places and he was now by Esdese's side and saw his comrades in disarray. He then stared up at Esdese in confusion, she returned his gaze with caring eyes and in an equally caring tone and smile said, "Everything is alright now Tatsumi."

But Tatsumi knew that everything was not alright as he realized the just of what had happened. Not knowing how she did it only that she had succeeded in recapturing him without his friends getting anything from it. The point of his capture was so his friends could kill Borick and escape safely, but now they were in an even worse situation.

Najenda snapped out of her daze yelling, "Susanoo!"

Susanoo replied, "Right," but before he could get out of the ice's hold Esdese came and smacked his core right out of his body and his physical form vanished.

Esdese then started in the most predatory gaze at Najenda that even made her sweat in fear before saying, "Now Najenda, I'll be taking you to the torture chamber and you'll experience what you did to Tatsumi a million times over before I kill you slowly."

She began walking towards Najenda but then and explosion occurred from the roof. From the hole created appeared Mine and Akame. Once they landed Akame immediately analyzed the situation and saw that the mission was in its backup plan. She then rushed towards Borick to kill him. Kurome tried to stop her but she was forced out of the way.

Esdese screamed, "No you don't!" as she threw icicles at Akame but they were intercepted by Mine's Pumpkin blast.

Akame then had enough time to cut Borick's throat ensuring the kill she then turned to Tatsumi and then Najenda. The look from both of them told her to leave Tatsumi and focus on escaping. She ran for the exit with Mine and Esdese was about to intercept them when Najenda screamed, "the third Magatama Manifestation!"

Susanoo's core exploded with light as he returned to physical form. In an instant he knew the situation and formed and swung his giant sword towards Esdese. Mine and Akame ducked under it and Esdese was forced to block. He then looked at Tatsumi; Susanoo wanted to save him but was stopped by Tatsumi's action. Tatsumi put his fist into the air towards Susanoo, which was a sign of their friendship and training. Susanoo instantly knew from this and his eyes that he wanted him to take everyone and run.

Susanoo did just that he ran along with Akame and Mine to the exit, he picked up Leone as she said, "Guys get my arm too." Akame picked it up and followed her friends out. Mine was laying down a huge barrage of cover fire as to stop Esdese from advancing. Susanoo then grabbed his master in his other arm and shouted and Mine and Akame to grab unto his back. He then jumped and launched himself into the air towards the hole in the celling.

Esdese then shouted, "Not so fast!" as she threw a huge amount of ice at Night Raid.

Susanoo shouted back, "Yata no Kagami!" Out of nowhere a huge mirror got in between the ice and him. The mirror not only blocked the attack but also reflected back at its user. In response Esdese had to put up a wall of ice to block the ice heading her way.

Then Night Raid was out of sight and had escaped but at a cost. They had to leave Tatsumi behind, Leone was badly hurt, and Najenda had used the third Magatama Manifestation which endangered her life.

Esdese looked up at the celling in anger and said, "Mission failure". But this anger was short lived as she looked back to see that Tatsumi was alright. At that moment she could care less that Borick was dead and that Night Raid had escaped as the person she cherished most in this world had returned to her and for the most part was alright. She then ran towards Tatsumi and embraced him in a hug. She held him tighter that she had ever held him before and had no intention of letting go anytime soon.

Tatsumi looked at her as a wave of emotions hit him. He was happy that all his friends got away and that the mission was a success, but he also realized that he was back in Esdese's grasp. He didn't know what to say so all he could to was say, "Sorry".

Esdese loosened her grip and looked him in the eyes and said, "It's alright now, all that matters is you're safe and back with me. I'm so sorry that this happened, if I had known that Night Raid got a hold of you I would have hunted them down sooner and taken them all to the torture chambers. I'm just glad you're safe Tatsumi, I have missed you so much and I promise that nothing will happen to you again and I will protect you from all harm…I love you so much," she finished as she planted another kiss on his forehead.

Tatsumi just stood there and stared blankly knowing that his future was uncertain and a new chapter in the war was about to begin. A lone tear fell from his eye and all he could say was…

"Thanks"

**End notes: Hope you enjoyed this story fell free to review, fav, and follow. Also I'm looking to change the title, I'm not crazy about the name Plan B, so I'll be thinking of new ideas for a name I would like to hear suggestions for it. Thanks for reading.**


	2. Chapter 2

Akame ga Kill: Plan B

Chapter 2: Tatsumi's Return

**Author's Notes: Thanks for the support and the reviews here is the next chapter. Next I will be updating Akame ga School so thanks for the wait. Hope you enjoy!**

It had only been minutes after the end of the fight between Night Raid and Esdese. In this fight while no Jaeger or Night Raid members died, Borick was assassinated so Night Raid's mission was an overall success. This was good for them but they had to use their backup plan which involved Tatsumi as a surprise hostage. However it did not work as intended as they did not anticipate Esdese's new trump card being able to stop time. Because of this she got Tatsumi back for free. If it weren't for Akame and Mine coming in when they did the mission would have been an all-around failure and they might have all died. Najenda was also was in bad shape as she used her trump card for Susanoo a third time which put her life in danger, in fact in should've of killed her and the fact that she was still alive was a miracle. Night Raid had escaped and was moving towards their escape route but they were now a member down and they were beat up.

The Jaeger side was looking far better at the end of this battle. Esdese was as happy as one could be because she had gotten Tatsumi back. Kurome was still feeling the effects of the attack of Night Raid's assassin Chelsea and was handicapped and didn't contribute anything to the fight, she had even met her sister again but was unable to do anything do to her injury, nonetheless she was alive. Run and Wave were a part of the team that intercepted Night Raid on the outside of the church. During Night Raid's assault on an air manta ray danger beast, this team's objective was to flank the church from the air, Run had managed to ground the beast but received a blast from Mine's Pumpkin. It only grazed him but left him unfit for battle and had Wave take care of the rest. Wave fought Lubbock, Mine, and Akame with great power in order to protect his friends but due to Lubbock faking his own death again and a large blast from Pumpkin sent him again flying through the air and if not for his Grand Chariot he would have died from the impact with the ground. Both Jaeger members were hurt but when they saw the multiple explosions from the church they rushed back to assist their team.

On a path just outside leading to the church Wave and Run met up running. As soon as Wave met up with Run he spoke, "Do you think everyone is alright?" Wave's expression was one of worry as again he was sent flying without being able to do much in the mission.

Run commented in the calm manner he always had, "I'm sure they are fine, but we need to hurry and back them up."

"Right," Wave said.

They saw the giant hole that Night Raid had created and rushed through it to confirm the safety of their comrades. When Wave busted through the door he shouted, "Captain, Kurome, are you two okay?!" Once he saw that the two seemed to be okay and scanned the area to see that there was no sign of the enemy he let out a sigh of relief. But then the sigh became a surprised, "EH?" as he looked at his captain holding a familiar face. Run also shared in Wave's surprise as they both simultaneously said, "Tatsumi?"

Kurome and Esdese both turned to the two who entered the church. Esdese still refused to let go of Tatsumi but along with Kurome had a smile of satisfaction as they both saw their fellow teammates alive and well. It was silent for a while as everyone was trying to analyze the situation.

Wave broke the silence as he asked, "What the hell are you doing here Tatsumi?" He was happy to see what he considered to be a friend but was confused and surprise that he was here and he was also a little mad because the last time he saw Tatsumi he had ran away and because it was on Wave's watch he got punished be Esdese, this thought still gave Wave shivers.

This question snapped Tatsumi out of his daze which he was in because he was thinking about the series of events that took place in such a shot amount of time. He began to respond but had to be careful in how he did it because he was now to be a double agent and had to be sure they all trusted him, "Well you see…" he was then cut off as Esdese grip tightened around him and she began to speak.

"Those Night Raid bastards had him as a hostage; thank God I was able to save him. They knew of him being a member of the Jaeger and that he was my lover and tried to use it against me. So help me the next time I see them, I'll personally deal with each one of their tortures," Esdese said in a very authoritative tone.

Wave's face of surprise turned into one of anger. His anger towards Night Raid had grown a lot recently as they had already killed three of his friends and have injured Kurome severely. Know he finds out that they had kidnapped another of his fellow Jaeger member, his friend, and were using him as a hostage against his captain who had great feelings for. He simply blurted out what he was thinking in his rage, "Unforgivable!"

Tatsumi felt strange for obvious reasons but most of all because of how the plan was going. When he and Najenda were talking of this plan he had realized how realistic it sounded. A group of revolutionist capturing a person of great importance of a high ranking general to use against her was something that could easily happen. Not to mention adding the history of Najenda and Esdese as Najenda would use any means necessary to take down Esdese. But talking about it and actually living it were two different things. Tatsumi simply tried his best to keep up the act, he didn't want to but he knew he had to. If the person he called brother, Bulat, was still alive he would've told Tatsumi to keep his cool and finish the mission to make his brother proud. He had to be the perfect double agent and get as much information for the Revolutionary Army so they could turn the tides of war to their favor and so his friends in Night Raid could be successful in changing this corrupted world.

Run then chimed in, "I am certainly glad to see you are okay Tatsumi," he then turned to see the corpse of Borick, "but it seems like the overall mission was a failure."

Everyone else turned to corpse and then Esdese said, "Yes, even if their plan of using Tatsumi was unforgivable and childish they still managed to by enough time and distraction with his capture to allow them to finish off Borick. There is no one to blame but myself for this failure."

"That's not true captain," Wave said, "If they haven't used such a cowardly method and if only I had defeated the enemies outside this wouldn't have happened." Wave cursed himself as he thought he was again completely useless.

Run and Kurome were about to speak telling their captain their own shortcomings but did not get the chance to as Esdese replied, "No Wave no matter what failures my subordinates have in the end as your leader and general the responsibility of the mission success or failure falls on me. None of you should blame yourselves, you all fought well and are alive and that is all I can ask. We simply were outplayed this time around, but I assure you next time Night Raid will not escape and I will make them pay for all they have done to your teammates and my Tatsumi."

The Jaegers were all lifted up by this speech and they knew that their captain's words would ring true. Even Tatsumi was impressed as he saw firsthand what Najenda said about Esdese caring for her subordinates and realized how great a leader she actually was, it was just another thing that made her so great but also made her scarier.

"Now," Esdese said, "we will return to the capital and get some rest. No doubt that Night Raid and the Revolutionary Army will plan something big after this victory so we must also prepare to stop them dead in their tracks."

All the Jaegers responded with a, "Roger!" Tatsumi just remained silent as he watched them head towards the exit.

At this time Esdese released her grip on Tatsumi and before grapping one of his hands and began heading for the exit. She then turned around to look at Tatsumi with a smile and voice that no one but him would ever see and said, "Let's go home."

The word "home" hit Tatsumi as he realized something the fact that he wouldn't be able to go to his home to Night Raid. Due to the events that have transpired he now realized that he would not be able to see his friends and his home at Night Raid again for quite some time. He would have to get to his new home with the Jaegers in the capital as it would be where he would be staying for the foreseeable future.

Once they gathered the supplies they took into the city they began to depart for the capital. It was already late and the journey back would a while so they were to arrive back at the palace late at night. Everyone was very tired so instead of riding horses back to the capital they elected to take a carriage.

The Jaegers used this time to rest and relax from the long days of battle. Tatsumi was seated right next to Esdese which during the course of the carriage ride never let go of his hand. This got him embarrassed as she had always been clingy and obsessive with him but in front of everyone like this was far worse. He tried to ignore it as the others talked about very casual things. Kurome like her sister was quiet and most of the time sat in her seat and ate her snakes only talking in short sentences when she was asked a question. Run would comment on things every once in a while but usually would be staring out the carriage's window or reading his book which he always seemed to have on him. Wave was doing most of the talking as he was trying to lighten the mood. Tatsumi would only every respond if he was asked a question. Luckily they didn't ask them about his "capture" or time with Night Raid, because at this moment he didn't want to talk about it, but instead Wave was catching up and trying to learn more about Tatsumi as their previous time together was short. Like Wave had said before the two boys were very similar and Wave thought they should get along.

For the first two hours or so Tatsumi went back and forth with Wave however like the others he was tired. Maybe he wasn't as physically tired as them but emotionally he was exhausted. Time began to feel slower and the sound around him began to grow more and quieter. He wanted nothing more than to past out, he didn't even care that he was in a carriage full of his enemies. His eyelids became heavy and moments later he just passed out.

The carriage then got very bumpy for a short period of time. Tatsumi's lose body began to move with the bumps, twists, and turns. Eventually a violent turn caused Tatsumi's sleeping body to land on Esdese's shoulder. This caused her to turn towards the boy and see his sleeping face. He looked so innocent and peaceful as he slept, one would not know that he was just a part of a battle. Seeing this face surprised Esdese and made her blush a bright red across her face as Tatsumi's innocent face was perhaps her favorite thing about him. The other Jaegers were also surprised, not at Tatsumi, but rather their captain. Sure they had seen her be all lovey-dovey with Tatsumi before, but they had never seen her blush quite as fierce before. It made them all realize again that their demon of a general was actually a girl all the same, who was very much infatuated with this boy next to her.

Esdese fixed Tatsumi in a more comfortable spot on her shoulder and then gave out a pleasant sigh. She then laid her head atop of his and closed her eyes, to her this was perhaps the greatest feeling in the world and no amount of torture or violence could compare to the touch of her Tatsumi. The other Jaegers smiled at this, as seeing their captain so happy made them happy.

Tatsumi then grumbled something in his sleep, "No Esdese…stop doing that." This made Esdese blush even more as knowing that Tatsumi was dreaming about her be it good or bad made her extremely happy. She let out a chuckle that infected the rest of the Jaegers as they found it funny and probably knew that it wasn't necessarily a good dream and was most likely a dream about the clingy side of Esdese. The carriage fell silent again and the young boy would not wake up until morning.

**The next morning **

Tatsumi awoke, but not in his usual bed in Night Raids base. Though the bed he woke up on wasn't an unfamiliar one, no he had been in this exact spot before. He was facing a window in a room which let out a small amount of the sun's light which awoke him. At first he was confused, he pondered for a second what had happened and then the events of yesterday came back to his mind. He then felt a soft breath on the back on his neck and heard the soft snore of its source, Esdese. He then realized that yesterday was not a dream but reality.

He had defiantly been in this bed before but also in this very position, a body pillow for the Empire's Strongest. It was a little different though this time as he was much closer and the grip was tighter. It was actually a pretty impressive grip as it wasn't so tight that it would choke him but it was tight enough that he could not move yet alone escape without waking her.

He turned very slowly to see the person who was using him as her body pillow. He shouldn't have done this as it made him all the more embarrassed. The first thing he saw was Esdese's impressive cleavage that was only being held up by a very loose shirt. He then saw her face with her pure white skin, long eyelashes, and luscious lips. Tatsumi was no fool and he knew Esdese was one of the most in not the most attractive women he had ever seen. This was the source of his embarrassment though as he thought how a women such like this could ever fall for a country bumpkin like himself. All he knew about why she loved him so much is the fact he met all the requirements on her list of preferences for her lover. In fact Tatsumi was probably the only one in the entire world that fit these requirements and what are the odds that they would be on enemy factions of a war.

Tatsumi jerked slightly which put him in a worse situation as Esdese brought him closer to her. Tatsumi really started to heat up as now his face was put right in between Esdese's breast. Tatsumi was now redder than a tomato and didn't know whether to curse or thank god for his situation. Just when Tatsumi thought this problem couldn't get any worse a strand of Esdese's hair brushed against his cheek and nose. It tickled his nose and he then sneezed and all he could do is scream internally, "_Shit!_" When he reopened his eyes his worst fear was realized as a pair of bright sapphire eyes stared seductively at him.

"Good morning Tatsumi," Esdese said in an unnatural cute voice, "I trust you slept well."

"Um yeah I guess so," was all the response he could give.

Esdese then was on all fours on top of him only a few inches from his body as she continued to stare at him intensely. This was starting to make Tatsumi very uncomfortable and nervous of what was about to happen. The expression on Tatsumi's face made Esdese's smile go wider and finally Tatsumi had to say something.

"What is there something on my face or something?"

Esdese chuckled and responded, "No, just your cute face is all. I was just trying to decide if I like you're sleeping or awake face more."

All Tatsumi could do is stare back with a huge blush and all he could think was how good she was at making him uncomfortable. He then responded with, "Well what's the difference?"

"Well," Esdese said, "I think I like your sleeping face better."

"And whys that?" Tatsumi said.

"Well because last night you said my name in your sleep, it was quite cute," Esdese said this with the biggest blush she had ever seen her had.

Tatsumi then thought, "_Crap, did I really do that, knowing Esdese she'll take it way out of proportion_."

"Tell me Tatsumi what you were dreaming about?" she said as she began to move her hand up his leg.

Tatsumi head was beginning to run wild as he knew he couldn't take much more of this. "I don't remember it was probably nothing."

Esdese's hand then reached under his shirt and began stroking his chest. "Well then maybe I should help you remember or at least know why you'll be saying it next time," she said with the most perverted grin imaginable.

She began to lean in for a kiss and all Tatsumi could do was to think of a way out of what was about to happen. Then an idea popped into his head.

"SHOWER!" Tatsumi screamed, "I need to use the shower, yeah, since I was captured I haven't really been able to bathe so I really smell." He then used all of his considerable assassin skills to maneuver out of her grasp, off the bed, and ran towards the shower.

"Tch, how many times is he going to use that excuse," she pouted. As she stared at the shower room door she again put on a seductive smile.

Meanwhile in the shower room Tatsumi had started the shower and just sat letting the hot water rinse his body and he hoped his problems away.

"_Now I have to live with Esdese and her advances long term now, I won't be able to avoid her that much longer. I know she won't let me and to be honest I don't know if I will be able to resist for much longer myself. God dammit, how can she be so hot and cute and yet be so evil at the same time?" _Tatsumi thought as he turned his face towards the shower head. He then began to think of his friends at Night Raid. He wanted to know how they we doing and if they were safe. He had seen them escape from the Jaegers but he knew that Leone and Boss were in bad shape. He closed his eyes and just got lost in his thoughts, he didn't ever hear the door to the shower open.

Footsteps approached the young boy and by the time he had heard them it was too late.

He felt a pair of what could only be described as large marshmallows on his back and then a voice saying, "Do you need help washing your back?"

"ESDESE!?" The boy fell and hit his head on the floor in shock. He then looked up to see Esdese's naked form, had it not been for the mist in the room he would've been able to see every detail.

"What, what are you doing in here?!" He screamed as he tried to cover himself.

"Well for one Tatsumi this is my shower," she said with an evil grin on her face, "But I guess it's ours now."

"That's now what I'm asking!"

"Well last time you took a shower I thought it would be a good idea if we got in one together so now seemed like the best time to do so." She was now on all fours crawling seductively towards him.

"Haven't you heard of a little thing as privacy?!" Tatsumi said as he tried to back away from this predator before him.

Esdese chuckled and said, "There is no need for privacy between lovers Tatsumi. Plus I need to check your body to make sure you don't have any injuries from your capture." She began to laugh like a pervert and drool came down her mouth, "Now be a good boy and stay still."

"NOOO! Stay back…NOOOO!" His scream could be heard in the entire palace.

"Stop resisting Tatsumi, this is for your own good!"

After a while the two opened the doors to the common area for the Jaegers where Ran, Kurome, and Wave were already waiting. They turned to see the two enter and saw an interesting sight. Esdese's arm was wrapped around Tatsumi's right arm her head on his shoulder as she sported a huge grin. Tatsumi on the other hand looked like he just went from hell and back and the light in his eyes seemed to have vanished as he sported a face of death itself. The other Jaegers just had a smile of both pity and understanding as they had an idea of what the boy just went through.

Tatsumi had managed to spare himself from going all the way but he felt strange. Even though he had just taken a shower he had never felt dirtier in all his life. He then realized that this was going to be an endeavor in more ways than one.

**Meanwhile in a cabin outside the capital**

It was a lone cabin in the middle of the forest where no one would expect to find. This cabin was a safe house Night Raid used for escape situations. Night Raid was currently using it to lay low for the next few days.

Akame, Leone, Lubbock, and Mine were around a table sitting in silence. Thanks to Leone's teigu her body had returned to normal and had all her body parts intact. The room had a bad aura and someone was waiting for someone to strike up a conversation. Then Susanoo entered the room making everyone stand from their chairs.

"Is Najenda okay?" Lubbock was the first to respond.

"Her condition has stabilized the worst seems to be over." Susanoo said.

Everyone gave a great sigh of relief and began to calm down a bit. Susanoo then said, "But…"

"But what?" Akame said looking at Susanoo.

"While she is okay for the moment I'm afraid some troubles will begin to surface."

"What do you mean Su?" Leone asked.

"Because she used the last two of my trump cards in succession I'm afraid she has drained a significant amount of her life force. I'm afraid she may never recover to her full strength from before the fight. Also she could be bed written for many days if not weeks."

"This sucks," Mine said, "Not only is boss in bad shape but we lost Tatsumi and for what?"

"It wasn't for nothing, we kill Borick and now the people of the Path of Peace will rally to our cause once the revolution begins," Akame said in response.

"Even still we all took a huge beating and we don't even know if we will be able to get Tatsumi back this time," Mine said as she was very noticeable frustrated.

"Yeah but if it hadn't been for him we wouldn't have had the time to escape," Lubbock said.

"Even still!" Mine said

"Everyone we need to calm down fighting will solve nothing," Akame said trying to calm everyone.

Everyone became silent and realized what she said was true.

"Also I have some other troubling news," Susanoo said, "Using the trump card three times should have drained all of my master's life, so it is a miracle she is still alive. But because of this her body is very weak and will probably never fully recover. I would recommend that she not go on any other missions from now on."

The room fell silent again as everyone realized the severity of the situation. No one spoke until they heard a door open; they looked to see their boss enter the room.

"Now don't everyone go writing me off just like that," their boss said in a soft tone as she was leaning against the door in a weaken manor.

"Boss!" Everyone said in union.

"Miss Najenda you should still be resting!" Lubbock said.

"I'm well enough to stand, what is important is that we talk about the next phase of the revolution. Now that we are at this point I can't back down."

"But master your life force is dangerously low you won't be able to perform at any acceptable fighting level. Furthermore if you were to try and use my trump card one more time you will most certainly die," Susanoo said in a concerned tone.

The people of the room heard the word "die" and felt a chill. No one spoke at all and felt a sense of dread. This was the state of the room until the boss spoke up.

"Everyone it's okay, I know how you fell but I will not back down. This world is about to change and I will use all my power to help it change…even if it cost me my life. I would expect no less from any of you since this is the entire reason I created and you all joined Night Raid, or am I wrong?"

