Akame ga Kiru/アカメが斬る 1. Kill the first

The road passed by at the speed it always did, the common rumbling and the bumping of the cart as it bounced off the road was something he had become accustomed to during his life, a trundling cart was effective for transportation but it wouldn't get someone anywhere fast.

It was thankful then that he didn't have anywhere in particular to go, only forward.

Living his life mundanely and in the most boring way he could find kept him strangely entertained, of course he knew he wished for something more but he didn't know what that thing was. It was this that he waited for, day in day out, there was always the imperial army but that was a forced and controlled world that he could not abide to live in.

The rock beneath his feet, the sky around him and the hidden brilliance inside everything he saw had an indefinable beauty and freedom that he had come to love, however, if there was anything he could despise easily in this world it was the beasts. Horrible, ugly things that came in many shapes and sizes, he had to thank them though, they kept him on the road; the reward for protecting the driver was continued existence in this mundane life.

The only thing he had ever relied on was himself, as far as he knew at least, he had no recollection of the first 8 years of his life. Just an endless blank. His earliest memory was that of his struggle getting on this cart and asking for help. The driver, seemingly having a bad day and making what usually would have amounted to a snide remark said that he could get a ride if he killed one of the beasts that had been harassing his cart. He managed to find it fast and killed the beast easily, carrying back its head as evidence of his slaying. The driver, extremely shocked, had then offered him a job after confirming the kill by using a miniature telescope to investigate the head, making sure it was not a forgery made of leather.

The driver was the only one human who he knew anything apart from their name about, even if he wasn't particularly interested. However, he still knew little, his ultimate knowledge adding up to the fact that the driver he was a bitter and damaged man due to the loss of his wife multiple years ago, now he would reject a refugee with even the youngest of children, that is, if they did not have enough money, that was all that he knew and all he cared to know.

He smiled as he saw the suns fading light pass through the small holes dotting the ceiling of the cart, it was a truly beautiful display. It seemed a shame that this power of his left him the complete opposite of such beauty. He sighed; perhaps a beauty existed in this world that could render the darkness of his power null but that beauty did not exist in him.

He was not an ugly man to say the least; his body was average, not muscled, tall or short. Simply average, and the only normal thing about him. His hair was a mess of short, tangled grey strands that protruded from his head quite strangely, yet in an oddly natural way; it was strange to say the least; that was the way his hair had been since the first day he could remember, which was why he appreciated it so much. His face he knew little about as he had never had access to a mirror; but he was told it was quite handsome.

Other than that there was not much to know about his appearance, only that he preferred to wear a black trench coat and plain shirt with black skinny jeans as a constant dress code, it was mainly to hide the stains of blood that constantly dotted it.

Thinking of this, however, made him confusingly sad as it reminded him that he had yet to smile in the company of another, mainly because everyone he had ever met looked at him with disgust for his plain expression and thoughts that mainly involved killing, even if it only involved the killing of evil.

He sighed again, a habit that had not left him since it first appeared, and would not leave him till the hole in his life had been lifted, that he knew. Perhaps one day.

Today the cart was to be heading to the capital, a very common trip that almost always had someone accompanying him in the back.

This time he seemed to be sharing a cart with a man in a dusty and ragged brown jumper and a hoodie which covered his head. The man had not attempted to make conversation with him, he appreciated that, as it would almost certainly lead to another person to hate.

He heard a light rumbling from below; one of the advantages of his power was heightened sense and that was what made him especially good at his job.

"Stop the cart" he called in his usual, calm tone.

The driver, knowing that when he talked it was best to follow his line of thought stopped the cart abruptly; nearly knocking the other man off.

It appeared the man had been sleeping and that the stop had woken him as he was clearly dizzy. It was now that he saw his face, he had brown spiky hair and a small outcrop of hair coming from the middle, his eyes were green and seemed to have a deep determination in them that he had not sensed by his presence, other than the only thing about him was having he had the same body shape and skin tone as himself. He also looked to be the same age.