Everyone in the room felt the weight of these words and continued to listen.

"I know that you all feel bad for Tatsumi, but because of him we are alive, he has his mission and you all have yours. We all need to be profession and make sure that his sacrifice is not in vain. Now that Borick is dead we can move into the next phase of the revolution. Assassinations will continue as scheduled and we will be ready at a moment's notice to mobilize with the Revolutionary army. This is not to say that we will abandon Tatsumi, as soon as there is a good opportunity we will start a rescue mission but right now we need him to gather information that we can relay to the Revolution Army so that they can be successful in their plans. Now are you going to mope around and feel bad for yourselves and Tatsumi or are you going to help me change this twisted country and rescue your comrade?!"

"Yeah!" the group responded.

"Alright then, we will rest up for the next few days. In the meantime I will try to set up communications with Tatsumi and then we will continue operations."

"Roger!" Everyone responded.

"Good now get some rest and don't worry I'll be joining you," Najenda said felling the effects of her weak body.

At last the next phase of the revolution has started but what will come of this next phase and a possible new world and what will happen to the members of Night Raid and Jaegers? At this point in time no one would know.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3: Tatsumi and Wild Hunt (Part 1)

**Authors Note: Thanks again for reading and I hope you enjoy. I need to edit this in the previous chapters but to answer some peoples question, Tatsumi does not have Incursio, I am going to have him hide it so Night Raid can recover it later and so he isn't found out (this will be edited in). Enjoy. **

It has been two weeks since Tatsumi had "rejoined" the Jaegers and his day was starting off how it usually had the past two weeks that being training with Esdese.

For Esdese it was a dream come true as she was finally able to train Tatsumi as she had originally intended but their last two meetings were cut short and she had only seen a small fragment of Tatsumi's strength and potential.

Tatsumi's opinion of the matter was different however, he thought of it as some kind of punishment as her training was well something only Esdese could do. While he was use to tiring training from Akame and Bulat, Esdese's training was something he feared he could actually die from even if they were only using practice swords. However he wasn't naïve in not taking it seriously as training with the Empire's Strongest was great experience and Tatsumi was the only one in the world that Esdese would personally train one-on-one in her clan's ancient ways.

Tatsumi had been told about Esdese's past and her clan on the secluded island they had winded up on when they were reunited for the second time. She told him that they were hunters of the north and that for them it was killed or be killed and it is where she got her life's motto "The strong live and the weak die". This had explained her personality but it was only fighting with her one-on-one that he realized where her true strength came from.

He also put up with the training not only to grow stronger but also to avoid certain things. Ever since he had returned to her side, Esdese's advances had become more frequent and stronger. This was because Tatsumi had managed to elude her grasp not once but twice, something no one else had been able to do. The first time was because he ran away and the second, she was convinced, was because Night Raid had taken him. This only added to her incredible desire for him because you always want something more if you cannot have it. Tatsumi would try to avoid Esdese when she was in this heat but found it incredibly difficult as her hunting skills were top notch. When he was pinned for the first time he remembered that one of Esdese's main reasons for taking him in was to be her lover and to personally train him to become a general. This is what he used to avoid her lustful grasp as when he was pinned he would say that he wanted to train more and get stronger with her. This had worked so far as while she had lust for Tatsumi she had equal strong feelings for training him and the bloodlust she felt while fighting him subdued her lust. So this was the only strategy Tatsumi had in protecting himself as far as his manhood was concerned but he knew that the more he improved and became stronger from the training the more and more Esdese would crave him which would make it worse for him in the long run but he would have to deal with that bridge when it came.

But this was no time for Tatsumi to be thinking as the training had begun and Esdese began to charge at Tatsumi with blinding speed. Her strength and Teigu were frightening enough and could easily beat any opponent but when you added her speed that rivaled if not exceeded Akame's own speed and reflexes then it was truly shown why she was the Empire's Strongest. Two weeks ago he could not follow her speed when she at all got serious, but now he could follow her with his eyes to an extent but whether or not his body could keep up was still up in the air.

As Esdese closed in on Tatsumi she unleashed a barrage of thrusts from her practice rapier. The thrusts were not as fast as she could go but they were plenty fast to poke holes in almost anyone and it served as a good speed for training. It took all Tatsumi had to either block or avoid these thrusts and even then he knew that she was holding back. However this was an impressive feat in and of itself as the Tatsumi two weeks ago could not even avoid one. This was the main aspect of Tatsumi that attracted Esdese's gaze to him. His nearly infinite potential and the alarming speed at which he could grow and adapt were all things that Esdese hypothesized Tatsumi had but only now truly realized it as she was able to see him grow at an insane rate day by day. This filled Esdese with pure joy as she now truly realized that she had really found the perfect man to be her ideal lover as he was strong, brave, was able to keep up with her rigorous training and in fact seemed to want to do it to grow stronger and it was only an added bonus that he was incredible cute and had a smile that could send her hear a fluttering.

Tatsumi was blocking when all of a sudden the barrage stopped and Esdese was now bellow him as she sent and elbow into his stomach that launched him back a few dozen feet. He was barely able to keep his balance as he gained his footing and looked back up at his attacker only to see her wave her hands to form a wall of icicles out of thin air and sent them his way.

"_Shit!_" Tatsumi thought as they headed towards his body. With incredible reflexes that Tatsumi himself didn't know he had swung his sword with incredible speed and accuracy to cut down all the icicles that were launched at him. This put a big smile on Esdese's face as she once again charged at Tatsumi. This time she came much faster and the barrage of thrust this time started to hit and rip at his body and clothes. Even if was just a practice sword it still hurt like all hell.

Tatsumi began cursing as the pain of metal hitting his flesh. It was at this moment that he began to grow insanely angry, angry at the pain, angry at the situation he was in, angry at the women that was carving him up and most of all angry at this twisted world. Tatsumi's mind just went black as his instincts were now turned to nothing more than fighting. His eyes turned dull like that of a beast and his killing aura could be felt by Esdese. She didn't know if it was his aura or if is she was just excited but she put a final thrust towards Tatsumi's head. As soon as she did this her heart stopped as she knew that even though it was a practice sword the strength of the blow could easily kill or gravely injure Tatsumi.

However Esdese's fears were unrealized as Tatsumi moved his body and head to barley avoid the attack. He shifted his body away from the blade to where he was looking directly at the tip of the sword centimeters from his face. Then he swung his sword at Esdese's head with great precision and speed. This caught Esdese off guard as she had never seen this kind of speed and reflex from Tatsumi before and now his blade came for her head. She was saved by her own reflexes but not before it scratched her face. She didn't have very much time to react as in the next instant Tatsumi brought his sword down to tear off Esdese's right sleeve of her uniform. Esdese jumped away to get some distance and landed about twenty feet away from Tatsumi. She then realized that there was blood oozing from her right cheek and shoulder I'll be it small cuts. She felt it and put her hand in front of her eyes to see the red blood on her fingers. It had been the first time she had seen her own blood since she became a general and it both shocked and excited her. She then turned to Tatsumi who stared back at her with his now dull and beastly eyes. This made her face turn a bright red as Tatsumi's usual bright and cute face now became one of a true warrior and a wild animal on the hunt. Her bloodlust from battle was now fixed with her pure lust for him as these were the eyes she wanted to see him have in battle. The eyes that said they would kill anything weaker than them and the eyes that proved Tatsumi was as much as a warrior and animal of the north as she was.

"You really are the perfect man for me Tatsumi," Esdese said as she launched herself at him.

Even with Tatsumi's newfound speed and reflexes he could not track this movement from her as Esdese was right on top of him and put a kick right into his stomach launching him towards a wall that he violently smashed into. Esdese then snapped her fingers and bound his arms and legs in ice.

From this violent collision Tatsumi snapped back into his normal self as he then became confused as to why he was stuck to a wall. The last minutes of his fight with Esdese were a blur as when he blacked out from anger his mind became blank and moved on instinct alone. He then saw Esdese walk towards him with predatory eyes.

"_Shit what did I do to piss her off so much?_"

She then leaned on Tatsumi and propped his chin up to meet her at eye level. Tatsumi began to cringe as he thought pain was coming his way but instead Esdese's lips meet his. This kiss was more violent and passionate than any in the past and it made Tatsumi's mind and heart run at a million mile an hour. Esdese's tongue probed every crevice of Tatsumi's mouth and in doing so made her heat up. She had never felt such passion before, not in the battle field and not in the torture chamber. This feeling was similar to that of when she first saw Tatsumi in the tournament but amplified a million times more. For the first time in years someone had actually managed to lay a blow on her and it came at the hand of her lover. It gave her nothing but pride and lust for the young boy as it just cemented the fact of what she thought that Tatsumi was put on this earth to be hers.

After about a minute long kiss she parted their lips as a trail of saliva still connected their tongues and they both breathed heavily out of breath. Tatsumi just stared back into Esdese's eyes as she stared back with passion.

"That was fantastic Tatsumi you're growing at an incredible rate. I cannot remember the last time someone had landed a blow on me, as aspect Tatsumi, we really are meant for each other," she said as she rubbed the young boy's cheek.

She then leaned in right next to Tatsumi's ear and said in a seductive tone, "How about we go to our room for some additional practice?"

Tatsumi could surmise what she meant by this and began to panic, "Um well you see I'm really tired from the training and I haven't been sleeping well". He then thought, "_Oh crap, someone save me!_"

Maybe God was listening to him as a pair of royal guards came into the courtyard and approached Esdese.

"General Esdese we've come to retrieve you the prime minister wishes to have a meeting with you and the other generals," the guard said.

Esdese shot them a look that no danger beast alive could give to a man, a look of pure rage for interrupting her "meal". It screamed to fuck off and how dare they interrupt her with Tatsumi.

Both guards quivered in fear as they both knew she could kill them both with no recourse and she wouldn't feel the slightest guilt nor would she be punished for it.

One of the guards mustard up the courage to say, "He says it's urgent and that they are going to talk about the next steps in dealing with the Revolutionary Army as they have begun to mobilize".

Esdese sighed in anger and said, "Fine then," she then looked at Tatsumi, "Well looks like we will be cut short today duty calls, but let's continue this after my meeting okay?"

Tatsumi gulped and mange to say in a sarcastic kind of tone, "Yeah".

She then released him from her ice bindings and started to walk towards the conference hall. Tatsumi watched as she walked away and shot him a wink before disappearing from sight.

"Well I'm in some deep trouble," Tatsumi said aloud

"That was a pretty intense match Tatsumi," the voice of Wave said from behind Tatsumi.

He turned to see Ran, Wave, and Kurome walking towards him.

"Very impressive Tatsumi, I don't believe I've ever seen someone get close yet alone actually injure the Captain," Ran said.

"Yeah that was a crazy battle I didn't think I was watching a sparring match but a real battle," Wave said impressed.

"Yeah and the show after was pretty interesting too," Kurome said in her usual unimpressed voice.

All the men in the group blushed as they knew what she was referring to and of course Tatsumi had the biggest blush on his face.

Tatsumi turned the subject back to the match, "Yeah but she is still holding back heavily when she fights me, and I just got lucky was all".

"Even still it shows incredible skill to just surprise the General, so don't sell yourself short," Ran said.

"Right," Tatsumi said feeling a little bit conceded at this statement.

"Anyway since the Captain will be in a meeting for a while we thought you'd like to join us," Wave said as his voice got noticeably sadder.

"Where are you going?" Tatsumi said.

"We are going to visit Bols's grave today," Kurome finished Wave sentence.

Tatsumi's heart immediately sank as they mentioned Bols. He knew while he didn't personally kill him he was part of Night Raid and help lead him to his death, in fact Tatsumi was prepared to kill him if need be. This tore at him leading up to that battle as he knew Bols was kind and had a family but he also knew that he had committed terrible acts in the name of the Empire. All Tatsumi could think was the least he could do was visit his grave and pay his respects.

"Yeah I'll join you," Tatsumi said as his tone was now sad.

**Later at the cemetery**

Tatsumi along with the rest of the Jaegers walked up the Bols's grave site to see his wife and child there praying. They both looked up at the new arrivals.

Bols's wife stood up, bowed, and said, "Thank you for coming everyone".

She looked at everyone and sincerely smiled; the daughter then bowed and did the same.

She then looked at Tatsumi and gave him a smile, "You must be Tatsumi, thank you for coming, my husband has told me about you, you're Miss Esdese lover right?"

"Yeah I guess," Tatsumi said and then bowed, "I'm so sorry!" He felt even worse now as he put a face to Bols's family. He wasn't just apologizing for their loss but for being a part of the people that killed him. Of course he could never say that aloud but at least he could say was sorry.

"You don't need to apologize Tatsumi, my husband and I knew the dangers of his line of work and he still insisted on doing it," she said reassuring him.

"Yeah but still," Tatsumi said.

Wave then said to try and change subjects, "Are you doing all right, do you have everything you need?"

"Yes thank you, Lady Esdese gave us plenty of money, I assure you that my child will lead a good life," She said hugging her daughter.

Tatsumi was generally surprised at this, hearing that Esdese would show such compassion. He had heard from Najenda that she was loyal and good to her men but he didn't think it would be like this. Why did she do that, did she feel pity, burden, or loyalty, what could make the Esdese that Tatsumi knew possess her to do that.

"Well if you need anything don't hesitate to ask okay," Wave said giving them a smile.

Tatsumi and the Jaegers began to leave but half way out of the cemetery Tatsumi stopped and began thinking.

"What's wrong Tatsumi?" Ran asked.

"You guys go on ahead I need to be alone for a second, I just want to say something to Bols alone," Tatsumi said in a serious tone.

The Jaegers looked at each other and realized he was serious and that since he wasn't around when Bols past that he needed more time to coop with the pain.

"Okay man, we will be right outside the cemetery if you need us," Wave said.

"Thanks," Tatsumi said as he turned away to go to the grave again.

He was walking to the grave site again, he wanted to talk to Bols alone and tell him the truth about himself to get it off his chest and to tell him that he was determined to change this twisted country and make it a place where his family and everyone else's family could live happily and in peace.

He was almost to the grave site when he saw a group of people by Bols's grave and his family.

"Hey lady since your husband is dead why don't you have fun with me for a while?" a skinny man with only halve a shirt said to Bols's wife as he was trying to grab her inappropriately.

Tatsumi also saw a fat man dressed like a clown harassing Bols's daughter with a perverted smile that Tatsumi didn't like at all. Tatsumi seeing this started to run toward the grave.

A darker skin man with white hair said, "Now guys don't be in such a rush we have plenty of time to enjoy ourselves".

Next to him were two women, a tall and short one with the short one dressed in strange bright clothing. Also next to him was a samurai who didn't all too interested in what was going on.

The taller women then said to man with white hair, "Man there aren't any cute boys around here, Syura this is boring."

"Now, now Cosmina the boys have to have some fun too," the man named Syura said.

Just then Tatsumi shouted, "Hey assholes!"

Tatsumi came out of nowhere at an impressive speed and delivered a powerful kick into the skinny man's stomach and launched him a huge distance with all to be seen of him was a giant dirt mound made where he landed. Tatsumi used the momentum of the kick to launch him back at the clown and kicked him straight in the jaw; he could hear it break as he made impact. He picked up Bols's child and returned to the mother where he drew out a sword that he got from Esdese and got in between Bols's family and the group of people.

"Wow, ask for a cute boy and one appears its Cosmina's lucky day!" the taller of the two women said.

Syura said, "Who the fuck are you kid?!"

"Doesn't fucking matter what my name is, all you need to know is that I'm a part of the Special Forces, the Jaegers, and that these people are under our protection and if you do any more harm to them you will be under arrest!" Tatsumi shouted in anger at the group.

The man laughed at his statement, "The Jaegers, you mean the group of failures, why would I be scared of those guys, kid do you have any idea who I am?"

"No I don't make it a point to know pussies like yourself, who the hell tries to do this shit to a women and a child you piece of shit!" Tatsumi screamed.

"Pussy, Piece of Shit," Syura said, "Your pretty funny kid, hey Izou?" the samurai guy turned towards Syura, "I bet your blade is hungry, I think I just found it its next meal."

The samurai smiled at this, drew out his katana and charged at Tatsumi.

"Aww, that's a shame he was such a cute boy," Cosmina said

"What the hell!" Tatsumi said as he the samurai and Tatsumi clashed blades.

"Oh, you're pretty skilled boy," Izou said as the two began to swing their swords and a storm of sparks came from the metal clashing.

Tatsumi saw an opening in his blows and kicked the man away and Izou slid a few feet away, but then the smaller women came from behind and jumped on Tatsumi's back. She then bit down on his neck and drew blood.

The women then paused, unknown to Tatsumi the women possessed a Teigu that let hear feast on blood and every person's blood had a different taste, and the blood from Tatsumi had been the best she had ever tasted and caused her to blush.

Tatsumi used the pause of the girl on his back to grab her by her shirt and flip her and slam her into the ground.

"Hahaha, I like this boy he will make a fine meal for Kousetsu!" the samurai shouted as he again charged at Tatsumi.

Tatsumi was feeling lightheaded after having his blood sucked and wasn't able to fully dodge his attack. He tried to dodge to horizontal slash aimed at his torso but wasn't fast enough and it skinned him leaving a trail of blood.

Tatsumi shouted out in pain and Bols's wife who was holding on to her child for dear life screamed, "TATSUMI!"

After getting hit he jumped far back near Bols's wife and clutched his stomach in pain.

"Tatsumi are you alright?" Bols's wife said concerned.

"I'm fine, you need to get out of here and I'll hold them off. Wave and the others are at the exit go to them," Tatsumi said as he got up and got his sword at the ready.

"But…"

"GO NOW!" Tatsumi shouted.

The mother and child began to run as Izou attacked Tatsumi again and again their swords clashed with each other.

"Where do you think you're going?" Syura said cutting off Bols's wife from leaving and stopping her in her tracks.

Seeing this Tatsumi used all his strength to kick Izou back quite a distance and he threw his sword at Syura.

Out of the corner of his eyes he saw it and was able to dodge a fatal blow but it grazed his check and left a pretty big cut.

Syura touched it and saw his own blood and yelled, "YOU LITTLE FUCK, COSMINIA KILL THIS FUCKER!"

"Fine, but it's such a waste of a cute boy," she said as she took out what looked like a microphone. She then screamed into it and a huge shockwave went towards Tatsumi.

"Shit, it's a Teigu?!" Tatsumi yelled before he closed his eyes waiting for it to hit as he didn't have time to dodge.

But the pain didn't come as he opened his eyes to realize he was now in the air. He looked up to see Ran hanging on to him in the sky.

"Are you alright Tatsumi?" Ran said.

"Yeah but Bols's family!" Tatsumi said.

"Don't worry," Ran said as he landed and pointed towards Bols's wife to see Syura on the ground being hit by Wave in his Grand Chariot armor between him and the wife and Kurome being in-between them.

Tatsumi and Ran hurried to the others to help out.

"You fuck what the hell are you doing to my friends!?" Wave shouted at Syura.

"You little shit WHO THE HELL DO YOU THINK I AM?!" Syura yelled.

He was about to pull out his Teigu when Izou came from behind and said, "Syura I believe we should call it a day, further fighting would be unwise with so many of us out of commission. "

"Fine," he got up and started to walk away, "but next time they won't be so lucky. Go pick up Champ and were leaving!"

The other members of the group went over and picked up the two who were unconscious because of Tatsumi and they all exited the cemetery.

"Bastards," Wave said as he released his armor, "Are you okay Mam?"

"I'm fine but Tatsumi…" Bols's wife said as Tatsumi went to his knees and she went over to catch him, "Tatsumi!"

"I'm fine, it's not as bad as it looks I'm just tired because one of them sucked my blood," Tatsumi said.

"Let's go back to base at get you patched up Tatsumi here," Ran said as he lent Tatsumi a shoulder, "Mrs. Bols you should also come back with us, it's still not safe."

"Okay," she agreed.

**Back at the Palace**

Ran had finished up cleaning Tatsumi's wound and like he said it wasn't that deep and wouldn't even leave a scar but he had lost a bit of blood so he would be tired for a while.

"I think Mrs. Bols and her daughter should stay in the Jaegers quarters for a while," Tatsumi said, "Those people don't seem like the kind that takes loss well."

"I agree," Ran said.

"Me too," Kurome said.

Wave turned to Bols's wife, "It's probably for the best".

"You're probably right but what about General Esdese?" she said.

"We will tell her that you are being targeted by a dangerous group of people, she will most definitely let you stay," Ran said.

"Yeah," Tatsumi said, "But when you tell the story don't mention that I got hurt".

"Why those bastards have what's coming to them!" Wave said.

"I agree but it's you guys I'm worried about, if she found out that I got hurt on your watch, I don't know what kind of torture she'll have in store," Tatsumi said with concern.

Wave cringed at this as he remembered the last time he messed up and lost Tatsumi the first time.

"Yes but Tatsumi we need a detailed report on that group, they were in possession of Teigus, they could be a threat to the capital," Ran said.

"You're right, so let's just ease her into it and mention my involvement to a minimum, agreed?" Tatsumi asked the room of people.

"Agreed," the Jaegers said.

"You too Mrs. Bols, I don't want Esdese to blow this out of proportion, but I want to keep you safe," Tatsumi said.

"Alright," she said.

"Thank you," Tatsumi responded.

Then a knock came onto the door of the HQ. A guard entered and began to speak.

"I have been given orders by Generals Esdese and Budo as well as the Prime Minister to bring all the Jaegers to the meeting hall for a mandatory meeting, please come with me right away," the guard said.

Everyone looked at each other wondering what could be so important; little did they know the near future would be changed for them as well as the rest of the Empire.

To be continued in Part 2…


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4: Tatsumi and Wild Hunt Part 2

The Jaegers were walking down the halls of the palace towards the meeting hall. They had just been summoned by their Captain as well as General Budo and the Prime Minister so it had to be of great importance, but what? They were all discussing possibilities and came to the conclusion it had to be about the recent movements of the Revolutionary Armies as well as the Western Territories mobilizing on the boarder of the Empire.

The Jaegers were also talking about the best way to tell Esdese about the group that attacked Bols's family and what actions they should take, they were dangerous people as they possessed Teigus and could be a threat to the capital. They had agreed to tell Esdese about the Teigus and the attacks but Tatsumi was adamant about not telling her he was injured during the fight as he did not know what she would do to both the group and his fellow Jaeger members for allowing him to get in such a mess.

They reached the doors of the meeting room where guards were standing by. They requested permission to enter and were let in. Once inside Tatsumi saw three people waiting in the room Esdese, Budo, and the Prime Minister. Of course he knew Esdese but the other two were strangers to him. He knew who they were by process of elimination as they had to be Grand General Budo and Prime Minister Honest. He had heard of both of them, of course the Prime Minister being the main target of Night Raid and one of the main people causing the Empire being in the sorry state it was in. However the third person, Budo, Tatsumi had only heard stories about from Najenda as a former general. He was said to be the only other person that could rival Esdese's strength and the only one who held a higher rank.

Once Tatsumi laid eyes on Budo he realized what everyone said about him was true as his massive build and his aura were enough for Tatsumi to see that this person was not to be messed with. He had just realized why Najenda was so concerned that even if Esdese was defeated that this man was still a huge obstacle to Night Raids plan.

When Tatsumi and the other Jaegers entered the room Esdese's mood was noticeably brighter. This change was seen by the other two as they looked at the most probable cause of it, the newest Jaeger member Tatsumi. They had both heard the stories about her "confession" at the tournament and the others about how she acted very out of character around him. Budo could care less about that, while he knew it was strange as long as it didn't affect her abilities to serve the capital he had no concerns, plus on top of that he had heard he was a very strong warrior and was even able to land a blow on Esdese early this morning.

The Prime Minister had the opposite reaction for this boy made perked his interest. To make the cold-hearted Esdese act like she did around him was something he thought wasn't possible. Even when she had first told him that she was looking for a lover he thought she just wanted a cute toy she could play with. But from what he had seen and heard about the two he realized she had true feelings for the boy and was able to influence her more than anyone would be able to do. He knew that Esdese knew of his corruption and plans for the capital and that the Emperor was a mere pawn to him, but she allowed him free rain for he let her enjoy herself in war and torture to her hearts content, so they had an unwritten agreement and alliance with each other. But this boy could prove to be useful in further control over her. He was not a strong man in body but the mind and he knew the greatest of anybody was not the mind or body but the heart. He used the child Emperors heart to make it seem like he was his greatest ally. Once he had the heart the mind followed and instructed the body. He thought that Esdese had no hot and beating heart but just a taste for blood. She also had no relatives or anyone that he could use as a pawn or hostage to influence her in anyway, that was until now. If he could somehow gain control over this boy then he could gain full control over the greatest weapon he had to play, Esdese. Just thinking about this gave him a delightful grin and he was the first to great the new arrivals.

He said with a happy tone, "Welcome Jaegers I am glad you could join us," he then turned to Tatsumi, "and you must be Tatsumi I have heard so much about you. It's an honor to meet someone that General Esdese holds in such high regard," he finished as he put out his hand to shake Tatsumi's.

Tatsumi's body tensed up and he grit his teeth in anger. This man, this man who was the main target of his group and the man who has caused so much pain for others was now right in front of him. It took all he had to keep up his act and not kill the man where he stood. If the room wasn't filled with so many people he probably would have. Then he remembered what his Boss Najenda said, that even if Night Raid had killed him, if it wasn't in correspondence with the Revolution and other plans then someone else would just take his place and nothing would change still. Using this thought he calmed his nerves and reached out his hand.

"Yes it is a pleasure to finally meet you as well," Tatsumi said putting on his best act that deserved an award.

The Prime Minister then turned to Budo, "And may I introduce Grand General Budo, I believe you have not yet met".

Tatsumi bowed to Budo and said, "It is an honor to meet you sir".

Budo simply shook his head recognizing Tatsumi's introduction.

"Now shall we start this meeting?" as he looked at everyone and motioned for them to sit down.

Everyone began to find their seats and of course Esdese had saved the seat next to her for Tatsumi.

Once everyone was seated they Prime Minister began, "Thank you all for coming so soon, as you know the Empire is in danger as the Revolutionary Army and the Western Territories are beginning to move in opposition of the Capital."

The Prime Minster began giving some details as to the movements of the two forces and what the Empire was starting to do to try and counter them. Tatsumi was trying to listen and gather as much information as he could to send back to Night Raid but it was beginning difficult to do so as Esdese was playing footsy with him.

She was still aroused from this morning from their training and him being able to lay a scratch on her. But instead of having more fun with him she was forced to have these boring meetings all day. But now that her lover was sitting right next to her she could continue her fun with him. She began to rub her foot up his thigh in a very seductive manner. It was beginning to make him noticeably uncomfortable which made her inner sadist happy and she put on a very playful grin. The ideas in her head started to spin, she had thought all day of what she would do to him after these boring meetings and now that he was here she just got more and more.

Tatsumi was trying to push her advances away but was having troubles. He didn't want to make a scene in front of everyone so he was truly pinned in a corner here. He wished someone would address Esdese so she could turn her attention to something else so he could move away from Esdese's reach. But then all of the sudden he heard something that caught his attention the Prime Minister started talking about Night Raid.

"Ever since your last encounter with Night Raid they have become silent. We can only assume that this means they are recovering their strength and planning their next big move," the Prime Minister said.

Esdese attention was caught as well by the mention of Night Raid and she had stopped toying with Tatsumi. Her attention was caught for a different reason than Tatsumi's, while his was concerned for his friends hers were filled with rage. Rage at the fact that the group she had been hunting had not only been able to elude her but most of all took her lover as a hostage. The time she had not been training Tatsumi or dealing with her official business she used her own time and resources to try and locate Night Raid, but as of now nothing.

"I am sad to admit that our investigations have not yielded any results in further locating Night Raid or any of their members," Honest said displeased with the situation.

Tatsumi was relieved that his friends were safe for the moment but also laughed internally and thought, "_Couldn't find any of their members huh? You got one right in front of you, you fat bastard_".

"So with all the information I have presented I believe the time to mobilize again to stop these threats. However our forces are spread thin and with the recent losses from the Jaegers will make it difficult to maintain order," Honest said to the group.

Wave, Run, and Kurome's mood went down at the mention of their dead comrades as they had all wished they had been stronger to protect them.

"However I believe I have found a solution to our problems. Recently my son who was on a lengthy trip around the Empire has returned recently with a team of Teigu users that will be able to maintain peace within the capital and help deal with Night Raid. They will be forming a special Capital police force called Wild Hunt. Now let me introduce you," he said as he motioned to a guard to open the doors.

This group had peaked the interest of everyone in the room, but as they entered the Jaegers interest became that of disgust as they saw people they wish to never to see again. The bastards that attacked them and Bols's family and who they thought were complete scum. They had thought these people were a rouge group of some sort, but now they were introduced as allies on the same team, this situation couldn't get any worse.

Tatsumi immediately rose from his chair and shouted, "You bastards what the hell are you doing here!"

"Tatsumi?" Esdese said looking up at Tatsumi in confusion.

The leader Syura now introduced as the Prime Minister's son smiled and said, "Well, well if it isn't the little Jaeger boy. As my pops just told you we're Wild Hunt, a group formed to pick up the slack of you Jaegers who are dropping like flies. We are going to be maintaining the peace of the Capital in your stead."

This angered Wave who then burst out and said, "Maintain the peace! You attacked both Bols's family and Tatsumi without cause!"

Wave then regretted mentioning Tatsumi in his outburst as now Esdese's hand slammed the table at the mention of Tatsumi being attacked.

She looked at Wave with demon eyes and said, "What did you just say Wave? Did you say that these people attacked Tatsumi?"

Wave was paralyzed in fear as he got a look of pure anger directed his way. Tatsumi got angry that Wave mentioned him but there was no changing it now. Tatsumi began to talk, "Yeah that's right we were just visiting Bols's grave site with his family when these people started to approach Bols's family with impure intentions. I was defending them when they started to attack me and the others."

Esdese then turned he glare at Wild Hunt and said, "If that's the case then I'm afraid Wild Hunt will have a short lived life," the room became colder from her Teigu emitting its power from her anger.

All of Wild Hunt felt her killing aura and felt fear rush over their entire body. But both they and Esdese were stopped by the Prime Minster saying, "Now calm down General Esdese I'm sure that they had their reason for what happened, right Syura?"

Syura snapped out of his fear and said, "Yeah we were just doing some investigating. We got a tip that this Bols's family was saying some anti-imperial statements and we were investigating. A claim that a former Jaeger's family being rebellious was cause for alarm so we had to make sure and investigate the issue. Then your boy there attacked us out of the blue and we thought he was a part of this anti-imperial act so of course we had to defend ourselves".

This didn't alleviate Esdese's anger as if attacking Tatsumi wasn't enough they now accused her subordinates of treason.

"That is complete bullshit, your investigation was putting Bols's family in danger and I could see in your eyes what you were thinking about doing to that wife and child!" Tatsumi said in anger at their obvious lie about Bols's family.

"Oh is that so well why don't we get his family here and now so I can continue to investigate them," Syura said in an evil tone.

"You won't go anywhere near them you sick fuck!" Tatsumi shouted back.

"Oh and are you going to make me kid," as Syura began to reach for something in his pocket.

"ENOUGH!" Budo yelled in a demanding and overpowering tone.

Everyone in the room even Esdese stopped at the assertive voice and aura of the Grand General.

He then continued, "You are in the royal palace which is in the prescience of the Emperor. You peoples petty argument is of no concern when it comes in serving him. Like it or not you people are to work together for the betterment of the Empire and if you people continue this stupid argument and become a detriment to the Empire I will not hesitate to destroy that person…no matter who that is," he directed his gaze at the Prime Minister and Esdese.

No one dared to speak except Tatsumi, "They only care about serving themselves, I know there kind they are all pieces of garbage that only taint this world."

"Oh yeah boy," Syura said.

"Fine then if you both refuse to let up and they fact that you both seem to have pint up anger we shall settle this in a duel. Each group will put out a person to dual the other to decide and finish this stupid mess now before it escalates," Budo said.

"That sounds perfectly good to me, it will give me a chance to thoroughly "test" this new group of the Empire," Esdese said in a sadistic tone.

Syura and the rest of Wild Hunt became to panic as they knew that all of them combined could not hope to beat Esdese. But then Syura smiled as he thought of a way to provoke the other Jaegers into the fight, "That's right hide behind your precious commander; she must have some lousy subordinates if she has to solve all your problems for you".

Wave, Run, and Kurome were about to speak up for them bad mouthing them and their commander when they were cut off by Tatsumi.

"She only was able to speak first, don't think I need her or anyone else fighting my own battles for me. I already showed you assholes today that I don't need help kicking you asses so I'll fucking fight any of you and I will completely destroy any of you and make you regret that you ever messed with Bols's family!" Tatsumi said is a very assertive and angry tone.

This made Esdese blush as she saw her lover get between her and her new prey as she saw him in a way she had never seen him before and she saw his eyes filled with a rage she had never seen before. She liked it, she liked seeing the warrior within him and while he was never submissive to her she loved seeing the assertive side of Tatsumi, it was something that caught her of guard as no one was ever this assertive in front of her, she loved it and it made her burn for him even more.

"Big talk from a kid, alright I'll show you to the world of adults," Syura said to him but was interrupted by his own man.

"You won't be fighting Syura, in a one on one duel I am the most suited for the task. You all have Teigus, while the boy and I do not, plus I have unfinished business with him," the samurai named Izou said to his leader.

Syura looked back and smiled because he knew what he said was true. Izou was a very skilled swordsman who was more ruthless than any of them when it came to a sword fight. He didn't use a Teigu but could keep up with any person who did and his one on one skill was beyond scary. He also knew that Izou was holding back during their first encounter and that Tatsumi was suffering from handicapping injuries.

Tatsumi and Izou stared at each other in their own little world as they were both ready to battle. Esdese was just mesmerized by Tatsumi's will and it made her heart beat a million times a second.

"Very well it would seem that the combatants are set, I will personally oversee the dual and act as the judge, are there any objections," Budo said.

"No, but I do have something to add," Tatsumi said, "If I win they have to promise not to go anywhere near Bols's family and if they do I get to executed no questions asked".

"Very well do you agree with this," Budo asked Izou.

"That's fine, but if I win we get to do whatever we want with the boy," Izou said with a smirk.

Esdese was about to protest when Tatsumi raised his hand to her and said, "That's fine by me".

"Then let us go to the arena and settle this shall we," Budo said, "Esdese, Honest come with me, let the rest of them prepare for the dual".

Esdese looked at Tatsumi blushed and followed Budo out. Honest seemed disinterested in what occurred but simply followed Budo. Wild Hunt and the Jaegers exited the room at different doors as they all wanted to talk to the two who were about to fight.

In the hallway Wave was the first to speak up, "Are you sure about this man?"

"Yes you are still suffering from the injuries that you just got," Ran said with concern.

"Yeah if you push yourself too far you could die," Kurome added on.

Tatsumi only responded with one thing, "Yeah don't worry about me, I won't lose to people like them, I'll make sure to get rid of people like that from this world." He then began to walk towards the exit of the palace in the direction of the arena.

**Later at the Arena**

The two combatants were in the middle of the stage staring each other down. The arena had been the same one where Tatsumi first showed his skills to Esdese when he participated in her tournament. The Jaegers were sitting on the side of Tatsumi and likewise Wild Hunt was on Izou side. Esdese, Budo, and Honest sat in the middle in a higher section to observe to fight as judges.

Both Tatsumi and Izou were given wooden swords to fight with as Budo didn't want any blood spilled. Izou had a wooden katana and Tatsumi a wooden short sword.

Tatsumi stared Izou down in anger, he hated them, the Empire, his situation, and the world right now and he was planning to use it to make this group of assholes pay for what they did and what he knew they would do if left unchecked.

"You both seem ready; very well, you may begin!" Budo shouted as the two then charged at each other.

The barrage of wooden swords began as both combatants swung at the other with incredible power and speed. The way they did this made it seem like it wasn't a duel but rather a battle one would see in a war zone.

As Tatsumi and Izou exchanged blows Tatsumi started to go on the defensive as his injuries were holding him back. Tatsumi began to be pushed back as Izou's blows became more violent and powerful. Tatsumi's wound began to open up as his body was being pushed to an extreme point.

"What's wrong boy?" Izou said, "Where is that spark you had earlier?!" He then began to push Tatsumi further back.

"Just shut up," Tatsumi shouted as he slashed horizontally but it was easily avoided.

Izou smiled as he dodged and then kicked Tatsumi in the wound he had caused earlier that day. He then began hitting points on his body that weren't fatal on purpose so he could continue have fun with the boy.

Izou then swept Tatsumi legs and kicked him in the back launching the boy a few feet. This made Tatsumi go to his knees and Izou went for the back to finish the boy.

The Jaegers and Esdese became worried as they saw that Tatsumi was struggling due to injury and that Izou now went for the "killing" blow.

Tatsumi thought internally, "_Fuck this, fuck them, fuck this stupid world, I won't lose to a guy like this, and I won't lose to this twisted world until I change it!_"

His mind went blank and his eyes grew dull as they had earlier this morning against Esdese, it was a state that put Tatsumi in a type of battle mode.

He turned his head to look at the approaching Izou; he then launched himself into the air and did a flip to get behind Izou. Izou was a bit surprised but was able to quickly turn himself around to counter Tatsumi's blows. However it was now his turn to be on the defensive as Tatsumi's blows became quicker and stronger. Izou was getting frustrated but in a split second noticed Tatsumi's barrage get slower and an opening pop up in his stance. He then parried one of Tatsumi's strikes and it seemed that Tatsumi was thrown off balance.

"It ends here!" Izou shouted as he began his final slash in a downward motion.

Tatsumi looked up at his opponents "final" slash, but was not fazed by it. Tatsumi threw his sword straight up into the air and put up his hands to catch the blade. During his training with Akame, she had taught him this technique to use against other katana users. She had explained to him that any good katana user would have a loose grip on their blade as it made it faster and more easy to move, but this could also be a weakness as given the right technique and skill one could disarm them very easily. Of course catching Akame's blade was something even a skilled warrior shouldn't try as even if you caught it, the slightest scratch would spell instant death. However his opponent this time wasn't nearly as fast as Akame and he had a wooden sword which was child's play for the state Tatsumi was in.

Tatsumi caught the descending blade in his hands much to the surprise of Izou and everyone else in the arena. He tried to pull it out but Tatsumi's grip wouldn't loosen and then in a flash Tatsumi broke the sword in half and removed both parts from his opponent's hands. Izou had no time to react as Tatsumi's foot planted a kick directly in his stomach sending him flying backwards. Tatsumi's sword then fell back down right into his hand and in a flash that no one could quite see the sword was right on the neck of Izou.

Everyone in the stadium was in aww at what just happened as it happened in an instant. Even Budo a man who was not easily impressed stared in slight shock at to what just happened.

Izou stared down at the blade at his throat, there he immediately knew had this been an actual battle with a real sword he would have his head taken clean off. He then looked at his opponent straight in the eyes to see Tatsumi's emotionless expression with the dull eyes of a beast. Izou knew that the boy standing in front of him at that moment wasn't a boy but a ferocious beast that had only the ideas of battle and winning in his mind.

Tatsumi then removed the sword from his neck and said, "Now if I ever see you near Bols's family again, or if I see you pull that shit with someone else I'll kill you. Be sure to tell your scumbag friends that too."

Tatsumi then turned around and headed towards the stands where Wave and the others were. Izou rubbed his neck and said to himself, "As I thought, that boy is very entertaining".

Wave, Ran, and Kurome meet Tatsumi at the edge of the arena. Wave said, "Holy crap man that was amazing did the Captain teach you that".

Tatsumi then snapped out of his battle daze and rubbed the back of his neck and said, "No, but I was able to see the blade because of her training, I think my body just did it on its own, must be the adrenaline".

"Still that was quite impressive Tatsumi," Ran said.

"Yeah I have to change my opinion of you more, you're a lot stronger than I thought Tatsumi," Kurome said.

"Thanks I guess," Tatsumi said not knowing whether or not to take that as a compliment or not.

Then Syura said, "You got lucky you punk, if Izou had a real sword you would be done for". He then turned around to exit the arena in defeat.

The rest of Wild Hunt followed but not without some closing remarks.

"Wow not only cute but strong too, Cosmina like," Cosmina said shooting Tatsumi as wink.

"Yeah and he tastes really good too," the shorter girl named Dorothea said following her leader out.

If Esdese had heard either of them she would have killed them on the spot no questions ask, lucky for them.

The fat clown named Champ and the scrawny swordsmen Enshin shot Tatsumi death glares as they were bandaged up from injuries Tatsumi gave them early in the day.

Tatsumi and the Jaegers just returned the glares as they watched their new "allies" exit the arena. Ran's glare toward Champ though seemed even more intense especially for the usually level headed Ran.

Tatsumi saw this and asked, "Is everything okay Ran?"

Ran snapped out of the daze and smiled back at Tatsumi, "Ah yes, do not worry everything is fine."

Budo and the Prime Minister were staring down at Tatsumi. Honest was in sheer shock of how the battle had played out. He didn't know much about strength or how to judge it but what he just saw of Tatsumi even impressed him. He then thought that he shouldn't be surprised as only someone that impressive would be able to attract a person like Esdese who was only concerned about strength. Budo even though his face would never show it was surprised and impressed with the skills that Tatsumi just showed, he thought to himself that the boy had a bright future if he was already this strong.

"Quite impressive Esdese, I can see why you are so interested in that boy and why you wish to train him yourself," Budo said to face Esdese only to see something he didn't expect.

Esdese was flushed red and she had and expression that Budo had never seen nor thought he would see from her in a million years. Sure her blushing was something he had never seen but more than that her expression gave off feeling of weakness and her guard being lowered. No matter how he saw her, angry, sad, happy, whatever, he had never seen here so defenseless as this before. Did this boy really have such a strong influence on this woman he saw as only a warrior and now she looked like someone her age would look towards a lover normally would. Being married himself he knew how she was feeling, but still this Esdese before him threw him for a loop as he never thought she would lower her guard this much no matter who or what the circumstances.

The Prime Minister also saw this face and smiled at it. He smiled because his opinion of Tatsumi was right, control him and one could control the most wild of animals Esdese. Not only that but he was a strong warrior that one day could rival Esdese or Budo in his mind and that could be an added bonus of controlling him.

Budo and Honest got up and began to leave to mull over what to do about they just witness and plan for the coming events of rebellion and the people they would be working with. Esdese just stayed where she was frozen in place by the display she just saw her lover perform. She felt similar to the first time she saw Tatsumi in this very arena no less, but the feelings she felt now were tenfold. She found it hard to breath and her heart was beating so fast she thought it might explode. If she had wanted him before then now it was a need, no more than that it was if she couldn't have him she might die. Tatsumi had made her feel things she never had before but now she was exposed to something new, a weakness. Something she thought she would never possess something she hated because it made her the thing she despised most in the world weakness. But this boy she now realized made her weak because she knew that Tatsumi had control over her heart and soul and that she would do almost anything to have him. Pondering this she quickly got out of her seat and ran back to her room; she had to prepare for seeing Tatsumi face to face alone after seeing his performance just now and his performance with her earlier this morning.

Tatsumi noticed Esdese leaving in such a quick fashion and wondered what had happen as she never saw her hurry in such a manner before. The Jaegers then decided to head back to the palace themselves as today's events had tired them out.

**Back at Jaeger HQ (Warning Lemon Inbound)**

Tatsumi returned to his/Esdese room tired both mentally and physically as his injuries were now starting to wear him out since he had been driven by adrenaline and emotions in the duel but now that he had a chance to come down he felt their weight. He wanted nothing more than to go to sleep, but someone had other plans.

He opened the door to the room and noticed the lights were on, "Esdese are you here? Sorry about all that I'll fill you in on the whole story later."

He looked around and saw no one, but then he heard the door close around him. He turned only to be tackled to the ground by Esdese. He hit the ground and looked up at his attacker only to be suffocated by her with a kiss. It was as forceful as it was this morning if not more so as her usually cold body felt much hotter than usual.

She parted their lips to say, "Tatsumi," she breathed heavily, "You did this to me…it's your fault".

"What are yo…?" Tatsumi started but was cut off as she went in for another kiss.

She became even more aggressive as she started to put her hand onto his thigh and then his crotch.

He then pushed her away from him, "Stop why are you doing this?"

"I won't stop, I'm tired of waiting Tatsumi, I told you it's your fault," she said now breathing very heavily.

She continued to kiss him and he began to struggle even more trying to throw her off of him.

"You struggling is only going to make me want you more Tatsumi," she said in a very seductive voice.

He was beginning to get very angry as this is the last thing he wanted to happen at the moment. He thought to himself, "_Why is she being so much more aggressive, is it because I cut her today, the duel, is she angry, happy, god I can't read her at all"._

He then threw up his hand to push her back but ended up hitting her on the check instead quite hard.