A beast was coming, however, and it was his job to get rid of it before it could damage the cart. From the minute sound of the rumbling it appeared to be 100 meters below him.

"It's another one" he shouted, still using his usual calm tone. He realised too late that the shout could not be heard over the rumbling, now the equal of the sound of hundreds of rampaging bulls, the beast was fast and now only 25 meters beneath the ground; that made his job far harder.

He would have to deal with it fast, but that was easy for him anyway, the size of the beasts was their weakness and so he exploited it without hesitation. They were monsters and deserved to die.

He drew his sword and waited. Trying to pinpoint where the beast would come out.

"Please get back" he shouted to the man standing behind him but he was already gone. A coward it seemed, he could not appreciate that; it was strange, however, as he had not heard the sound of running, only a pant of exertion which he now assumed was the man getting off the cart and beginning his stealthy sprint.

Something temporarily blotted out the sun, strange; he had expected the beast to be underground, a flying beast that could cause rumbling that loud and make it sound like it was coming from below with only its wings was bad new. He gripped his sword tightly and tensed his muscles, no need to use his power; it hadn't noticed him yet, that meant a possibly easy kill. He prepared to strike upwards but what he saw when he raised his head filled him with a feeling he had never felt before.

Awe.

The pant was not what he had thought it was then; it had been the man jumping. The jump height rivalled even his own, he had managed to train himself to jump 5 meters easily, the traveller had jumped at least 2 meters higher; it required intense concentration for him to jump the same height. He had finally met him then, someone to help fill the void in his life, after all these mundane and useless years. He hoped it would be refreshing but as he knew little of social interaction, even the thought of such a thing made him nervous.

He saw the man begin to fall to the ground, his awe temporarily dissipated and turned into terror; he sensed the beast only meters from the ground, the man would not survive once it arrived if he was not prepared, the seconds that followed would determine his entire future. He was tense at such a thought but sheathed his sword nonetheless.

The beast rose from the ground at a speed exceeding 50 miles per hour, ridiculously fast. He walked forward in anticipation of the outcome, his trench coat swinging gently in the breeze, what a wonderfully odd day this day had been.

He stopped, it couldn't be, that was impossible; the beast had already lost a hand, the speed of the traveller must have been at least twice his own usual, the beasts dark blood spilled across the ground, forming a reflective pool in front of him, it was through there that he saw the man again, using his momentum to cut the beast into multiple pieces.

"Amazing" he said and took a deep breath

"Well thanks" the light voice of the traveller called

He looked up to see the traveller from before now finishing his fall from the air with a bloodied sword, so it seemed that he would indeed be leaving this life behind.

The man had cut through the beast at an amazing speed and was already cleaning his sword of the blood it had gathered, the droplets falling and softly tapping against the ground.

"Who are you?" he asked with a desperate tone, this would be his only chance to change this life; he needed to do all he could to obtain it. He felt it deep inside himself.

The sudden and overwhelming realisation that he had just displayed a social emotion felt even better than the sun dapples through the roof of the cart did.

"I'm Tatsumi, you'll be hearing a lot about me when I'm a famous general in the imperial army" he replied with a cockiness that he had not expected, thankfully it felt only light and not overbearing.

"That beast was large; I did not expect that anyone in the world could deal with one so easily, no, even better than me. However, I am thankful to be wrong" he realised that he must have sound far cockier than the man did and nearly punched himself due to the realisation. He was losing his chance.

"Well, I've always had a knack for hunting, so it wasn't that unusual" he said with a small chuckle and large smile from.

They were the same. Perfectly the same. That was, apart from the smile; he would need to change that.