She put her hand on the red mark it left and all Tatsumi could think, "_Shit now she is really going to be pissed"._ She then put on a perverted smile and said, "Okay so rough it is". She then slapped him back and continued to kiss him.

After this Tatsumi's snapped, all his anger from today returned and he kicked to get her off. She jumped off to him as he got to his feet and then charged at him grabbing his neck and slamming him to the wall and then kissed him again.

She then reached for his shirt, "You won't need this," she then ripped it off in one motion exposing his impressive build for someone so young. He pushed out in anger getting some distance in between them and then charged at her. He talked her into a desk with a mirror behind it and as they collided with it the mirror broke into a hundred pieces. Once they collided she dug her nails into his now bare back as they were deep enough to draw blood.

Tatsumi screamed out in pain, "Ahhh, son of a…" He then attacked her but as his hands were not free at the moment he instead bit her on the shoulder as if he were and animal.

She then yelped out in pain and then returned the bite to his opposite shoulder. She then kicked him off her with tremendous force to where he smashed into the edge of the bed breaking it. She then tore off her skirt showing her panties and rushed towards him.

Tatsumi recovered and as she was about to pounce on him took her threw her over the shoulder and on to the bed. He then jumped on her pinning her down and stared into her eyes. Both their eyes were that of beast and they were both panting heavily.

Esdese was smiling seductively back at Tatsumi absolutely loving this aggressive Tatsumi. Tatsumi was angry but he would be lying to himself if he said he wasn't a little bit aroused. After all a beautiful women was now under him with no bottoms and only a blouse left on her. It was at this moment that Tatsumi did what he did multiple times today he let his instincts and anger move his body. He ripped off Esdese's shirt and this time he was the one to start the forcefully kiss her.

Esdese was surprised by this action but did not resist as she put her hand on the back of his neck. They parted their lips and Tatsumi came back to reality and had realized what he had done. However he didn't feel regret and simply stared back into Esdese's eyes with both passion and confusion.

"My Tatsumi, I don't know what got into you today but I like it, you're like a wild animal," she said looking into his eyes that had returned to the way they usually were, "but it looks like I'll have to retake the lead".

She then flipped him onto his back and now she was on top and with it the last part of her ripped shirt fell of exposing her large breast. Tatsumi just started at them aroused. Esdese smiled and said, "Do you like them Tatsumi? You do know that they are yours right? Just like everything you have and are, are mine, everything I am and have is yours," she said leaning giving him a kiss. This kiss was not forceful but was filled with passion as he began to return it.

Both of their bodies were heating up as Tatsumi was also begging to feel the need for Esdese's warmth.

Once they parted she said, "Now let's get down to business," she then moved to his pants and undid the button and zipper and removed them. She then took his boxers and threw them off of him. Likewise Tatsumi reached for the last piece of her clothing, her panties and removed them. She was fully exposed from top to bottom as seeing her fully nude made Tatsumi gulp. Tatsumi was completely naked too except for the bandages that covered his stomach the covered his wound from which he got from Izou at the graveyard.

Esdese reached for them and took them off gently exposing the scar left there by a sword. She then gently ran her tongue across it licking it as if he was a wounded animal and she was his mate cleaning it for him. Tatsumi just stared at her while she did this and now he got fully erected.

Esdese noticed this and smiled as she now moved down towards his erection. She began to lick it getting it wet. Tatsumi closed his eyes in pleasure as he had not experienced anything like it before. After a few minutes Esdese got up and straddled Tatsumi staring deeply into his eyes. She positioned her vagina on top of his penis to begin the act of becoming one.

Tatsumi didn't breath as he stared at both there privates about to go into each other and then back at her face. He then put her hands on her hips telling her that it was okay to start. She pushed down and he began to enter her. She let out a moan of both pleasure and pain as this took her virginity but was also from the man she loved so it gave her further arousal. It was Tatsumi's first as well and it was something he could not explain.

At that moment he did not care that this person was an enemy, a lover, a general, all he cared about was continuing. He did not know whether he accepted this because of love, instinct, or lust but he let her move and he started moving as well.

They both started breathing into each other and they matched their motions with each other to fill the full effects of the pleasure. He began to move faster as they both let out louder moans of pleasure.

He was getting close to finishing as he grabbed on to her and flipped her to get back on top. There he kissed her and began to move at his fastest pace. Esdese simply grabbed on to the back of his neck and returned his kisses. She could feel him getting close as she moved her mouth to his ears so he could hear her heavy breathing and her screams of pleasure.

He was about to finish as he screamed her name, "Esdese!"

She simply returned into his ears with, "its okay, go ahead and finish".

He did just that as they both held on to each other for dear life.

She fell back onto the bed and Tatsumi fell onto her breast as she held him tighter than she ever had. He used her breast as pillow and was breathing heavily as he never felt more tired in his entire life.

They both closed their eyes as Esdese began to stroke Tatsumi's hear and petted his head in the most affectionate way possible as she gave a sigh of pleasure and happiness. Tatsumi didn't know whether he just did what he did because of love, lust, anger, instinct, or a combination of everything, but he was too tired to give it any thought. Instead he just laid there letting Esdese shower him with all the love in the world, as he knew at least one thing and that was after this day this was all he needed, a women who loved him comforting him and letting him rest in her arms.

Esdese felt truly complete as her and Tatsumi had finally become one. All she thought about was how he made her feel. She felt things that she had never felt before ever since the first time she met him. He made her fell love for the first time but also weakness as she now knew if anything happened to Tatsumi again she wouldn't know what to do. She both hated and loved this feeling as it was new and confusing but it made her feel warm and satisfied.

All she could say to these feelings were, "I love you Tatsumi".

Tatsumi didn't really know how to respond to that as he was still unsure of his own feelings and couldn't respond to her truthfully with a clear conscious. All he could say was, "Thank you," and then burry himself deeper between her breast.

This gave her all the answer she needed as she hugged him tighter and let him fall deeper into her body. They both closed their eyes for the last time of the day, both content with the ending of today and they fell into a deep sleep wrapped in each other's arms.

**Authors Notes: Hope you liked it as this is the end of the first part of the story. That was my first real lemon so I don't know how it was. I didn't want to go into too much detail nor did I want to just gloss over as it is an important part of the story and will further feed into Tatsumi's internal conflict, so I hope it came across okay. Again thanks for all the support and reviews, it is very humbling, and it helps me keep doing this. Look forward to next chapter where I will probably be releasing Tatsumi's new Teigu. Thanks Again!**


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5: Tatsumi's day out

**Author's Notes: Thanks again for all the support, it really helps me continue to do this and I hope you continue to enjoy the story. I thought I was going to get to Tatsumi's new Teigu this chapter but as I was writing I realized it would make this chapter extremely long and weirdly paced so instead this chapter will be a bit slow as it will be mostly a TatsumixEsdese chapter with a little progression but mostly filling in prep for the next arc of the story and his new Teigu should be next chapter.**

Morning came to the Capital's Palace and shined light into Esdese's room. The sun was at the perfect angle to hit Tatsumi's eyes awakening him. He then found himself in a familiar situation he had experienced multiple time, but this time it was a bit different, the main difference this time being that Esdese and he were completely naked.

Esdese had Tatsumi in her standard body pillow position except it felt closer and tighter than usual for Tatsumi. To add to this suffocation his face was placed right in her chest and he had a close and personal view of her nipples. Tatsumi turned very red at this and remembered what had transpired last night. Under normal circumstances a person might be less embarrassed as once two people see them themselves naked and have intercourse what is to be embarrassed about. However for Tatsumi it only increased his embarrassment sure Esdese had been playful and cute with him before, but to actually do it with such a beautiful women and him still being fairly young still made his heart race and his mind go blank.

Tatsumi moved his head so he wouldn't die by chest chocking and looked up at Esdese's face. This made him turn redder as he looked upon her beautiful face. She was sporting a large and delightful smile that he had never seen before as she was no doubt happy about the events of last night. Tatsumi had mix feelings about it however; he knew that the storm of emotions and stress combined with a fair bit of lust had caused him to join in on the "fun". Thinking about it now he didn't regret what happened but it did add a million more thoughts to his head that only added to his already huge internal conflict with being a double agent and getting information to Night Raid. He knew what he had just done would complicate relations with a lot of people.

Esdese began to squeeze tighter and brought Tatsumi closer as they were now literally face to face. Tatsumi could feel her breath on his face and he began to panic slightly.

"_How am I supposed to get out of this death grip,_" he thought, "_I know I can…"_

His train of thought was cut off as Esdese's eyes shot opened and she delivered a kiss to the unsuspecting Tatsumi.

Tatsumi's eyes widened at this as he was caught off guard as he assumed Esdese was still asleep. He stared back at Esdese whose eyes glowed with intense passion at the man she was now suffocating with her tongue. They parted ways but Esdese still had her arms wrapped around Tatsumi and Tatsumi let out a huge gasp for air.

"Good morning my love, I trust you had a good night's sleep after _all _the activities of yesterday," Esdese said shooting Tatsumi a wink.

Tatsumi's couldn't form a sentence as his mind was again too busy reliving last night and now staring at more of Esdese's naked body again, the kiss just now also didn't help. "Uhhhhhhh," he said as he looked down to stare at her breast and then his head shot straight back up giving him whiplash after realizing what he was doing.

Esdese giggled at this as she loved this side of Tatsumi. Tatsumi was a fierce warrior in battle and had shown that he could be very level headed in a variety of situations. But even still after all he had been through he still had this pure and innocent side and was still able to show such an embarrassed face. Esdese thought that his embarrassed face was one of his cutest as one could tell that he thinking a million things a minute, plus her sadist personality liked it when he was a little bit uncomfortable.

"My, Tatsumi you shouldn't be so embarrassed about seeing my naked body," she leaned in right next to his ear, "after all you saw plenty of it last night," she finished as she began lightly biting his ear.

Tatsumi let out a shriek that only fueled Esdese to pick on him more. "_God she's really good at messing with me, quick got to change the subject before I become even more of an object of her "playfulness," _he thought_._

Tatsumi snapped his head back and said, "Yeah I slept fine how about you?"

Esdese smiled at this and thought, "_Trying to change the subject again eh Tatsumi? Very well Tatsumi I'll play along since I have an idea of what you will try to do"._

"I had the greatest sleep in my life thanks to you Tatsumi," she said leaning in making her chest touch his, "but my body is rather sore," she started rubbing his body, "maybe you could help me with it?" Teasing Tatsumi was becoming one of her favorite pastimes especially now because even though they had just had sex he could still let out a reaction like this if she got a little bit forceful.

Tatsumi was becoming dizzy from arousal and his nose began to bleed but managed to say, "Well I'm not a licensed massage therapist so I don't know if I could help…I know you should take a shower and relax and I'll go check on breakfast!"

Esdese's grin became much more noticeable as she thought to herself, "_Just as planed"._

She then leaned again and in a very seductive yet "helpless" voice said, "Well you're going to have to help me. I don't think I can reach my lower back by myself and that's where it hurts the most".

"_Shit she read me like a book, how am I suppose to get out of this one," _Tatsumi thought screaming internally.

Esdese laughed, "Tatsumi your too easy to read in these situation, you always use the shower as an excuse to escape you've already tried it multiple times since you got back. Now you can either take a bath with me or we can both walk out naked in the common area. I am good with either one."

Tatsumi struggled, "But…that's not," he sighed, "fine…let's take a bath," he bowed his head in defeat.

"Excellent," she said getting out of bead, "You'll have to _check _my body _extensively_ to make sure I didn't get any wounds on me during our sparring." She then pulled him by the arm as if claiming her prize as Tatsumi sulked along to the bathroom.

"_I think I liked her better as an enemy,_" Tatsumi thought as he prepared for another bath time with Esdese.

**In the bathroom**

It had been a few minutes since they entered the bathroom and Esdese was under the shower her long hair flowing. Tatsumi was lying in the tub half his face buried underneath the water. He was still embarrassed even though he had already seen her naked and done much more than that he still found it hard to look at her.

"_Why does she have to be so hot and yet so crazy and evil,_" he thought as began to make bubbles with his mouth in the water. He would continually keep looking back and forth from Esdese to looking straight ahead. His perverted side was starting to kick in as he thought, "_I should be able to look whenever I want right. But I don't think my heart can take so much arousal, god dammit I don't even know anymore!_"

Why he was deep in thought Esdese moved towards him and jumped into the bath with him sitting right a top him. This caused Tatsumi to get back to reality as in one solid motion she was a top of him and she had put his arms around her waist and leaned the back of her head onto his shoulder.

"Now this is a comfortable seat," Esdese said as she continued to tease Tatsumi, "Well do you want to start washing my back or should I start washing yours."

"Uhhhhh…Ummmmmm," were all Tatsumi could speak.

"Still nervous Tatsumi?" Esdese said as he moved his arms to cup her breast, "Don't be were just taking a bath".

"Well you see I'm…" Tatsumi said as he knew that this combined with the heat of the bath would cause him to pass out unless he fixed it.

Esdese saw Tatsumi struggling to think which made her laugh as she flipped around and was now straddling him and put her hands to his cheeks and said, "But that's one of the parts I love about you, you're so innocent and pure sometimes it's cute," as she then kissed his forehead. "Last night was perfect, it was better than I could ever imagined, who knew you could be so forceful. Thank you Tatsumi for returning my love," she said as she placed her forehead on his closing her eyes and letting out a pleasant sigh.

Tatsumi blushed at this, not because he was embarrassed, but because the statement she just said was pure and honest and full of emotions. This only further complicated what was going on in his heart and his head as this was just one more thing that would add to his emotional struggles of events that had transpired. He thought the least he could do was try and at least act like a lover a little, if only to sale his undercover work, though in his head he wondered if that was the only reason.

He lifted his hand and placed it on hers and he started to rub it tenderly. Esdese smiled at this and rubbed his cheeks back. But she wasn't quite done teasing him as she used her free hand and moved down his body toward his thigh.

This made Tatsumi jump out of the bath and run toward the exit as he shouted, "Breakfast, I should make sure breakfast is ready since we are both tired and we didn't eat dinner last night"

"Tch, got away again huh," Esdese said, "but I guess I got one of the best prizes last night so I'll let up a little for now". She then put herself deeper in the bath and began twirling her hair with a big smile and a blush as she was the most content person in the world right now, now that she and Tatsumi had moved up in their relationship.

Tatsumi got out of the bathroom to the bedroom to look for some clothes. As he looked around he had realized how much of a mess their little "sparing" made last night. The room was a complete mess, there was glass all over the floor, the desk and the bed were broken, torn clothes were scattered across the room, and there were holes in the walls.

As he looked at what looked like a battle took place he got slightly embarrassed. He was glad that Esdese's room was secluded from the rest of the Jaeger's quarters because if they were closer they would have heard Tatsumi and Esdese's "battle" and come rushing in to see if they were under attack only to see well not a battle per say.

"Well the maids are going to get mad cleaning this up," Tatsumi said aloud.

Then all of a sudden arms wrapped around him and a chin fell on his head, "Yes they will be, but it's your fault for being so aggressive," Esdese said in a cute voice.

Knowing he wouldn't be able to escape Tatsumi just tried to play along as he sunk a bit deeper into her grasp which only made him redder in the face, "Hey I'm not the one who jumped on top of me without warning".

"I told you it's your own fault for being so cute and talented, you brought out my predatory side," she said as she went down and nibbled on his ear.

Tatsumi let out a cute noise that excited Esdese and then he said, "Well I'll be careful to not do that again."

She turned him around to face her, all that was covering her was a small towel, "Oh but Tatsumi I want you to continue to do that, grow stronger, and surprise me more because I know you're the perfect man for me," she finished with a delightful grin as she placed a kiss on his forehead.

Tatsumi continued to blush and seeing this Esdese smile let him go and headed for the dresser. She was fishing out one of her spar uniforms as the one she had on yesterday would not be usable again. She then had a realization, "Come to think of it, we haven't gotten you any clothes since you got here, you've just been using spar ones haven't you?"

Tatsumi responded, "Yeah I guess you're right, but I've only been back for a couple of weeks and we have been pretty busy."

She turned to him with a bright smile and said, "Excellent, then since I have today off we shall go on a date and get you some clothes!"

"Okay a date…that makes since," Tatsumi paused and then became frantic, "Wait a DATE?!"

"Well of course like you said we have both been rather busy since you got back, plus you need clothes," she said, "Plus I've wanted to go on a real date with you forever now, the island was nice, but I want to go on a "first" date that other couples do all the time. Yes that sounds perfect, we will make a whole day of it, go clothes shopping, go she a show, grab lunch, and then I had a surprise for you this evening already so it's perfect."

"Wait, but?" Tatsumi said trying to get words out.

"No buts Tatsumi, do I have to make you submit to my will again?" she said with a playful smile almost wishing he would try and resist.

"Well…I mean," he sunk his head, "Fine you win"

"Excellent, well then let's get dressed for today and have some breakfast before we head out," she said as she began to put on clothes but instead of her uniform she began to put on something more casual as she wanted to look cuter for their date.

Tatsumi had never seen her in anything but her uniform and just recently with nothing at all. She finished dressing and turned around to show him her in casual clothes to Tatsumi. It was a simple outfit, a loose white blouse and a black skirt, but with her beautiful body and face she could make any outfit look like an expensive dress as she would glow in anything.

Tatsumi blushed and looked away and thought to himself once again, "_God dammit, how in the world can she be so cute and the next minute be the most feared person in the Empire."_

"Well how does it suit me?" she said waiting on his response.

Without thinking he just thought of the first thing that came to mind, "It's really cute, I'm amazed how you can fit so easy in both casual and formal clothes, you look good in your uniform but I think I like this better."

Esdese blushed and Tatsumi had just realized what he said which made him blush even more than Esdese. They both just stood there until Tatsumi broke the silence trying to end this embarrassing situation, "Well lets go see what is for breakfast shall we?" he said awkwardly laughing as he went to the dresser to get out his last remaining outfit.

Esdese waited for him to get dressed the grabbed his arm to head out to the dining area. Tatsumi was still flushed red at what he had just said and the women hanging on to him very tightly now. But then something hit him, this was the first time he would really get to be out of the palace. The only other time was when he went to Bols's grave and needless to say that ended in an unexpected way. But now he would be in town and in the streets of the capital, this was his chance to get back into contact with Night Raid. Though his biggest obstacle would be with him during that time, if he thought of a way to get a stealthy message to Night Raid this would be his best chance he would have since capture and possibly one of the best in the near future. Tatsumi then began to think of the best way to achieve this plan as they entered the dining room.

When they opened the door the other Jaegers were already present sitting at the table as they turned to see the couple walk in. At first they had a surprised faced on them as this was there first time really seeing Esdese in casual clothing. Ran was the first to speak.

"Good morning, Captain and Tatsumi," Ran said in his usual pleasant tone.

Tatsumi lost in thought was brought back to reality, "Huh…Oh yeah good morning."

Esdese smiled much to the groups surprise as she was in a good mood in anticipation of today's events and the events of last, "Good morning."

Wave and Kurome responded in unison with a good morning of their own.

Tatsumi and Esdese sat down on the same side of the table, Esdese looking overjoyed and Tatsumi embarrassed at the fact she was being so much clingier than before in front of everyone. The other Jaegers didn't really mind as they all smiled at the lovey-dovey couple in front of them.

Then out of the kitchen area came Bols's wife and daughter with a tray of food, no doubt breakfast. Tatsumi looked in surprise as he knew that she asked them to stay here but didn't think it would happen this fast. Mrs. Bols set the food on the table and said, "Good morning everyone, I've prepared breakfast for you all today, I hope you like bacon."

Tatsumi was the only one to say good morning back as the others already knew she was here and upon seeing his surprised look Mrs. Bols turned to him and Esdese bowed and said, "Thank you General Esdese for letting us stay here while we deal with circumstances, we are in your debt again." Bols's daughter also bowed copying her mother's adequate.

Esdese responded, "It is no trouble, I have more or less learned of your situation, I know Tatsumi was going to ask me if you can stay anyway so it is really no trouble, you may stay as long as you need as we sort out your situation. Though it would appear that Tatsumi has more or less taken care of that as well," Esdese turned to look at Tatsumi with a smile.

Tatsumi was in shock at how nice Esdese was being and how his concerns about Bols's family were pretty much put to rest. He had realized that sometime before his and Esdese's "meeting" she had sent one of her men to settle Bols's family into the palace and place them under the Jaeger's guard.

Mrs. Bols's turned straight at Tatsumi and said, "I heard, Tatsumi thank you once again for protecting us, you may still be young but you are already turning out to be a very respectful and caring young man."

Tatsumi smiled and was a bit embarrassed and said, "Please don't worry about it, and I just did what any good person would do."

"Even a good person would not go through so much trouble for just two people so don't discredit yourself Tatsumi, you are not the average boy that's for sure," she said as she stood straight up, "Lady Esdese is quite lucky to have found such a nice partner in yourself."

Before Tatsumi could respond Esdese said, "Yes," she looked at Tatsumi, "I'm the luckiest person in the world."

Tatsumi turned away and blushed and everyone started to giggle. "Well then shall we all eat," Mrs. Bols said as she began to distribute the plates to everyone at the table. Everyone started eating and drinking peacefully but then Mrs. Bols asked a question to Esdese.

"You seem in a very good mood General Esdese did you sleep well last night," Mrs. Bols asked.

"Well it started out rough but in the end it was the best sleep I've ever had," Esdese said in a strange tone and then looked over at Tatsumi with seductive eyes.

Mrs. Bols being and experienced adult picked up on the social queues and blushed slightly, "Oh my…well congratulations."

Ran who was listening in and being a bit older and mature also caught on and started coughing up his drink a bit and his face turned red. Kurome and Wave became confused as they had no idea what was going on.

"Why would she congratulate the Captain for sleeping good…Ran?" Kurome said.

Ran coughed up even more of his food and drink wiped his face off with a napkin and said, "Um well that's not really something I can talk about with a young child in the room," referring to Bols's daughter.

"Why I don't understand," Kurome continued.

"Um…Well you do know that the Captain and Tatsumi are lovers right? And they do share the same room and Tatsumi had only recently just returned to her soooooo…yeah," Ran tried to say in the most nonchalant way possible.

Kurome not one to show much emotion on her face turned bright red and showed heavy embarrassment as she looked down at the table.

"What I still don't understand," Wave said being a very pure country bumpkin much like Tatsumi.

Kurome came over to him and whispered something into his ear. Upon hearing this he too became bright red from ear to ear and steam could be seen coming from his head.

"Oh I see…hahahaha, is that so," Wave said in a kind of depressed tone.

Tatsumi during the entire time of the conversation was probably the most embarrassed as he knew what they were talking about and didn't like his private live being talked especially when it concerned his "interactions" with women.

He thought to himself, "_Someone just kill me now, please god let this conversation end."_

He rose up and started to drink some of his coffee when his wish was granted by Bols's daughter, but not in the way he wanted.

"Hey Tatsumi you and General Esdese are lovers right? Does that mean you two are going to get married and have kids like my mommy and daddy," she said in a cute tone and looked at him in wonder.

Tatsumi upon hearing this spit out the entirety of his coffee he had just drank. He then turned to the child in a shocked face as she giggled from his reaction. He was dumbfounded at the question as he was still processing the conversation just moments ago.

"Uhh…HUH…What?" Tatsumi managed to blurt out. He then turned to everyone at the table as they all started to giggle under their breath as he was stumped by a five year old. Mrs. Bols giggled but also looked embarrassed as it was her child that caused the interesting situation.

Tatsumi then turned to Esdese and her expression would throw him off the most. She was as red as a tomato and when Tatsumi turned to her she looked at him and then turned immediately away from him in embarrassment. Upon seeing this Tatsumi turned just as red as her and thought, "_What the hell is that reaction, I didn't know she could do that, seeing her that embarrassed is not helping the situation."_

In desperation to end this conversation Tatsumi turned to Bols's daughter, "Well, haha ha, that's some adult talk you know and I don't know what the future holds…and ummmm…," he said rubbing the back of his head as he saw in her face that this answer didn't please the girl, "Maybe I guess, I don't know," he finished with a big blush.

"Now dear stop bothering Tatsumi," Mrs. Bols said as she grabbed her daughter and pulled her away.

Tatsumi still red turned towards Esdese meet eyes and they both turned away from each other as they both blushed.

The Jaegers again laughed at both their Captain and comrade beginning to act more and more like an actual couple.

They all finished their meal and Esdese got ready for her date with Tatsumi. Tatsumi went to their room to get something before they left.

Esdese addressed everyone while he was away, "Tatsumi and I will be gone until later tonight so you have the day to do whatever you want."

"Roger," the Jaegers said in unison.

"Now then," Esdese said, "Tatsumi are you ready!"

"Coming give me a sec!" Tatsumi's voice echoed from Esdese's room.

He came back to the common area and Esdese immediately locked their arms together and started pulling him towards the exit still unsure of what to make of today's date.

**Capital downtown**

The looks Tatsumi got were something he had never seen before, a combination of shock, envy, sadness, confusion, and sheer disbelief. This was of course due to the lady who was holding his hand with a smile plastered on her face, the infamous Empire's Strongest General Esdese. The looked upon the women said to be the most heartless and strongest person in the Empire but she was wearing casual clothes looking very happy around the arm of a boy.

Everyone in the crowd thought the same thing, "_Is that really the infamous General Esdese and who the hell is that kid? Is she actually dating that boy?"_

Tatsumi sank his head down in embarrassment and thought, "_I don't know what's worse the embarrassment with the Jaegers this morning or being judged by a thousand strangers at once."_

He let out a huge sigh which Esdese took notice of. She said, "What's wrong Tatsumi are you not enjoying yourself?"

Tatsumi responded, "No, it's not that, it's just that everyone seems to be staring at us."

She looked around, "Wow your right, it's like they haven't seen a couple before."

Tatsumi laughed and thought to himself, "_No I think it's because the most feared person in the world is on a date in the first place making a face like that."_

"Well anyway the more people who know about us the better, now let's go get you some clothes," she said as she pulled him the clothing district.

"Hey you don't have to pull so hard!" Tatsumi said as now the crowd had shifted from confusion to pity for the boy as they knew how that relationship had to be like.

They arrived at the clothing store and opened the doors and upon entering they were greeted by the clerk.

"Welcome to…GENERAL ESDESE…what brings you here...I mean it's a tremendous honor for you to visit my humble shop, what can I do for you today?" The clerk said in a panic.

"Don't be so uptight my boyfriend and I just needed some new clothes so we came to buy some," she said in her usual authoritative tone.

"Boyfriend?" the clerk looked over at Tatsumi in amazement at the word and then looked back at Esdese who was giving him not the nicest of glares, he got scared for a moment and continued, "Well of course please look around and find something you like."

"Thank you," Esdese started moving deeper into the store, "Come on Tatsumi I think you will look really good in black."

Tatsumi let out a big sigh and overheard the clerk whisper something under his breath to another employee, "I don't envy the bastard that's for sure, and I wish him all of god's luck with her."

Tatsumi could only think, "_You have no idea."_

He went over to Esdese who was already looking through clothes and had already selected a few out. They were better well-made and much more expensive than anything he had every owned. Being from a poor village with no parents he just wore whatever fit and being from the North he didn't care what it was or looked like so long as it was warm. Most of the time he would get clothes by hunting and using the fur as warmth though since he was one of the only hunters he would usually give the fur to a young person or and elder who needed it more and had no means of getting their own. Seeing these expensive clothes just made Tatsumi angrier at the Empire knowing that many people were starving yet they could still make such expensive clothes. He at least knew Esdese wasn't going to this store because it was expensive rather because it was the first one she saw. He knew she didn't really care for money or what someone wore but dressing her boyfriend sounded fun to her. In fact Tatsumi thought that she would where animal fur herself if formality didn't dictate as a general she had to wear a uniform. He just had to play along, he needed clothes anyway so it not like he was going to argue at the moment.

"Alright Tatsumi try these on," Esdese said passing him the stack of clothes.

"Right," Tatsumi said knowing he would have no actual say in what he got to wear from this moment on.

Tatsumi tried on all the clothes and came out of the dressing room to show Esdese. You could tell she wasn't picky and just nodded at her selection of her boyfriend's clothes. Tatsumi saw her eyes undressing him in each outfit which made him embarrassed and he covered himself up like a girl would do if a stranger saw her in the shower. This just made Esdese laugh at his uncomfortableness and said, "The girl is the one who is supposed to do that Tatsumi."

"Well known of them have you looking at them like that," Tatsumi said in a very timid tone.

Esdese just laughed more and said, "Clerk we will take all of these, and know show me to your women's section I wish to try things on," she looked back at Tatsumi, "and Tatsumi I'll be needing your opinion," she shot him a wink.

Tatsumi sighed, "Yeah I know," he then thought, "_I know she's messing with me on purpose so why is it still getting to me, god dam she's good at doing that."_

Esdese tried on a few clothes and of course she looked good in all of them and all Tatsumi could say to it was, "Yeah," and "That one's good," which disappointed Esdese a little as she was looking for more of a reaction.

She tried on her last outfit and this one would get the reaction she wanted. She came out of the changing room in a very simple but lovely while sundress. Upon seeing this Tatsumi went speechless and had his mouth wide open as he stared at her in amazement and a little trickle of blood came down his nose.

Esdese asked, "Well what do you think?" as she struck a pose and shot him a wink already knowing what he thought from his obvious facial expression though she still wanted to hear him say it.

All Tatsumi could say was, "Wow," and then shut his mouth and fixed his face as he realized what he was doing, "I mean yeah it looks good on you I guess."

Esdese grinned and said, "Then I'll take this one,"

Tatsumi was a bit surprised and thought, "_Am I that easy to read?"_

Esdese said, "Yes you are when it comes to stuff like this."

"You can read my mind too?" Tatsumi said in shock.

"No I just told you your easy to read in this kind of situation," she said laughing and took his arm again still in the new dress, "Alright lets go."

"Wait don't you have to pay a take the clothes," Tatsumi said frantically as they headed toward the exit.

"Don't worry servants from the palace will come and pay and take the clothes back to the room," she said as the exited. The clerk and the rest of the employees gave them a bow as they exited and said, "Thank you for allowing us to serve you," they were all relieved a bit as they left.

The rest of the day was just as embarrassing for Tatsumi as when they had lunch Esdese forced him to let her feed her. Then they went to a play where she made them hold hands the entire time. But it wasn't all bad as he could honestly say that a change of pace from training and missions was a good thing. He had to admit while it was embarrassing he was enjoying himself the most since he was captured.

As they were ending the day they were walking in the streets when Tatsumi saw what he was looking for all day. He saw Lubbock's book store that acted as a secret base for Night Raid. Before they left today when he was in Esdese's room "grabbing" something, he was actually writing a quick report on what he had seen and heard from inside the palace. It was his hope that he would be able to get to the store and somehow leave it there without Esdese noticing. But first he had to get into the store and hopefully Lubbock was there so he could get it to him.

"Hey Esdese do you mind if we stop at that book store, there is a book I wanted to see if they have," Tatsumi said.

"Oh, I didn't know you liked to read Tatsumi…okay there are some books I would like too so let's go," Esdese said with a smile.

They walked towards the book store and in fact Lubbock was there in disguise. Since Wave had seen him during their fight at the church and he didn't know if his identity was circulating through the capital yet he played it safe. Normally Night Raid would abandon the hideout but it was in a good position in the capital and as long as he stayed in disguise there shouldn't be a problem. Also since Tatsumi's capture they were trying to get back in communication with him, and their hopes were about to be realized.

Lubbock saw the "couple" approaching to his shock he said, "Tatsumi…oh shit," as he saw Esdese. Then Lubbock said to himself, "_Calm down your in disguise and Esdese wasn't the one who saw you, plus I'm sure it was Tatsumi's idea to come here_ _probably to try and give me a report just stay calm and you should be fine._" He then looked at Tatsumi on the arm of Esdese looking all lovey-dovey, "_But dammit Tatsumi for having such a hottie all over you, I don't care if she's evil or not you bastard."_

Esdese and Tatsumi walked in and Lubbock welcomed them, "Welcome please come in and see what we have."

Esdese let go of Tatsumi and said, "Okay I'm going to look for what I want and you do the same."

"Right, I'll meet you at the register," Tatsumi said.

Esdese went to the back of the store in her search. Lubbock was about to say something to Tatsumi but the Tatsumi started talking.

"Excuse me could you show me where you keep your adventuring novels please," Tatsumi said acting very casual.

Lubbock smiled and thought, "_Smart Tatsumi staying in your role, you're an assassin after all I should play along too,"_ he then said, "Yes right this way."

Lubbock took him into the section of books and said, "If you need anything else just ask."

"Thank you," Tatsumi said.

Lubbock then left but made sure he had eyes on Tatsumi as well as a broad range of the store.

Tatsumi browsed the books and found one called _Assassins in the Night _which he thought was appropriate and picked out. He acted like he was reading it when he quickly got out his folded up report and put it in one of the pages and then put it back and picked out a few more to act like he was reading. Then from behind Esdese came and said, "Did you find your book?"

Tatsumi was a bit shocked, hopefully not so much to throw up suspicion and said, "Yeah its right here." He showed her a book called _Northern Hero_, which was actually one of the few books Tatsumi liked. "It's a story about a person from a small village who set out on an adventure to save the village and on his journey became a great hero who everyone adored." Tatsumi liked this book because it reminded him of his own circumstances and what he wanted to do when he set off to the capital. But upon saying this he became sad as he remembered Sayo and Ieyasu and his own village.

His tone got sadder, "I like it because it's something I wanted to do for my village, in fact that's why I came to the capital…" he paused, "But now…" a tear fell down his face and he whispered, "I haven't sent a single thing back to them with all that's happened."

Esdese looked at Tatsumi looking rather sad, "Tatsumi?"

Tatsumi shook his head and came back to reality, "It's nothing, are you ready?"

Esdese looked concerned but then just went along with Tatsumi, "yeah". She would want to ask him later what that was about but for now she put on a smile and walked toward the register with Tatsumi.

Lubbock checked them out and watched them leave. When they were out the door and far enough away he went towards the bookshelf Tatsumi was looking at and wondered if he had left a note. He then saw the book _Assassins in the Night_ and said, "Ha, good one Tatsumi," he opened it and took out the note. "I need to get this back to everyone, time to close up shop."

Meanwhile back with Esdese and Tatsumi, Tatsumi looked back at the store and thought, "_I hope that helps, I wish you guys all the luck and safety in the world right now, stay safe_."

He then looked back at Esdese, "By the way what was this surprise you said you had for tonight".

"Oh you remembered, well we are going to have dinner with the Prime Minister and the Emperor tonight. Apparently the Prime Minister told the Emperor about our reunion and he wanted to meet you for some time. I also had a favor to ask him so it works out perfectly." She said very nonchalant.

"Oh the Emperor huh...WAIT WHATTTTT!" Tatsumi screamed as he realized he was about to meet the ruler of the country and one of Night Raids prime targets.

**Hope you enjoy and look forward to the next one.**


	6. Chapter 6

**Hope Everyone is having a good New Year and I don't know about you but I'm about to go back to school so if you're in the same boat good luck with that as well. With school I don't know how it will affect my updates, normally it would hinder it but I find writing to relax me from school work so I actually might update more (NO PROMISES). But I hope you continue to enjoy my story and thanks again for reading. Also I keep saying that the next chapter will be about Tatsumi's new teigu but as I write the chapters become longer than I initially think so I will have to push it back another chapter. I'm sorry for getting anyone's hopes up but I would rather the chapter be a manageable size and get you your new chapters and have them flow good than rush the story. Thanks for your understanding.**

Chapter 6: Dinner Party

**Outskirts of Capital, Night Raid HQ**

All of Night Raid was standing around the meeting room surrounding their boss Najenda as she discussed new information and possible targets for missions in the coming days. They were all listening intently when they heard the door slam open as they all turned around to see a sweaty Lubbock panting from exhaustion.

"Lubbock what are you doing here, you are supposed to be on standby in the Capital," Najenda said.

"I know Boss but I just got contacted by Tatsumi and he gave me a report so I ran back here as quickly as possible," Lubbock said still out of breath.

"What?!" Najenda said as she jumped out of her chair and the rest turned fully around equally in shock.

"Is Tatsumi okay?" Mine asked with great concern.

"Well anyone with such a beautiful lady on his arm is doing better than okay in my opinion," Lubbock said trying to lighten the mood but have it only backfire.

They all shot him stares of annoyance and slight anger but none as angry as Mine. Mine was so annoyed and mad at this comment that Lubbock could literally see fire in her eyes as she began to reach for her Pumpkin making Lubbock fear for his life.

Lubbock put his hands in front of himself and waved them frantically, "I'm kidding, it was a joke, he looks fine…OH GOD DON'T SHOOT!"

Lubbock closed his eyes in anticipation of getting shot put when it didn't happen he opened his eyes only to receive a punch in the face by Mine. For someone who was a marksman and not into close combat she hit incredibly hard as Lubbock fell to the ground.

He then grabbed the report Lubbock had and gave it to Najenda to present to the rest of Night Raid.

Najenda cleared her throat looking over at Lubbock almost in pity but thought he deserved what he got and then said, "Alright I'll read Tatsumi's report to everyone and then we can discuss our next step."

She read aloud the following:

_Hello everyone I hope you are doing well and have gotten your strength back. First of all I would like to say that I'm alright and that everything appears to be going smoothly on my end. I gave this report to Lubbock through the secret hideout in the bookstore. I feel that this will be a good place to pass along reports for a little bit, but hopefully a better approach can be made as continuing to go to the hideout could draw suspicion. _

_I'll start by addressing the information I have learned about dealing with us of Night Raid. Thankfully it would appear that they have found no traces of our base or other plans at the moment. However we should be as cautious as ever, as they are expanding their search more and more and the assassination of Borick has put them on an even higher alert. The Prime Minister has sent out even more scouts and Esdese is using even more of her own resources to track you down. They have also prioritized high level VIPS with even more elite guards. Sorry I don't really have any names but if you are thinking of them as your next targets it would be wise to aspect that they are under a heavier guard as of this moment. Saying all this, while they are putting a bit more effort in finding and stopping us their main targets have shifted to the Revolutionary Army in the South and the Western Armies in the West which leads me the my second part._

_The Empire has been made fully aware of both armies movements and has begun preparations in order to counter the attacks. While I haven't heard any official troop movements as of now I have heard a few talks about pulmonary talks. As of now they want to send Esdese to the Western Front to deal with the Western Tribes in a quick and efficient way much like Northern Tribes so they can turn all their attention on the Revolutionary army. In the meantime they plan on having General Budo fortify certain bases to the south to stall the armies advance to give Esdese enough time to finish of the Western Tribes. General Budo will also fortify the Capital while readying his Royal Guard. Other Generals will also be sending their armies as back up and have other roles depending on how this all plays out. I'm not sure how soon this plan or another plan will go into effect but I imagine it will happen soon as both armies are beginning to move. _

_The next issue is the Jaegers and there current fighting strength. As you are aware the current members consist of Esdese, Wave, Kurome, Ran, and I guess myself at the moment. Everyone has recovered fully except for Kurome. It would appear that the injury Chelsea gave Kurome is still deeply effecting Kurome's fighting strength as it would seem it is still slowing her and her reaction speed and strength are lowered. She only appears to have two puppets left, the lance wielder and the gun user. On a more personal note Esdese seems extremely angry with us as she has been upset at the fact she thinks that you "stole" me away from you. This is why she is using more of her personal resources to hunt you down so be extremely careful with any recon of her; best leave it to me at the moment. However I believe Night Raid should focus on a potentially more dangerous target at this moment, which leads me to the most important part of the report._

_Recently a new team has been formed within the Capital with dealing with anti-governmental entities in the Empire. They call themselves Wild Hunt and they appear to be a new group of extremely dangerous Teigu users. A very important thing to note is that their leader, a man named Syura, is the Prime Minister's son. I don't know a lot about them except they all are extremely dangerous and are abusing their power by exploiting innocent people with the Prime Ministers name. Sadly I don't know about all their Teigus or their backgrounds but I will give you what I do know. _

_Syura: Tall and fit man in his mid-twenties, dark skin, white hair, X shaped scar on his face, and of course the Prime Minister's son… __Asshole._

_Champ: Big fat guy dressed like a clown (hard to miss), dark skin…__Pedophilic Asshole._

_Izou: Tall man most likely in his late twenties, long black hair in a ponytail, dresses like a samurai. I have personally fought him and while I don't know if he has a Teigu or not he is a very skilled swordsman almost as good as Akame. Even with a Teigu I believe he would be a formidable opponent…__Sword obsessed Asshole._

_Enshin: Tall skinny man, light skin, bowl cut, seems to be a sword wielder…__Super Asshole._

_Dorothea: Short childlike girl (I don't know how old she is), wears a strange dress, blonde hair…She bit me, but in all seriousness, is there a Teigu that give you vampire teeth because if so she has it._

_Cosmina: A tall woman, short brown hair, glasses, dresses in very flashy clothing. She is the only person I can confirm with a Teigu. Its appears to be a microphone shaped Teigu that turns her voice into powerful shockwaves…__I think she is trying to hit on me…it creeps me out__._

_Sorry this is all the information I have so far on them. But in my opinion if it is possible I would focus less on the Jaegers and more on this new group. They are all unstable people who not only pose a threat to the Revolution but also to the common people. They also have much closer relations with the Prime Minister and seem to have no leash when it comes to what they can do. They were said to be created to make up for the Jaegers recent losses so they might be working with them closely in the coming months so I will try to get more information on their Teigus if possible._

_This is all the information I believe to be of importance and had to make this as short as possible because Esdese is always around and this is probably the first time I had enough time to write this and the only time I have been out of the Palace since being captured. I wish you all the best of luck, I miss you guys a lot, please stay safe and hopefully we will be able to finish this revolution soon so I can see you guys again._

_Tatsumi_

"That's everything," Najenda said still processing all the information.

"There are even more Teigus now, when will we get a break," Leone said.

"Well at least the information regarding the two armies matched our suspicions and our reports," Lubbock said now back on his feet.

Akame was silent as she was still processing the bit about her sister's condition.

"Shouldn't we try to get Tatsumi out of there now since we have all this information now? Who knows what things Esdese has been trying on him," Mine said with concern not knowing what Esdese had already done to Tatsumi.

"I'm sorry Mine but we still need Tatsumi on the inside. Like he said in his report he doesn't know the exact troop movements of the enemy yet. Plus we need to learn as much as we can about this Wild Hunt. It's a good thing he told us about them otherwise we would be going into missions blind to a new enemy with Teigus. So for now he has to stay," Najenda said.

"But…" Mine said before Leone interrupted her by putting a hand on her shoulder and saying,

"Don't worry, Tatsumi's strong and smart, he will be just fine".

Mine clenched her fists and said, "Yeah I know," knowing that this was for the good of the future, but still was upset because of her newfound feelings for Tatsumi.

"So master what is our next move," Suu said.

Najenda took a puff of her cigarette and spoke, "For now I will relay this information to the Revolutionary Army and our Western Allies and wait to hear back from them so that we can plan our next move. For now we will be on standby and continue to monitor Tatsumi, the Jaegers, and Wild Hunt from a safe position. That is all for now," Najenda paused, "and don't worry I believe that Tatsumi will pull through with this we all need to follow his example and do our duty for the future of this country…Dismissed".

"Roger!" everyone said as their spirits were all a bit lifted after their bosses speech.

**Imperial Palace, Nighttime **

Tatsumi and Esdese were walking down the hallways of the palace towards the Emperors personal dinning quarters. After their date they went back to their room to change into more formal clothing for dinner with the Emperor. Tatsumi was dressed in a suit and put his hair into the style he had when he went on the giant boat disguised as noble and where he and Bulat fought the Three Beasts. Esdese was wearing an elegant red evening gown, again she made whatever she wore even more spectacular and it made Tatsumi embarrassed to look her way. Esdese just smiled at Tatsumi enjoying the way he was wearing his hair. Tatsumi though was as nervous as hell, disregarding the fact that he was a part of Night Raid, he was about to meet the Emperor and whether he was just a puppet of the Prime Minister or not he was an extremely important person. Before Tatsumi joined Night Raid it was his dream to join the army and become someone of high rank and eventually meet the Emperor, obviously things had changed since then but Tatsumi could feel his own dream creepy back a little Night Raid member or not. Plus not only was he meeting the Emperor as a Jaeger but also as Esdese's lover if the pressure wasn't already high enough.

Esdese noticed Tatsumi's discomfort and giggled, "What's wrong Tatsumi, nervous? You're just meeting the person who runs the entire Empire what's there to be nervous about, I've seen you take down a colossal danger beast with no problem and fear in your eyes but now you get scared about meeting a little boy?"

"Yeah well I think I would rather take on about ten of those danger beasts than have dinner with the Emperor right now. You know you could have given me more warning that we were going to not only meet but have dinner with the Emperor you know," Tatsumi said a bit mad about the circumstances.

Esdese laughed again, "Well I wanted to surprise you," she then leaned onto Tatsumi rubbing her body against his, "plus I wanted him to meet the man that I love, is that so wrong?"