"Excuse me, Tatsumi, but may I ask you a question?" He could not hesitate for even a moment and needed to act with as great respect as he could muster

"Yeah?" he said and immediately proceeded to cross his arms in a serious manner

"If it is not too much of a hassle I would like to join you in your travels from now on" he tried to speak in a confident voice but could barely contain the shake that filled his body at the moment

He didn't know if it was the common thing to do but before he knew it he was kneeling on a single knee in front of Tatsumi. It seemed that his instincts were taking over in this instance, an odd feeling to be sure.

"Wha!?" Tatsumi seemed to be extremely shocked and was leaning back with his hands raised slightly in front of him

"As I said, please let me join you!" He didn't know if Tatsumi being shocked was a good or a bad thing, he just hoped for the former.

Tatsumis arms were hanging down now and he had an odd blue covering the top half of his face, his mouth was also slightly agape.

"W-well I guess you could, but, um, why are you on your knee like that?" he asked, all the while not changing his position at all. It seemed he had expected something different from him.

"Is this not proper courtesy? Perhaps I should be on both knees!? Yes! That must be it!" The desperation was hitting in, he hoped he was making the right choice and not the opposite exactly.

All Tatsumi had as a retort to the statement was a confused 'ehh' and still no movement of his body. He could not shake the feeling that he had just made a massive fool of himself but he did not get up, he did, however he did move back to one knee.

"Um, have you never talked with a stranger before or something? Cause this is pretty weird"

"Unfortunately never, only the driver so I do not know how to interact with others much" at this point he had stood up again as he felt that even being on one knee was doing something horribly wrong.

Tatsumi let out a relieved sigh and reverted to a normal position.

"Well, okay then, I guess if we're gonna be travelling together I'm going to have to guide you a bit when it comes to that, I think it'd also be best if I knew your name"

"Very well" he stood up rather abruptly and ran his trench coat purposefully through the blood as a small sign of his determination although the plan backfired as it instead made him look even weirder

"My name, is Roktaror Senparse; it is a pleasure to be at your service" he hoped he was making a good impression but from what he had seen so far it seemed he was messing up.

Tatsumi, not moving much simply added "Boy, you're formal aren't you? Try lightening up a little, and anyway do you mind if I just call you Rok most of the time?"

"I'm terribly sorry, but, um, I don't actually know what lightening up happens to be, also, I do not mind what you call me as long as it resembles my real name" the sentence somehow had enough power to revert Tatsumi to his previous position, not caring that his coat had also now slipped into the pool of blood

"Just speak less formal, ok?" Tatsumi sighed and only now remembered to sheathe his sword, the connection of the two making a slight squishing sound, he assumed, due to the blood coating the swords surface

"I see, ok then; like this?" he was trying his hardest although he still thought that he was lacking finesse

"Yeah, well, mostly. Keep talking like that and you'll get the hang of things easily" his voice was getting more confident as the conversation went on, that was a good sign.

A sense of elation passed through him, did that mean that he had accepted him?!

"I'm sorry for my lack of social skills, I've lost all memory of the first 8 years of my life and for the last 9 years all I've been doing is travelling on this cart"

"Ohh, an amnesiac then, But, how the hell could you manage 9 years on a cart without socialising to anyone? There must have been some other people than just me." Tatsumi had put rather large amounts of focus on the 'some'

"Yes, there were, but they all were disgusted with my belief that killing all things that were evil in this word was the right course, it was one of the main reasons I defended this cart"

"That must have been hard, but don't worry, I understand perfectly even if I don't agree 100 percent, anyways, we'd better start going now, from here the capital shouldn't be too far, in-fact it's walking distance"

"Very well, I'll go gather some of the meat for later and say my final goodbyes, then we can be on our way"

He had finally found a way out then, no more of this hell of mundane thoughts and feelings. He thought of all the possibilities that had been opened to him in this similarly opened world. He felt the breeze brush against his cheeks and smiled.