Tatsumi began to blush as she was much to close again, "Well I guess not…but please tell me you're not going to be this clingy around the Emperor, it's a bit…I mean really embarrassing."

Esdese leaned in closer to throw Tatsumi off more, "Hmmm, I don't know this is how I show my love so I can't make any promises," she finished as she kissed him on the cheek.

Tatsumi sighed as they reached the door of the dining room and whispered under his breath, "Well this should turn out to be an interesting night."

The doors were opened by two guards and the couple entered the room. There they saw the Prime Minister and the Emperor at the table talking but they turned as the two entered the room. Tatsumi took a big gulp and walked inside with Esdese to be in front of the Emperor. When Tatsumi got close enough he kneeled down bowing to the Emperor.

"My Emperor, it is a great honor to meet you," Tatsumi said as he bowed his head in submission. He didn't like acting so submissive especially in front of the puppet Emperor and the fat Prime Minister but he had to keep up his character.

"Ah, please stand up there is no need to be formal right now, you are here as my honored guest so please be at ease," the boy Emperor spoke with a smile as he had wanted to meet the man that had become Esdese's lover.

Tatsumi stood up slightly embarrassed and said, "Thank you".

Esdese laughed a little at his embarrassment and gave a small bow to the Emperor, "My Emperor and Prime Minister, thank you for inviting us for dinner."

"Yes it is no problem at all, the Emperor has been quite persistent about meeting Tatsumi and having this dinner so I felt it was time we did," the Prime Minister said with a smile.

As he said this Tatsumi noticed the joy in the Emperor's eyes as the Prime Minister spoke. It is here he realized how young he was and how much of a hold Honest had on the boy. He felt actually sorry for the boy now as he saw his age and realized that without parents he could only imagine a boy of that age wanting a person who he could trust and help him run this country. Unfortunately for the Empire the bastard Honest got to him first.

"Pleas have a seat, dinner should be out shortly," the Emperor said as he motioned them toward the very luxurious table.

Esdese grabbed Tatsumi by the hand and lead him there. Esdese and Tatsumi sat on the long side of the table while the Emperor and Prime Minister sat on the ends.

As they got settled in the Emperor spoke, "I must say it is a great honor to meet you Tatsumi. The Prime Minister has told me a lot about you. I have heard how you and General Esdese met and how you were reunited after you were captured by Night Raid. I can only look at this and say it is destiny that you two are together, I find it very romantic," the boys tone was that of amazement and joy as he talked.

Esdese smile at this and held Tatsumi's hand under the table, "Yes I must thank the gods for giving me Tatsumi so soon after I was searching for a lover. I would never have dreamed that a man that meet my requirement and even surpassed them would show up. You are right, its can only be called destiny I am so very happy."

Tatsumi blushed at this, he had known that Esdese had feelings for him, but lately when she spoke of it he could tell she was truly happy and in love with him and the way she spoke was out of character, it actually made Tatsumi fell humbled and very lucky that a women like her cared so much about him.

"Well I am also happy that you have found someone the matches you perfectly," the Prime Minister said, "I have told the Emperor of Tatsumi's battle prowess and that in no time he will be as strong as a fighter as yourself under your tutelage."

"Yes I look forward to seeing it for myself, Tatsumi soon you must show me your skills the Prime Minister has assured me I will be impressed," the Emperor said as he smiled at Tatsumi.

"It would be an honor, but I am only as good as I am because of Esdese, she is a great teacher and I wouldn't be much without her," Tatsumi said trying to sound as humble as possible. To an extent it was true as in the last couple of weeks of Esdese's training he could already tell how much stronger he had become.

"Now Tatsumi do not sell yourself so short you were extremely strong even before I found you. My Emperor you heard that I have found him at my tournament correct?" Esdese said.

"Yes I heard he showed great skill and easily won against his opponent who was four time his size and a master at martial arts," the Emperor said as he was interested in listening to the story.

"Yes, to be honest when I first saw Tatsumi I didn't really know what to think of him. But when I saw his battle ready eyes before the fight and then watched he demonstrated superb skill for a boy his age and I became immediately interested in him. And then he showed me that pure smile that took my breath away and I knew in that moment that this boy was the one for me and no one else in this world could even come close to him," Esdese finished as she held Tatsumi's hand tighter and gave him a big and cute smile that made him blush.

"_So that's it,"_ Tatsumi thought to himself. He had wondered ever since she knocked him out and called him her partner why she had done that, that day. He had only thought it was because of his combat abilities, he had no idea that it was his smile after his victory that sealed the deal. He looked back at Esdese who was still sporting her smile and he turned away and looked down at the table in embarrassment rubbing the back of his neck with his free hand. "_Geez you idiot why did you have to smile like a kid?" _is the only thing he could say to himself in the current moment.

The Emperor looked at both Esdese's and Tatsumi's expressions and in his eyes saw a couple truly meant for each other and this made him smile. Still a young boy he was infatuated with stories of adventure, heroism, and love, and seeing his strongest general with her lover it made him feel as if he was living in one of those stories.

The Prime Minister smile at this as well but for a different reason. Like he suspected getting to Tatsumi was truly the best chance he had ever had at truly controlling Esdese entirely. "Yes ever since the Emperor has heard of you two love birds he has been speaking about finding the perfect lover for himself , it appears you twos love is infectious," the Prime Minister said.

The Emperor blushed at this and then Esdese said, "Well you are still young my Emperor, but I am sure when you grow up we will find you the perfect partner and you can have the greatest love in the world".

"Really?" the Emperor said in excitement, just the thought of it made his little boy heart beat in anticipation.

"Yes," the Prime Minister said, "We shall find you the perfect women to share your life with, in fact," in raised his glass, "here is a cheers to General Esdese and Tatsumi for their love to last forever and to you my Emperor for finding love in the future. And who knows maybe I'll find someone as well. Cheers!" The Prime Minister said as everyone raised their glasses. After they drank the food began coming out.

It was a great spread of food unlike anything Tatsumi had ever seen before. Again he got kind of mad at the wealth of the nobles and how little the common people had. If he had to guess the amount of exotic and rare food that was brought out probably cost more than the average income the common family would make in three months if not more. In fact there might be more food here than that family would get in a month and could feed his poor village for weeks, but no matter how much it angered him he had to keep up his character in this act he was doing.

As he stared at the food the Prime Minister asked, "What's wrong Tatsumi is it not to your liking?"

Tatsumi looked up laughed and said, "Ah, no everything looks great; it's just that I haven't seen anything like this. I come from a pretty small village so I've never seen such fancy food so it's a bit overwhelming I guess."

"Ah yes I forget you come from humble beginnings like Esdese, I am sure that your village is proud of your achievements in the capital," he said.

"Yeah I'm sure they are," Tatsumi said. But he was really thinking, "_But it's because of you and your fat friends that my and everyone else's villages are in such bad shape. God I wish I could get this fat bastard right now!_"

Esdese looked over and noticed that Tatsumi was a bit uncomfortable with the situation even though he sounded fine. Again at the mention of his village Tatsumi became tense, she had to know what was going on in his head, she wanted to know everything about Tatsumi his past, his thoughts, his dreams, everything so that she could make him fully hers.

They all began to eat and for a little bit it was quite as they enjoyed their food. Even if Tatsumi didn't like the fact that they were essentially wasting food he had to admit it tasted good and he thought no wonder the Prime Minister was so fat. But Tatsumi's meal was about to be interrupted again in a very similar manner to this morning.

"So General Esdese and Tatsumi are you planning on getting married so you can lock down your love," the Emperor said not meaning to cause any incident.

Tatsumi caught off guard again began to chock on his food and had to chuck his water to make it go down. He thought to himself, "_God dammit what is with kids and wanting to know about my marriage plans, was I this nosey when I was that young?"_

Again Esdese blushed at the thought as Tatsumi panicked. This again was a face that neither the Prime Minister nor the Emperor had ever seen the Ice Queen make, one of embarrassment that one would see on a school girl.

Tatsumi was at a loss for words when Esdese chimed in, "Yes of course it is my dream to get married and spend the rest of my life with Tatsumi," she said as she gazed at Tatsumi with very affectionate eyes further throwing Tatsumi for a loop.

"Splendid then I have a proposition, I would like to throw you two an engagement party," the child Emperor said filled with joy.

"Really?!" both Tatsumi and Esdese said at the same time for different reasons. Esdese being one of joy while Tatsumi being one of fear at the announcement.

"Yes I believe with all the commotion the rebels are causing that a wedding announcement about the Strongest in the Empire, General Esdese, and the up and coming Jaeger, Tatsumi, will boost the peoples moral in these stressful times. Plus General Esdese has earned a grand party for all her accomplishments. So what do you say?"

Tatsumi was flustered but tried to talk his way out of it, "Well my Emperor what you say might be true, but as you say there are the pressing matters of both the Revolutionary Army and Western Tribes attacking. Plus Esdese and I would be busy dealing with that and not to mention all the time and planning you would need to do when it should be focusing on protecting the Empire. So I think we should hold off until at least we defeat one of the opponents and assure everyone is safe," Tatsumi said believing that neither the Revolutionary Army nor the Western Tribes would be defeated in to quick a time so as he could finish his mission and leave before this plan became finalized.

Tatsumi looked over at Esdese and said, "Right?" Esdese put on a slight pout and was visibly disappointed but knew he was right to an extent and said, "Yes you may be right we need to destroy our enemies first however…My Emperor I have an idea and request about this situation."

"Yes what is it?" the Emperor said wondering what it could be.

"I propose that you let me go to the Western front like previously discussed. I will deal with these pests quickly and efficiently like I did with the Northerners. Then when I return we can throw the party and Tatsumi and I can officially be engaged which would give the boost in moral you spoke of and then we can focus all our efforts on wiping out this rebellion," she said as her tone had returned to her usual dominate General voice.

The Emperor put on a large grin, "As always General Esdese you impress me not only with your strength in battle but your strategy and planning. This plan is perfect in every way it is like killing three birds with one stone."

"Yes your Majesty it is a perfect plan I agree with you. In fact I shall begin planning all three steps so we can quickly put out the fire of this foolish rebellion," the Prime Minister said as this followed his plan more or less to the letter.

"Excellent then we shall do just that!" the Emperor said

Tatsumi was baffled at how fast that happened his future was just decided for him in a matter of minutes. He wanted to try and protest but as he saw the three most powerful people in the Empire in agreement he knew that he had absolutely no say in the matter. His only hope now was that his friends in Night Raid and the Revolutionary Army were successful in the rebellion and quick so they could save him from this predicament.

"Great thank you my Emperor, but this leads me to the request I wish to ask you," Esdese said.

"Yes name it and if I am able I shall grant it," the Emperor said.

"Yes in order to quickly deal with these rebel scums I would like you to give me permission to access the Teigu storage and give Tatsumi a Teigu so that he may aid me in the battle against the Westerners," she said with a confident voice.

Everyone in the room was shocked at this statement but none more than Tatsumi. "_So that was the real surprise she was talking about, a new Teigu."_ Tatsumi was torn to acquire another Teigu for Night Raid could be a huge plus but he would have to use it against the Western Tribes which were helping further the plans of the rebellion, what was he to do?

The Prime Minister was the first to chime in on the matter, "I agree with the General my Emperor. I have personally seen Tatsumi's skill in battle and under Esdese's guidance I believe he will become another powerful weapon for the Empire."

The Emperor paused for a moment but with the reassurance of his right hand man and his most powerful General his decision was easy, "Very well, Tatsumi I hereby grant you permission to give you a Teigu so you may aid General Esdese in crushing this rebellion."

Tatsumi paused in shock but had to be quick to keep up character and protocol. For now he would accept this new Teigu with the idea that he could use it for Night Raid to further their cause and he would deal with what to do about the Western Tribes and this engagement later. "Thank you my Emperor, you give me a great honor, you shall not be disappointed," Tatsumi said in a confident voice.

Esdese was nothing but smiles as she saw this confident Tatsumi and the fact that she had just given her already strong lover one on the greatest weapons every created. She was also promised an engagement party for her and her soul mate so in her eyes everything in the world was going right.

"Well another toast to the future of a great warrior and for the Empire to last another thousand years!" the Prime Minister said raising his glass.

They all did the same as they drank and finished their meals and all began to retire to their quarters. Esdese was holding onto Tatsumi's arm the entire way back as happy as one could be because of all the events that had just happened. Tatsumi who would usually be embarrassed was deep in thought about the events that had just transpired and what the future would hold.

"Aren't you excited Tatsumi? Soon you will have a Teigu and then soon after that we will be engaged and then married. It's wonderful isn't it?" Esdese said in an excited tone.

Tatsumi went back into reality and said, "Yeah I guess it is *laugh* but it's all happening a little fast isn't it?"

"Well maybe a little but you were away from me for so long, so think of it as making up for that time," she said with a smile.

They arrived at their room, closed the door and sat on the bed. Tatsumi was again deep in thought, he began thinking about his village again, then his past, and then about all the lives that he had seen been lost and powerless to do anything about it. "Everything is just happening so fast I just…" He began to get depressed and angry and Esdese noticed this.

"Tatsumi?" Esdese said in a concerned tone that got Tatsumi's attention, "What's wrong, ever since we finished our date you have seemed off. Is everything okay, are you not happy?"

Tatsumi could sense her true concern with his mind set, she really did care too much about him. He took a deep breath, the least he could do was give her the truth, at least most of it.

"Yeah I'm fine it's just I have been thinking a lot about what's happened in the past and what's happening lately. For some reason I got forget all the terrible things that have happened in my life even though I thought I have moved on and have become stronger because of them, but I keep on going back to them," he said.

Esdese sat down right next to him and put her hand on his. "Tatsumi please tell me. I want to know everything about you, your past, present, hopes, and dreams. Please tell me what is troubling you; I don't want to see you feel this way. You know that I'll always be there for you and I want you to feel the next to me is the safest place on Earth so please tell me what's wrong."

This pulled at Tatsumi's heart strings like no other. Her kindness and compassion towards him and only him just fed the internal conflict that was already deep in his mind, body, and soul. Why did she only show this face to him, why did she have to care so much for him that made him feel guilty for being someone who could not yet accept all those feelings even though she put her all into it. Why this? "_Why me?_"

"Okay I've told you about my time in the village, so I'll tell you what happened on my way to the capital and what happened when I arrived and why it changed me forever," he would tell her everything that didn't have to do with Night Raid, it was the least he could do.

Esdese looked at him square in the eyes and listen intently as if they were the last people on Earth. She didn't care what he had to say, she was just happy he was telling her about himself, just hearing his voice was enough for her.

"My village is heavily taxed for no good reason. We were already a poor and small village to begin with so when the Empire increased the taxes on us we could barely manage to survive. There were not a lot of young people either so there wasn't a lot of work that could be done about the state of the village. I myself was an orphan, I didn't even know my parents, but the local blacksmith took me in and trained me in a lot of things including how to fight, I owe him a hell of a lot. The state of the village only got worse over the years, but when I was old enough and thought myself ready me and two of my friends, Ieyasu and Sayo, set off to the capital. Our goal was to get high positions in the military to earn a lot of money we could send back to the village. Ieyasu and Sayo were amazing I had no doubt that they would make it far in the military and I thought I was pretty good myself." Tatsumi said laughing at the memories he had of those two.

"What, but when I met you were not in the military, surely you got in?" Esdese said as she was a bit shocked that Tatsumi had originally planned to join the military.

"Yeah it is actually kind of funny now that I think about it. On our way to the Capital I got separated from the other two after a bandit attack. However I was confident that they would head to the Capital and we would meet up there. Once I arrived I went straight to the recruitment office to enlist. However when I got there they said they were only accepting grunts since the enrollment was so high. I wasn't really happy about being a grunt and I was arrogant enough to think I could become an officer right away so I kind of mouthed off and made an ass of myself. Needless to say they kicked me to the curb…literally."

"_What they kicked Tatsumi out of recruitment?! How is that even possible?! Even if he was a little mouthy his vast skill should be apparent to a blind man. If that stupid recruiter would have let him in and made him an officer I would have heard of him with his superior skills I would have found him right away. I might just have to visit this office later to "investigate"," _Esdese thought angered that she couldn't have Tatsumi sooner.

Tatsumi continued, "Then I "lost" all my money and was about to live on the street for a while. But then a noble girl came up to me and offered me a place to stay. I being a country boy thought that this was just a simple kindness so I gladly accept. I thought my luck was turning around, boy was I wrong. I stayed the night not thinking anything bad would happen, but then the next night everything changed," Tatsumi said as he was about to alter the story a bit in order not to connect him to Night Raid. "The next night I saw the young women, named Aria, go to a storage facility on their property multiple times. I got curios as to what was in there so late at night I snuck out to see what it was. That's when I found it, that awful place. It was a torture chamber that the entire family used for their sick games. And then I saw them, my friends in the awful place," Tatsumi started to get more emotional and his voice got louder. "Sayo was already dead and couldn't even say goodbye to her. And Ieyasu was on the brink of death. He had been drugged by the mother and he told me that the girl Aria offered them a place to stay and instead drugged them to play in their twisted game. Aria was the one who killed Sayo, and then Ieyasu died in my arms. I wasn't…I wasn't strong enough to save them. I was so angry that I snapped, I snapped and I found the family. I confronted them and they laughed about it saying that they didn't care what happened to a bunch of hicks from the country. I lost it and I killed them I KILLED EVERY LAST ONE OF THEM," Tatsumi started to scream as he re-lived that moment, while he only killed Aria and Night Raid had killed the rest, he had wish what he said was true. If Night Raid wouldn't have killed the rest he would be more than happy to. "I took my friends body and buried them; I couldn't go back to the Capital very much since I might be found out to be a murder. So I trained in the woods to make myself stronger so that I wouldn't have to lose anyone else. I made some new friends and we tried to help the innocent people. But because they had different beliefs than the Empire they were killed by corrupt people," again Tatsumi wasn't telling the whole truth but he knew that Night Raid fought for a just cause and even though they were murderers and he and everyone else in Night Raid knew that one day they would be punished for their crimes they knew that these things had to be done. Still even though it wasn't the whole truth his emotions when talking about them were no lies, "A lot of them died in front of me and I was powerless again to save them."

Esdese looked at Tatsumi in worry she had no idea that Tatsumi had gone through so many things in his short time in the Capital. To be honest she knew of the corruption and greed of the capital and she knew that to an extent she was a cog in that machine but didn't care. In her mind Tatsumi's friends died because they were weak and he lived because he was strong. He didn't care what happened with that noble family of the band of "do-gooders" Tatsumi was with, but she did care about Tatsumi. Seeing him sad and upset about his past in turn made her feel sad as she did not like to see Tatsumi this way. It made her feel things in her chest that she had never felt. It was the feeling of caring for someone else that wasn't herself, her caring for Tatsumi the only man she would love.

"So that's why, that's why I hate the Empire, why I hate the nobles, and why I feel that the Revolutionary Army is just! Esdese I know you know these things go on and I know you think it happens to these people because there weak," Tatsumi said as tears came down his eyes, "But I…but I can't accept such a cruel world, so that's why I get stronger so I can change it…change this twisted and corrupted world! But I promised myself…I promised myself that I wouldn't cry anymore for all those who have died…I promised myself I wouldn't cry and I would stay strong and not lose to this world."

Tatsumi's tears began to come out more and more and it pained Esdese's heart. She never wanted to see Tatsumi like this it made her feel awful like she too wanted to destroy the world just for making Tatsumi hurt so much. She put out her hands and grabbed Tatsumi's face and brought her forehead to his. "Oh my Tatsumi, you have experienced so much pain and suffering," Esdese said as she began to rub her hand through his head, "but it is okay now, now I'm here and I won't let anything harm you ever again. I promise that if you stay with me that you will get the power you desire to change this world. It's okay now I'm here with you now."

Upon hearing this Tatsumi just let go of all his emotions and began to sob and yell out all his pain. He grabbed on to Esdese and held tighter and tighter as all he wanted to do at that moment was let everything go and have this women who cared about him comfort him.

Esdese was happy to oblige as when he grabbed on to her she let herself fall and lay on the bed. She fixed Tatsumi onto her body and she just cradled him with her entire body and let him cry. She stroked his head and continued to tell him everything would be alright as long as she was with him.

It was a strange feeling to her, comforting someone like this. Seryu had cried like this after Dr. Stylish had died and Esdese had comforted her. However she only did it to have her more dedicated to her and make her get back on track in hunting down Night Raid. She knew that being an emotional anchor could inspire soldiers in certain ways. While losing Dr. Stylish's brain and Teigu were a loss, he died because he was weak and she cried because she was weak, she didn't necessarily care about Seryu's well-being, just her skills. But with Tatsumi it was because she cares, she wanted him to be happy and full of life. She didn't care about his friends, she didn't feel bad for them she felt bad for him. Tatsumi survived because he was strong and if he had to vent his emotions by crying into her arms then she would let him do it as much as he wanted so long as he just stayed by her side.

Tatsumi felt a little better as Esdese held him passionately in her arms and after he calmed down a bit he fell asleep in her arms. He was at peace in her arms and as she held onto him, he held onto her as it comforted him in his sleeps. They both fell into a deep sleep as they were both wrapped tight in each other's arms.


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter 7: Tatsumi's new Teigu

Morning came again to the capital as light shinned through into Esdese's room awakening Tatsumi. However this time around instead of Esdese using Tatsumi as a body pillow, Tatsumi was the one holding on to Esdese around her stomach. Esdese simply had her arms around Tatsumi's head cradling it and Tatsumi's face was securely in Esdese's cleavage.

Tatsumi got red and the sight and his recollection of last night. He had cried in Esdese's arms and told her some of the events that had happened in the capital before they meet.

"_Dammit, I promised myself I wouldn't cry anymore,_" Tatsumi thought, "_But why did Esdese comfort me like that. I would think she would hate seeing crying and people being weak…but she._"

Tatsumi remembered what she had said last night, "_It is okay now, now I'm here and I won't let anything harm you ever again. I promise that if you stay with me that you will get the power you desire to change this world. It's okay now I'm here with you."_

Tatsumi then said in a whispered as he looked up at Esdese, "You really do care too much about me, even though I don't deserve it from you."

He started to move his arms to try and loosen his grip, but they were a bit numb from sleeping and his right hand slipped and landed directly on her breast.

"Ahhh," Esdese squeaked in a pleasurable voice as she woke up. She looked down to see Tatsumi flushed red and his hand seemingly grabbing her breast. "My Tatsumi you seem to be quite frisky in the morning."

Tatsumi looked up at her and then at his right hand and then in the quickest motion ever separated himself from Esdese and put his arms in the air as if he were under arrest and screamed, "Sorry, I didn't mean to!"

Esdese just laughed, "you worry too much Tatsumi, plus I already told you that you could do whatever you want with them," she said seductively.

"Well that's a little…" Tatsumi said embarrassed.

Esdese then got a more serious look and tone and asked, "So are you feeling better?"

Tatsumi got out of his embarrassment and again remembered what he had done last night. He spoke the truth, "Yeah I fell a lot better now thanks to you." He was honest when saying this because what he needed most was a caring shoulder to cry on. He had never had parents or a girlfriend to do so in the past. The only other time he had done this was with Shelle when he first joined Night Raid and with Esdese it felt the same with its warmth.

Esdese smiled in relief, "That's good then, I'm glad." She began to get up but Tatsumi stopped her.

"Wait, I really do appreciate what you did last night. I know I didn't want to show you that and you probably didn't want to see that but I'm glad you were here. I didn't mean to ruin yesterday with my crying and don't misunderstand I did have a great time on our date. So I mean it… **THANK YOU**," he said as he had a big a genuine smile plastered on his face, the same one he had shown at the tournament.

Esdese blushed as red as she has ever gotten, "_that smile," _she thought, "_I get to see that smile again, and this time it's directed at me"_. She immediately hugged Tatsumi in a loving embrace, "Tatsumi!"

Tatsumi panicked as he was a bit confused at what just happened, he was now in a hug and he looked over and saw Esdese. She was sporting the biggest smile he had ever seen, one that he thought the Ice Queen the Strongest in the Empire would never wear. Moreover her eyes looked watery as if she was about to cry.

Tatsumi thought he did something wrong, "I'm sorry did I do something wrong, are you okay?" He was confused as he saw a bright smile and watery eyes two things Esdese had never shown and adding to his lack of relationships he automatically assumed he had done something wrong.

Esdese separated from his a little, "No nothing's wrong at all, you didn't do anything wrong it's just…It's just that I have waited so long to see that wonderful smile of yours again. I finally get to see it again and better yet you point it at me. I'm just so happy is all…I love you Tatsumi!"

She wrapped him up in a hug again as she was purely overjoyed. Tatsumi was a bit embarrassed but began to relax in her arms as her touch began to feel pleasant to him. "Your silly, is my smile that big of a deal?"

"Yes it is," Esdese said, "You, your smile, and your happiness are everything to me, I would give anything for them."

Her genuine caring for him to this extent pulled and pulled at his heart strings and his eyes became a bit watery. Tatsumi paused and tried to say something, "I…I don't know what to say except for thank you. I don't know what I can possibly do to pay you back and repay your feelings".

Esdese smiled, "Your too sweet Tatsumi, I already told you, all you have to do is stay here with me and be yourself, that's all I need."

Upon hearing this Tatsumi just shut his eyes and let her warmth cover his body.

Esdese could feel him relaxing in her embrace. While she was still new to these emotions that she felt when she was with Tatsumi but she was good at sensing emotions because of her hunting skills. When hunting your prey you could feel when it's scared, when it's angry, when it felt relaxed, and you could adjust you hunt accordingly to best catch the prey. Humans were the same when they had certain emotions they gave off certain auras and body language. Tatsumi's was now of someone who was very relaxed and was actually enjoying her touch. Normally when she did this he was tensed and embarrassed, not that she didn't like that side of Tatsumi; it's just that when he felt comfortable in her arms her heart was set a fire.

"_Finally…finally Tatsumi feels more comfortable around me. He's becoming stronger day by day and he's opening up to me more. And I got to see the beautiful smile again and it was just for me,_" Esdese thought to herself feeling better than she has ever felt before. She then said,"Everything is so perfect, I never want to let you go Tatsumi."

"Esdese," Tatsumi said.

She let go of him still sporting her smile, "Well let's get some breakfast and then we can finally get you a weapon and power suited for your skills."

Tatsumi got serious for a second, "_A new Teigu, that's right. What am I going to do about that? I don't like the idea of using another Teigu other than Incursio, but if I can get a new one for Night Raid that's one less for the Empire. Plus she'll probably think it's weird if I don't agree to take one especially since the Emperor offered it to me._" He nodded his head, "Yeah".

After their short breakfast was done with the other Jaegers Esdese got up and turned to them and said, "Okay then let's go get you your Teigu Tatsumi. The rest of you will come as well, having other Teigu users there could help in the selection process."

Tatsumi and the rest of them said, "Roger."

The group walked down the halls of the place and was heading down stairs. Tatsumi didn't really know about the palace having a basement level but it would make sense to keep a vault filled with super weapons in a secure and isolated place. He would have to be sure to remember to put this in the report to Night Raid as it could be an important spot for the Revolutionary Army to secure.

Finally they reached the end of the stair and were at the bottom level of the palace. There was only one hallway lined with giant pillars and guards and at the end to giant metal doors. The Jaegers walked down the hallway to the giant doors. There stood the Emperor, the Prime Minister, and to everyone's surprise, General Budo.

"Oh, I didn't expect to see you here Budo," Esdese said.

"Well I heard you were giving that boy a Teigu so I wanted to see if he could actually connect with one," Budo said as he glanced at Tatsumi.

Tatsumi gulped as the presence of Budo was a bit frightening, he knew why this man held the title of the greatest general.

"This is a surprise, you're not one to usually take interest in people like this," Esdese said in a smug tone.

Budo laughed slightly, "Well what can I say after seeing this boy's duel and your interest in him I had to see for myself this boys capabilities. If he does get a Teigu and trains under you he should become a powerful solider for the Empire."

"I can guarantee it," Esdese laughed.

After the Generals were done talking they all gave a bow to the Emperor and he spoke, "Well then Tatsumi with the request of General Esdese and the Prime Minister I will allow you into the Teigu vault so that you may select one. It is my greatest wish that you find one so that you may better serve this country in its time of need."

"Thank you my Emperor," Tatsumi said giving him another bow.

The Emperor nodded at two guards and they opened the doors to the vault and everyone entered.

It wasn't as big a room as one would suspect with those huge doors but it had a big enough space. Inside were shelves and bars of where Teigus would be. Since they were in war times and the fact that the enemies had or destroyed the other Teigus it was very slim pickings. Tatsumi could only imagine what this room looked like when the first Emperor originally made the Teigus and filled the room with them.

"Now Tatsumi, it is important to let the Teigu choose you. Don't just pick any old one you should immediately feel a connection with one. Remember they have a will of their own and the first impression matters the most," Esdese said to him.

Of course he already knew this being a Teigu user himself but he couldn't tell them that for obvious reasons. But that's why this felt a little strange he was already the wielder of Incursio. He couldn't bring it with him because then they would suspect him of being a member of Night Raid no matter what lies he told them. He felt like choosing another Teigu was like betraying Bulat. Bulat had entrusted him with it as his dying wish and told him he was worthy of it. Incursio was Tatsumi's connection to the man he respected most in this world, his brother, the man he thought was the strongest person in the world and had the strength that Tatsumi wanted to achieve. However he also knew if he were alive that he would tell Tatsumi to follow his mission no matter what and that as long as he felt it was right then it was okay. Tatsumi knew that getting this Teigu would not only help him as a spy but also help the revolution in the long run.

He walked along the room to where the remaining Teigu were. He walked pass one that looked like a sword and one that looked like a shield, neither really spoke to him that much. But then he came across one that gave him a slight sensation. It was something that looked very simple, a mere bracelet with a red gem a top of it. It was simple but it called to Tatsumi. Then he could have sworn the gem lite up as if signaling him. He thought, "_What does this do I wonder?"_

Esdese turned to the Prime Minister and asked, "What Teigu is that I don't believe I have seen or heard of it?"

"Ah yes I don't imagine you would. In fact we have just recently found this in some ancient ruins. It also took us a while to find any data on it, and the things we did find were minimal. It's called **Shadow Weaver: Requiem**.

"Requiem, huh? Quite the interesting name," Esdese said.

"Yes and it supposedly has an interesting ability too. It is said to be able to control and summon darkness and shadows. It sounded very similar to your Demon Extract Esdese," the Prime Minister said.

"Very interesting indeed," Esdese said with a smile. She thought this would prove perfect if it was indeed similar to her Demon Extract then teaching Tatsumi how to use it would be easier.

"Shadows and Darkness huh?" Tatsumi said as he approached the Teigu. "_Sounds perfect for an assassin like myself,_" Tatsumi thought.

"Well since I get the best feeling from this one," Tatsumi said as he grabbed it, "I guess I'll try it out."

He put it on and everyone looked in anticipation. Nothing happened for a second and then the red gem a top the bracelet began to glow. "_That's good right?" _Tatsumi thought. Then what felt like spikes dug into Tatsumi's wrist and the bracelet tightened around it. Tatsumi screamed out in pain as a dark ring surrounded Tatsumi and began to emit darkness out of it. Then Tatsumi felt even more pain reach his entire body and he fell to his knees form the agonizing pain and he screamed even louder.

Esdese got worried seeing Tatsumi in so much pain and wanted to help but knew that this was most likely a test of the Teigu, much like her own Demon Extract.

Wave began to move towards Tatsumi and said, "We got to get that off of him," but was stopped as Esdese put her hand in front of him and said, "Wait the Teigu is testing him, and you must not interfere."

"But Captain he's in so much pain," Wave said.

"I know, but Tatsumi isn't so weak to fall victim to it," she said as he put her eyes back on Tatsumi.

She was right in saying it was a test, but what they didn't know that it would take place inside Tatsumi's mind.

**Tatsumi's Subconscious**

Tatsumi opened his eyes to see nothing but darkness. He was no longer in the palace or the Teigu vault. He was considering if he was anywhere at all.

"Am I dead," Tatsumi asked.

He looked around to try and see anything but blackness but could find nothing. Then he heard voices he had not heard in a long time.

"Yo, Tatsumi over here," the voice said.

He turned around and his eyes watered up as he saw two figures in the darkness, Sayo and Ieyasu.

"Guys!" he shouted and he began to run towards them. But no matter how much he ran he didn't get any closer.

Ieyasu and Sayo began to walk away from him and said, "Let's go to the Capital, then we can save our village."

"Wait," Tatsumi shouted, "Don't go without me it's too dangerous!"

"We'll meet up with you later Tatsumi," Sayo said.

"NOOO!" he screamed as he reached out with his hand, "Don't go!"

Then in a flash of light he saw their two dead bodies again like when he first arrived in the capital. He was too late again. His face was one of fear and disbelief.

"Tatsumi," he heard another voice this time belonging to Sheele.

"Sheele," he said in relief and smile a bit again.

But again in the next instant he saw her getting torn in two and the blood spill everywhere.

"SHEELE!" Tatsumi screamed.

"What's wrong Tatsumi?" another familiar voice said.

He looked up and saw Chelsea smiling down at him, "Well I got to go," she said.

He grabbed her hand and shouted, "NOO, don't go, just stay it's not safe."

"What are you talking about?" Chelsea laughed and then slid out of his grip.

"No, wait!" he said but it was already too late as he saw her severed head on a pike again the blood still dripping from it.

Tatsumi started punching the ground again and again, "Dammit, dammit, god dammit, I couldn't do anything again!"

Then more figures surrounded him and he looked to see the other members of Night Raid.

"Guys," Tatsumi said in relief.

"What the hell do you think you're doing Tatsumi," Najenda asked.

"What are you talking about?" Tatsumi said.

"You're supposed to be getting intel on the Empire for us," Leone said.

"What that's what I have been doing," Tatsumi said confused.

"Oh yeah I'm sure you are. Tell me are you getting all your information during your dates with that woman," Lubbock said.

"I had to do that, plus that was my only chance to get out of the palace and I gave you my report," Tatsumi said.

"Oh yeah I'm sure that the report was useful, but it didn't tell us you were actually sleeping with the enemy," Leone said and then turned away.

"But I…you told me to blend in with the Jaegers, you told me to get close to Esdese," Tatsumi said starting to panic.

"Yeah we said to get close to her not to fuck her. We all see where your loyalty lays…your pants," Lubbock said angrily turning away from Tatsumi.

"But that's not…that's not…" Tatsumi said out of words.

"Jeez you really are useless aren't you," Mine started, "To think we let a guy like you join us."

"What?!" Tatsumi asked in confusion.

"Yeah, because of you so many of our comrades have died, because you were so useless!" Mine shouted as she turned away.

"No your wrong!" Tatsumi shouted.

"Tatsumi you betrayed our trust and now…" Najenda said.

He turned around to see Akame unsheathe her blade, she then charged at Tatsumi and swung her sword, "Eliminate!"

Tatsumi screamed and closed his eyes for the end. He opened them again only to be back in complete darkness as he fell to his hands and knees and breathed heavily.

He then sensed a presence in front of him and looked up to see Bulat.

"Bro?" Tatsumi said.

"Don't call me that," Bulat said, "I don't want to be called that by the likes of you," Bulat said in a terrifying tone.

"But you…" Tatsumi said getting completely depressed.

"To think that a guy like you had Incursio, It sickens me that I had to give it to you," Bulat said his eyes dead serious.

"But Bro, you gave me it, you said that I was ready to use it, I have been fighting and using Incursio with the will you passed on to me," Tatsumi said in a panic.

"Don't make me laugh, a guy like you would never be worthy of carrying my will or Incursio. Because of you I died to save your life and now look at you, you joined the Empire and betrayed Night Raid!" Bulat shouted.

"That's not true, I!" Tatsumi shouted back.

"Enough of your talking, Night Raid should have killed you the moment we found you," he said and then took out Incursio and put on the armor.

"Bro…" Tatsumi said as Bulat's spear pierced his heart.

Tatsumi fell to the ground and the darkness began to swallow him up as he sank deeper and deeper into the darkness.

Tatsumi began to cry and then laugh as he began to speak, "I guess this is what I get for being so weak. I really am alone aren't I? My village is doomed, my friends are dead, and I betrayed Night Raid. I really deserve to die don't I?"

He began to let go and let the darkness take him. He was done, done with this life and done with this stupid and twisted world. The darkness was about to fully take him when…

"TATSUMI WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING!" the voice of Bulat shouted in the darkness.

"Bro," Tatsumi opened his eyes only to receive a punch to the face and was smacked to the ground.

When he looked back up Bulat was standing above him.

"What are you doing Tatsumi wallowing in your own sadness like some kind of child!?" Bulat shouted.

"Bro but you?" Tatsumi said as he rubbed his face where Bulat had punched him.

"But what, are you going to let some imposter tell you how to think and act?!" Bulat said.

Tatsumi got up and said, "So that was a fake I knew you wouldn't really…" he then got punched again.

"Idiot, you're the one that's making it real with your self-doubt. The Tatsumi I knew, the man I knew, wouldn't linger on the past like this. He wouldn't doubt himself so much and he would keep getting stronger and move forward in this world!"

"But Bro I not with Night Raid I got captured again," Tatsumi, "what the hell can I do on the sidelines like this!"

He got punched again, "You really are still a dumbass huh? I kept telling you to follow the mission given to you and to follow your own beliefs didn't I? So what if you got captured? So what if you're not with Night Raid right now? The Tatsumi I knew wanted to change this twisted world and would gladly give his life to do it. That's why I gave my brother Incursio because I knew that he would use it proudly and keep fighting for what he believed in."

"But I don't have it anymore Bro," Tatsumi said depressed.

Bulat lifted his fist to punch him again and Tatsumi shut his eyes and clinched his body to take it, but it didn't come. He opened his eyes to see a smiling Bulat.

"Yeah and so what, I didn't just give you Incursio to hang on to. I gave you my will as a man and knew that you would use it in your fights to change this world, because the passion I saw you have that day, the passion that made Incursio evolve was something I would gladly stake my life on."

"Bro…" Tatsumi said as his spirits were being lifted up.

"That's why I had no regrets giving you those things. That's why I had no regrets dying. Because I knew that you would surpass me in no time and that you would become a fine man that would change this world for me."

Tatsumi wiped away the last of his tears, "If you say so Bro". Tatsumi's eyes began to burn with the fire that Bulat saw in him.

Bulat smiled at him and punched him again, but softly, in the gut, "Okay then," Bulat said stepping back.

"NOW TATSUMI ARE YOU GOING TO STAY QUIET ABOUT ALL THE INJUSTICE IN THE WORLD!?"

"NOO!"

"ARE YOU GOING TO MOPE AROUND BECAUSE YOU FEEL SORRY FOR YOURSELF!?"

"NOOOO!"

"DOES IT MATTER WHERE YOU ARE OR WHAT SIDE YOUR ON!?"

"NOOOOOO!"

"THAT'S RIGHT BECAUSE AS LONG AS YOU USE YOUR PASSION AND STAY TRUE TO YOURSELF, THAT IS THE RIGHT PATH FOR YOU TO BE ON!"

"RIGHT!"

"THEN SHOUT IT TATSUMI, SHOUT IT AT THIS WORLD IN DEFIENCE AND TELL IT YOU WONT LOSE TO IT, SHOUT AT THIS WORLD WITH YOUR FIREY PASSION…TATSUMIIIII!1"

"AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!"

The world of darkness began to shake violently as if the whole world was collapsing on its self. Then the ground burst opened and Tatsumi jumped out of it.

The fake Bulat turned to see a Tatsumi that was no longer depressed but burning with passion.

"You don't learn do you," the fake Bulat said as he charged back at Tatsumi.

"No I don't, my **Brother** always said I was pretty thick headed and stubborn!" he shouted back as he charged at the fake Bulat.

"I told you I'm not your brother you little shit."

"And I wouldn't lose to an imposter like you!" Tatsumi shouted. The darkness around him enveloped his body like armor. It took the shape of Incursio but was not in a solid form. It looked like shadows dancing around his body moving like a fire, but the shape they made was most certainly Incursio. Tatsumi continued to charge and formed a spear from the shadows.

"Die!" the fake Bulat roared.

"Not a chance in hell!" Tatsumi shouted and then cut the fake Bulat in half and it disappeared into the darkness, "Not until I change this world!"

A bright flash of light occurred and the darkness faded and Tatsumi went back to the real world.

**Present time**

It had only been a few seconds in the real world as Tatsumi was screaming. He had just stopped but the shadows around him had become more violent. Then they could see Tatsumi stand up in the vortex of shadows.

Tatsumi swiped his hands through the vortex and a huge shock wave blew through the room and the shadows were completely gone.

Everyone had closed their eyes because of the shock wave. But when they reopened them they saw Tatsumi just standing there.

"Tatsumi?" Wave said.

"Is he alright, did the Teigu accept him?" the Prime Minister asked.

It was quite until Tatsumi spoke.

"Esdese," he said.

She turned towards him, "I want you to fight me," he said in a very serious tone. He lifted his left wrist to reveal a tattoo where the bracelet once was. It was in the pattern the bracelet had and had become black on his wrist. The Teigu had become a part of him and like Esdese's Demon Extract it was shown by this tattoo, "I want to test this new power out."

Esdese smiled as she saw Tatsumi's eyes lit up with passion. She could feel her blood boiling with anticipation. She knew that it wasn't just her own blood but the blood of the Demon Extract in her. It was reacting to Tatsumi's Teigu and now she was even more intrigued with him and his newfound power.

"With pleasure," she said.

They walked out of the vault and headed the arena for a fight. Everyone else followed them eager to see what was about to happen.

**At the arena **

Tatsumi and Esdese were standing on opposite sides of the stage. They both had their weapons draw and were waiting to start.

In the stands were Wave, Kurome, Ran, Budo, the Emperor, and the Prime Minister, looking down at the combatants.

"This should be interesting," Budo said.

"Why isn't it just a sparring match," the Emperor said.

Wave started to talk, "No my Emperor this is more than just a spar. These two are going to fight serious. Just feeling their auras is giving me shivers."

He, Budo, Kurome, and Ran, looked at the fighters with heavy anticipation. You can tell who the warriors were since they knew that this was no ordinary match.

Down at the stage Tatsumi and Esdese were just staring at each other. Esdese had a smile on while Tatsumi's face and eyes were dead serious.

Esdese started to laugh, "I can tell by your passion in your eyes that you're serious and that you're not going to hold back. Good, then I won't hold back either! Prepare yourself Tatsumi!" Esdese shouted as she formed a wall of ice spikes.

"Weiss Schnabel!" she shouted and threw the hundreds of spikes at Tatsumi.

Tatsumi knew that letting fear or doubt take a hold of him would be fatal and that overthinking something would do him no good. So he let his instincts take over again and his eyes grew dull.

Tatsumi could have dodged but instead he got his sword and lashed it forward. From it shadows were produced and launched from his sword creating an arch of shadows that shot out towards Esdese and destroyed all the ice in his path.

Esdese dodged it to the left and said to herself, "Interesting, so it really is similar to my Teigu". She crouched down after dodging and shouted, "Gran Horn!"

A huge pillar of ice came out of the ground and launched itself at Tatsumi. Tatsumi dodged to the right of it and began to charge at Esdese. However she knew this would happen and she shot out more pillars parallel to the first one to intercept him. Tatsumi kept dodging them as he was being drawn more and more to the right. One was placed where he was dodging and instead of going more to the right he used all his force to jump all the way over the pillars and to the left. He landed on the other side and immediately launched himself towards her.

Esdese smiled at this, drew her rapier, and blocked Tatsumi sword. She then swung upwards launching Tatsumi into the air. Tatsumi quickly recovered and pointed his sword down. Out of nowhere shadows formed around him into his own wall of spikes this time in the form of shadows. They launched down at Esdese but she gracefully dodged them all. Tatsumi landed and began to charge at Esdese again.

She smiled and shouted, "Alright how about this!" She placed her hand on the ground and launched herself in the air with a pillar of ice. She then snapped her figures and a huge ball of ice formed from under her. She then smashed her hand onto the top of it and yelled, "Hagel Sprung!"

"Wow, wow," the Prime Minster said sweating, "Isn't that a bit much!"

Tatsumi looked up at the large object hurtling down at him. The sheer size was crazy. He moved his sword to his waist and concentrated his Teigu's power.

"I'M NOT DONE YET ESDESE!" he shouted and unleashed a huge wave of shadow at the ice.

It collided with it and the huge mass broke into pieces that began to fall to the ground. Tatsumi was not done yet though as he launched himself into the air and used some of the larger pieces of ice to propel himself towards Esdese.

Esdese saw this while in the air and put on a grin that went ear to ear. Her heart had never beaten so fast before and this battle was making her feel so alive.

Tatsumi reached her in the air and the clashed their swords faster than any eyes could follow.

"Amazing Tatsumi!" Esdese shouted and was actually blushing, "You're simply amazing. I knew it, you really are the best. I've never had this much fun in my entire life. More! I want more; show me more of your power!"

"Incredible," Budo declared. "How much talent and skill does that boy possess? His raw talent alone is tremendous. It makes people who train their wholes lives seem pointless. Where on Earth did she find this youth?"

She then blocked one of his swings and kicked at him. Tatsumi was able to block it with his sword but it launched him back to the ground. He recovered himself and slid on the ground. He then stuck his sword in the ground to slow him down and make him stop sliding.

He tried to stand back up but his body felt heavy and he dropped to one knee. "_Dammit, this Teigu takes even more out of me than Incursio. I need to get use to this,_" he thought as he saw Esdese land.

"Not yet, I still need to get stronger," he said as he stood up. He took three steps but his body would not listen to him as it shut down and he went unconscious.

"_Dammit,_" he thought as he fell towards the ground.

In an instant Esdese was there and caught Tatsumi in her right arm. He supported him so he wouldn't hit the ground as she still had her rapier in her left hand. She had the biggest smile of fulfillment she had ever worn and she was panting rapidly. It wasn't because she was tired, but rather because she was excited. This boy, her lover, who she already knew was strong had just surprised her again. Not only did he just get a Teigu, but used it right away with good efficiency. Not only that but she was taking the fight seriously and not holding back and he matched her move for move. If he had been use to his new Teigu think of what more he could do? She started laughing; just the idea of him becoming even stronger tantalized her. If it was even possible her desire for Tatsumi grew even more.

She looked down at the sleeping boys face; he was still hanging on to his sword.

"You really are the best Tatsumi, I can't wait for you to show me more of your strength," she said picked him up bridal style and walked back towards the palace making sure to caring him like the most precious cargo.

**Hope you enjoyed…To Be Continued!**


	8. Chapter 8

Chapter 8: To the Western Front

Esdese walked into her room carrying Tatsumi from the fight they had just had after he acquired his new Teigu. Again Tatsumi's sheer growth and adaptability surprised Esdese as it seemed that he had already required proficiency with his new Teigu and he was able to fight one-on-one with Esdese blow for blow without her holding very much back. The fight excited her to no end, she had never felt such a rush in battle before and it came at the hands of her lover.

She set Tatsumi on the bed and watched him sleep. His body still hadn't adapted to the strain of the new Teigu and had forcefully shut itself down from the stress so he passed out mid-battle. Still he was impressive and as he breathed in and out Esdese began to get hotter and hotter, the fight had gotten her all worked up in more ways than one.

She went back over to the bed and laid herself next to him putting her face close to his. She kept watching him sleep as her blush got bigger and bigger and she began to breathe heavily. She put her left hand in his hair and began to stroke it affectionately.

She then put her face even closer to his and said, "You really are the greatest Tatsumi, I'm so glad I found you, "she then turned his face to hers and placed her forehead on his and closed her eyes, "I love everything about you; do you know that? Your kind and pure personality mixed with you incredible strength and warrior instincts. Not to mention that cute smile of yours. You get me so excited when you fight and I have so much fun with you around and my blood starts boiling. No one has even come close to making me feel the way you make me feel."

She then moved her hand from his hair to his cheek and put the other hand over his chest to feel his heartbeat, "I don't know how I ever lived without you; but I know that I won't be able to anymore. Yet that despicable Night Raid took you away from me and they will pay for that."

She then opened her eyes back up to look at him and she began to breath even harder and felt even hotter, "But you, you make me feel weak and I hate it, but at the same time it feels nice to be weak around you and my heart beats louder than it ever has before. It's no secret now that I need you in my life now just to feel more alive.

She paused for a second and started to lean in to take a kiss from his sleeping lips, "Tatsumi…I need you Tatsumi. I need to possess you completely. I need you to make me feel even more emotions. I need you to get stronger and I need you to be my everything so that I can't possibly live without you. I…I need you to wake up because I don't think I can control myself any longer…Tat~su~mi," she was about to kiss him when a knock came from her door.

Her eyes became angry as she turned away from Tatsumi and glared at the door.

"Who has the audacity to interrupt me?!" she said in an authoritative tone.

She got out of bed to answer the door. Whoever it was, was about to experience her eternal wrath for interrupting her time with Tatsumi.

"I don't know who you think you are but…" she yelled slamming open the door. She then looked up to see and face she didn't expect to see, General Budo.

She was a bit surprised but her face and tone didn't change. "Budo what the hell are you doing her? Even if you are the Grand General, it takes a lot of nerves to come to another General's quarters unannounced."

"And it still takes a lot of nerves to address me that way unaddressed or not. But I guess you have never been one for formalities and respects have you?" Budo said unfazed by her glare or her tone.

"This better be important Budo, I am really not in the mood to be talking politics with you at the moment," she said referring to what their conversations usually amounted to. Politics or her getting out of line was always his reasons to talk to her outside of general meetings. She usually wouldn't give these things the time of day with most anyone else, but she did respect the general as a warrior and a man, she recognized he strength so she would humor him but of course do nothing about.

"This is rather important Esdese, I need to talk to you and your team," Budo said returning Esdese's glare back at her.

"Well as you saw Tatsumi is unconscious at the moment so you'll have to wait to talk to us until tomorrow," she began to close the door and turn away, "Well if that's all I'll…"

She was stopped by him stopping her from closing the door, "Let me rephrase my intentions then. I need to talk to you and your team about that boy, so it is actually perfect that he is unconscious right now."

She then returned her glare back at Budo. She did not like the tone he had when he mentioned talking about Tatsumi. She then spoke in a more angered tone, "You want to talk about Tatsumi, I knew you became interested in him but."

"Yes you could call it interest at first but now it has become to be concern, concern about you and your little group, especially the boy," he said in a very serious tone, "now enough of this horseplay, you will gather the rest of your team and come with me now."

Esdese continued to glare at him but then eventually spoke, "Fine then you have gotten my attention." She agreed to meet with him with her Jaegers because his "concern" for Tatsumi very much interested her. She turned back to Tatsumi to make sure he was still asleep and walked out the door following Budo to the common area.

Already in the common area were the rest of the Jaegers already summoned by Budo, they were also very interested to what this was about. Budo then sat at the end of the table and the rest followed suit.

Esdese sat at the other end of the table looking most displeased with what was happening but if it dealt with Tatsumi she needed to hear what Budo had to say.

Once everyone was seated Budo began, "I'll just get straight to the point then, who the hell is that boy?! At first I thought he was just talented but after the little show you put on I realize that he is beyond the point of being just another talented child."

"I have already told you he is a member of the Jaegers and more importantly my lover. Is this really why you called us out her to confirm what you already know?" Esdese said in an annoyed tone.

"So you two really are like that then, here I thought he was another one of your toys," Budo said as he paused for a second.

Esdese eyes shot open in rage and she slammed her fist on the table and gave Budo the most unfriendly glare. His statement about him being just any old one of her possessions angered her, what the hell did he know.

Budo just put on a smirk, "But it would seem that with this and your reactions to him the last few days, I would be wrong then. To be honest I didn't think of you as someone who would ever have a lover, but I suppose stranger things have happened. But it is as you said earlier I am interested in the boy but now it has grown into concern, concern about the power he has."

Esdese spoke, "Yeah what's it to you. It's like you said thought Tatsumi possesses tremendous strength and potential. To be honest his growth is even surprising me," she began to put on a slight blush, "but in my opinion that just makes him more of a catch to find," she then returned to her stern look, "so what of it, how does that affect you?"

"What of it? It affects me because you have now given that boy an extremely powerful Teigu that seems to be on par with yours and mine," Budo said.

"Yes another powerful Teigu user who serves the Empire, I do not see what you are complaining about, if anything you should be happy about it," Esdese said almost sarcastically.

"Perhaps if I knew who the boy was but as it stands I do not. He just comes out of nowhere, joins your squad and then is able to take you one in a head to head fight equally. Now how would I not be concerned about that? You are already enough of a wild card." Budo said becoming irritated.

Esdese laughed a little, "Oh, do you question my loyalty to the Empire, Budo?"

Budo also laughed, "Ha, don't play dumb, we both know how deep your loyalty lies. You simply obey because you get to sooth your bloodlust and are allowed to do what you want. You and that Prime Minister are quite the pair you know that. If you weren't so useful to the Empire I would have dealt with you a long time ago, but I have just had to tolerate you."

The other Jaegers were just watching to two generals bicker at each other in interest and fear as it would seem some suppressed feelings about each other's presence were coming out.

"Well regardless what does that have to do with Tatsumi?" Esdese said.

"It has everything to do with him. I am not so prideful as to not notice his strength and realize that he is almost as powerful as you and since I don't know where his loyalties lie if you were to decide to join or start a rebellion this Empire could come crashing down. Now I will ask again who on Earth that boy is." Budo said in a demanding voice.

Esdese began to laugh very loudly at this to the point where it became hard to breath. "So that's it. Your concern isn't one of interest, but one of fear. Fear of the unknown, fear of Tatsumi's power," she said as she stopped laughing, "But I guess I can't blame you as what you say could very well be true. But I have no reason to betray the Empire, like you said I can do what I want and to be honest I like my position at the moment so I won't do anything to upset that."

Budo just continued to glare at her.

"There is not much to tell about Tatsumi. He was from a small village in the north that was falling on hard times, so he and his friends decided to come to the capital to earn fortune and fame so that they could help their village. Sadly though his friends got into a mess and died. He then had some struggles of his own and decided to join my tournament for the prize money. And that's where I first saw him and immediately fell for him. He did run away at first but then we were reunited. As you know from my report he was being used as a hostage by Night Raid, but I rescued him and now I am training him to unlock his vast potential and make him into one of the greatest warriors alive," Esdese said with a grin on her face. Of course she wouldn't tell him the discontent Tatsumi had with the Empire do to what happened to his friends as it would just cause Budo to act rash and possibly go after Tatsumi.

"So you're telling me that a boy from a backwater village was able to acquire such strength and that he came to the capital to get money for his village," Budo said.

"Well he said that an ex-soldier trained him in all his basic fighting skills and he had actually originally intended to join the military but it would seem the recruitment office didn't take him, truly sad for our military. But what I am actually saying is that boys was born into this world for the sole purpose of being mine and mine alone," Esdese declared. She wasn't lying either, at this point in time the only explanation that made sense in her mind. She too would be skeptical about Tatsumi's abilities no matter where he was born or who trained him. The only logical reason for him being everything she had ever wanted in a partner was that he was put on this Earth for her pleasure.

The Jaegers were all just blown away at their leader's declaration of what Tatsumi was to Esdese. Of course they knew she cared for him but saying his only purpose in life was to be hers was something else altogether. They were also shocked to hear about Tatsumi's troubling past, they really had no idea of all he had been through since they meet him. They were then given more of a shock as Budo began to address them.

"Very well then, what to you lot think of him?" Budo asked addressing the other Jaegers.

He first turned to Wave which scared him but then Wave began to speak up, "Well I can see where your concern comes from general," Wave began to say as Esdese shot him a glare that scared him more but he still continued, "but I know that Tatsumi uses his strength to protect the things he cares about. I know this because I've seen it. That whole mess with Wild Hunt was because he was protecting Bols's family, and I know that he would fight tooth and nail for the innocent people in this world. That's the kind of man Tatsumi is sir," Wave said ending with confidence. At first he didn't know what to really think about Tatsumi but with the recent events he knew what he said was true and he believed Tatsumi was the man he thought he was.

Esdese was pleased with this answer and let her glare off of Wave.

Budo then turned to Kurome. Kurome still looked pretty uninterested in the talk but still responded, "Well I am not as sure as Wave is about Tatsumi. But I agree he fights to protect people. All I can say is that he is a lot stronger than I thought he was, that's for sure," she ended and started snacking again.

Finally it was Ran's turn. "Well General it's as both my teammates have said. It would seem Tatsumi cares deeply for the innocent. Even though he seems like a strong warrior he definitely is still young, but even though he has been through much he still retains some of his innocence. I was a teacher once upon a time and I can tell his passion for fighting for others."

Budo sighed and spoke, "Very well then I shall leave it at that," he then turned to Esdese, "But know this if anyone, including that boy, disturbed the peace of the Empire I shall deal with them myself."

The room became cold and ice began to creep out from Esdese towards Budo. Her emotions were running and rage built up as she spoke in a fearsome tone, "Are you threating Tatsumi Budo?!" Esdese spoke her powers going off as a warning to anyone who would threaten Tatsumi.

Then from Budo came electricity that matched her ice as it meet in the middle of the room as if clashing with one and other.

Budo responded in an authoritative tone, "No I am simply saying what I believe. So long as that boy is useful to the Empire we will have no problems," he released his Teigu and walked out the door.

Esdese continued to glare at him until he left and then released her own Teigu. She then turned to the other Jaegers, "Well then everyone get some rest, I imagine there will be a big day tomorrow as I am sure that the Emperor is preparing for war with the Westerners and the Revolutionary Army."

"Roger," the Jaegers said still a bit shaken up by what they just witnessed.

Esdese turned towards her room to rejoin Tatsumi in bed.

Once inside she looked towards Tatsumi who was still asleep unaware of the commotion outside that was caused by him. She smiled and striped down to her usual pajamas, a dress shirt, and slipped into bed with him.

She got close to him, still hot from before and put Tatsumi's head under her chin, put her noise to his hair and took a deep breath of his smell. She loved the way Tatsumi smelled and it quickly became her favorite scent. She then stared down at his new tattoo the mark of his Teigu and brought his hand to her breast.

"If it wasn't already apparent that we were made for each other, now we have matching Teigu's. Even if that stubborn geezer won't admit it, he is really impressed with you Tatsumi, and that makes me want you even more," she then planted a kiss on his cheek, "I can't wait for you to wake up, you have to take some responsibility for making me feel all bothered," she said seductively before she rearranged Tatsumi in her grasp and dozed off with him.

**Morning**

As soon as Tatsumi woke up her wasn't concerned with Esdese's usual clinginess but rather the events of yesterday. He remembered the state of mind he had been put through due to the Teigu. He lifted his arm from Esdese's grasp to look at the tattoo that now was on his left wrist.

"Requiem, huh?" Tatsumi said starring at its pattern.

However Tatsumi wasn't upset at this, in fact he was almost grateful because the images he was shown only cemented his convictions in the mission and his goal to change the Empire. He was now more than determined than ever to see this through to the end. And he was happy that he was able to see and talk Bulat again whether it is real or just an image of his memory.

He put his fist into the air and thought to himself, "_Bro, everyone, don't worry I promise I'll get even stronger and change this world!_"

He was so focused on his thoughts that he didn't realize he had woken Esdese up and now she was just staring at him intently.

"My Tatsumi such a determined expression in the morning, I wonder what you are thinking about?" she said in a seductive tone.

Tatsumi knew that tone all too well, "_Oh shit,_" was all he could think.

In a blink of an eye the sheets were thrown in the air and she had Tatsumi pinned under her.

"Now how am I going to have you take responsibility?" Esdese said with a grin.

Tatsumi blushed, "Responsibility for what?"

Esdese grin got bigger, "Responsibility for getting me all hot and bothered from our fight. You were so serious and made me get serious and now I'm all worked up," she took his left arm and started to lick it seductively around his tattoo. She then began to suck on each one of his fingers.

Tatsumi was now as red as a tomato, "Uhhhh, sorry about that I just wanted to test out my new Teigu," he tried to back up and was stopped by the head board of the bed. Esdese just leaned in closer as he was now stuck at the end of the bed. "I'll be more careful next time," he said nervously as Esdese ran her tongue up his neck.

Esdese laughed as she now moved to his cheek and began licking it, "I'm sure you will but I still need to punish you."

She reached her hands down under his shirt and slowly started to remove it.

Tatsumi got even more and more nervous as she her eyes said she wasn't going to stop anytime soon. "_Oh god, I don't think I can do this right now, someone help!_"

Tatsumi got what he wished for as a knock came from the door.

"General Esdese I bring an urgent message from the Emperor!" a voice from the other side of the door yelled.

Esdese glared at the door again. Tatsumi thought if she had a Teigu that could shoot lasers out of her eyes then that door and the person behind it would be nothing but ash.

"I swear the next person that interrupts me will be killed," she said as she snapped her fingers. Tatsumi hands were then instantly wrapped in ice and bound to the bed.

Tatsumi looked scared and confused as she saw Esdese angered face at the disturbance at the door and thought, "_Oh god why did she bind me to the bed_," he then looked towards the door where Esdese was heading with an angry look, _"I feel bad for whoever is on the receiving end of that face._"

She opened the door and the messenger began to speak, "General Esdese I…" he looked up to see the scariest thing he ever saw. He simply lifted up the piece of paper he was sent to deliver. Tatsumi could have sworn he pissed his pants as Esdese took the paper from his hands and he ran faster than he thought anyone was able to do.

Esdese closed the door and walked back to bed sat down undid the ice on Tatsumi's hands and took his head and put it on her lap and began to pet his head. The paper was indeed important as it had the Emperor's seal on it, it was annoying but if she couldn't have Tatsumi she had to at least have him close.

Tatsumi was unsure of what just happened, Esdese's lap did feel nice but he was still scared of what he had just witnessed and now she was petting his head as she read the message.

He looked up to see her pissed off expression, she was not all to pleased with the message right now, but then she put on a large grin.

Tatsumi curiosity finally surfaced, "Um, what does it say?"

Esdese set the letter aside and looked down at Tatsumi, "Something most entertaining, the Emperor has summoned you and me as well as the other Generals, it seems as though we will finally be able to have some fun Tatsumi."

"Fun?" Tatsumi asked.

"Well you shall see soon, let's get dressed and head to the throne room immediately," she said getting out of bed to get dressed.

Tatsumi still confused simply changed his clothes and followed Esdese to the throne room.

**Throne room**

Budo along with the other generals were standing in the throne room waiting for the Emperor. The doors opened to the sight of General Esdese entering the room followed in suit by a young man.

Esdese walked past the other generals giving nods and then a slight glare to Budo and then took her place in line with them. Tatsumi saw this and wondered what that was all about and simply gave a nod at Budo who did nothing in return. He then took his place behind Esdese and waited to figure out what the hell was going on.

The other generals were watching Tatsumi and whispering to each other.

"That must be the new Jaeger member."

"I hear that he is more than just a member, it would seem that he and Esdese are in a relationship."

"Then no wonder he was able to earn her favor and join the Jaegers."

"Yes but I hear the Emperor himself gave him a Teigu, so he must be strong."

"Yeah I heard he went toe to toe with Esdese yesterday,"

"Was that what that commotion was yesterday at the stadium?"

"Must be, those two are monsters."

Tatsumi couldn't hear them very well but knew they must be talking about him. He looked up at Esdese who was just sporting a grin almost as if she liked then talking about him.

They were all silenced as the Emperor walked through the doors with the Prime Minister. Everyone bowed as he passed and sat at his throne with the Prime Minister right next to him.

"Please stand," the Emperor said.

Everyone did so as they were standing in two lines facing each other. Esdese was on one side while Budo was at the other, and there were three other generals on each side that Tatsumi didn't recognize. They all turned themselves toward the Emperor to await him to talk.

"My generals, thank you all for coming so quickly. I have called you today to discuss our war plans. As you know the Westerners and the Revolutionary Army have begun to move in opposition to us. They are drawing closer and we must also begin to move against them. With the input of all of you and the Prime Minister I have come up with the plan that I feel will best work," he said and turned toward Esdese, "General Esdese."

"Yes my Emperor," she said kneeling down.

"As per your request, I will be sending you and your army to the Western Front so you can quickly deal with the Westerners much as you did with the Northerners," the boy said.

"Yes your Majesty it will be quick and simple, I shall make them regret ever thinking of rebelling towards the Empire," she said with a grin.

"Very good," he said and shifted his gaze towards Tatsumi, "Tatsumi I will be sending you as well, I hope your aid and power will help bring a swift end to this conflict."

Tatsumi kneeled down, "Yes with pleasure." Tatsumi knew that this would happen though he didn't think he would be sent as well. Though he didn't like the idea of going to fight the Western Tribes since they were the Revolutionary Armies allies, he knew to keep up appearances he had to accept.

All the other generals except Budo were shocked. One spoke up, "Your Majesty, if I may say isn't this boy a new recruit for the Jaegers. Is he really ready for war, and shouldn't he stay here in the capital with the other Jaegers to defend it from Night Raid?"

Esdese was about to turn towards this man to protest but then the Emperor stepped in, "Worry not general, I have personally seen Tatsumi's skill. He and Esdese had a sparring match yesterday that took my breath away. With the two of them combined they shall bring a swift in to this conflict. We have also established the new group Wild Hunt to help the Jaegers with protection of the city and dealing with Night Raid," he turned back to Esdese, "General is your army ready to move out?"

"Yes of course we shall head out right away," Esdese said.

"Great then General Esdese and Tatsumi shall head out right after this to the Western Front. Meanwhile I want the rest of you to gather your armies. Under Grand General Budo's command you will be sending your armies to reinforce southern forts to halt the Revolutionary Armies' march. Once Esdese finishes off the Westerners she shall come back to the capital where we will shall regroup and then finish off this rebellion."

Every one of the Generals bowed and said, "Yes you Majesty," then they began to exit the room.

Esdese rose up, put on her hat and said, "Come Tatsumi lets go to war."

Tatsumi stood up in shock, "Wait we are going right now?"

"Well of course I said we could move out immediately. My army is already back from the North and waiting to move to the West."

"But," Tatsumi began. He wanted to try and get a message to Night Raid about these plans. He had already included in his report before that he thought this might happen but he wanted to give them more specifics. However he had no time and just hopped they have planned for this to happen and were getting ready.

After they exited the palace, Tatsumi and Esdese headed towards her armies barracks. They entered as all the men were gathered in the courtyard awaiting their General instructions.

She stood on top of a stage in the middle with Tatsumi behind her. "Men, I hope your all ready for some more fun, we have already beaten the Northerners and now we shall show the Westerners how weak they truly are! Are you with new?!"

All the men screamed in response their weapons in the air. Tatsumi could feel all their blood lust; they were definitely Esdese's men.

"Good then, let's move out!" Esdese shouted and the hordes of people began to march west towards the next battle field.

A man brought Esdese her horse as well as one for Tatsumi.

Esdese got on and turned towards Tatsumi, "Now Tatsumi let us go, I can't wait to see you experience you first real war," she said with a big grin.

Tatsumi clenched his fist and thought, "_Here we go, and the curtains are finally opening on the final chapter of this world. I need to do my part to end this. Guys, I promise you I'll get stronger!_"

**Authors Notes: Hey guys, this was a bit of a shorter chapter, but the next two should be action packed. I hope you enjoy!**


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