	2. Kill the past self

**Before I start I'd like to thank frozen shadow for the review and encouragement.**

**Also I'd like to state that this is my first piece of long writing and any reviews are welcome, just as long as they're not simple hate messages.**

**Anyways, let chapter 2 begin.**

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><p>The journey to the capital was a long one. He usually would not mind but this was his first time ever having to go somewhere with a purpose. The wish to see what lay ahead was ingrained deep within him, he hadn't stopped thinking of it in the three hours they had been walking.<p>

It didn't help either that he had to carry both the meat from the beast and all his extra stuff, which ultimately amounted to a trench coat and some jeans.

At least the trek was a pleasant one that had led through a large plain and then into a lightly wooded forest which let the light pass through in beautiful ways. Nonetheless, the trek had taken far longer than he had expected, it was already nearly noon.

"When you said walking distance I assumed you meant a few miles Tatsumi, but we've been walking for three hours now and we can't even see the capital yet, are you sure we're going the right way?"

"Don't worry about it" Tatsumi turned around and smiled back at him in a reassuring manner " From my map it's only a few kilometres over this hill" Tatsumi turned his face back forward and walked on as if the talk had never occurred.

He closed one eye in a speculative way and looked straight forward with the other; this was another of the habits he had obtained during his travels, every time he felt speculative it happened. It was even deeper ingrained than his habit of sighing, unable to disappear as easily as that would.

The hill was reaching it's pinnacle, the next few metres would determine whether Tatsumi was right or not. He profoundly hoped for the former as his feet had begun to ache in an irritating fashion; this was the first time he had walked so far, his previous record amounting to that of three kilometres.

Sighing, for once of his own accord, he opened his other eye and took the next step, raising his head just over the full height of the hill.

What he saw was amazing, a gleaming metropolis standing alone in a large field of grass which shone in the sunlight, he wondered what it would look like with the shadow of night engulfing it. Nowhere near as beautiful he assumed. Nothing truly ever did.

The city had a large castle standing tall directly in the middle of the city, gleaming as if made of glass. He assumed it was the palace, although it confused him why the rest of the city lacked such gleam; perhaps it was simply the angle, it didn't matter anyway, the city looked like the embodiment of beauty.

"This is a truly beautiful sight, I don't think I have any words for such a thing" he was still slightly struggling with using slang. Tatsumi seemed accustomed to it as second nature and had helped him with it for the first hour of the walk.

Tatsumi laughed, "I have to agree with you there, I expected it to be a little more imposing to be honest!"

"And, it seems, I have to agree with you there" he tried to put in a humorous tone by emphasising the 'you' but it instead came off as more of an insult, leaving Tatsumi with an exasperated expression.

He still lacked a lot in the humour department too, it seemed.

He understood that there was now an awkward silence filling the air and tried to think of something that would dispel it.

"Um, maybe we should hurry ourselves up a bit so that we can make it there in time for lunch?" he said, trying to add a reassuring feeling by scratching his head and letting a light laugh out simultaneously.

It seemed to have worked as Tatsumi immediately smiled and responded "Yeah, although I think the bread that we shared on the way here was enough"

The 'bread' that Tatsumi referred to had amounted to little more than a handful of crumbs which had, in the most part, fallen out of their hands while they attempted to eat; Tatsumi being satisfied by so little an amount surprised him.

However, the fact that he had done something right when it came to socialising amazed him, it felt as if he had taken a stride towards the open world before him and away from the boring life of the cart.

"If it's alright with you, I think I'll get some lunch anyway " when it came to food he was a glutton, he could eat a lot in a very short amount of time and still feel like there was a gap large enough to fill a horse into inside his stomach, although, if necessary he could last for days without food. However, getting in the way of his eating, would likely end up with the culprit in pain.

He, of course, always had the choice to eat the beast meat but he felt that saving that for dinner would be a better idea.

Tatsumi didn't reply, instead he simply shrugged his shoulders, laughed, and began walking forward.

**...**

The capital was far larger up close, at least three times as large as it had seemed on the hill, he could not understand how anyone could find their way around here, the cobbled streets stretched on for what seemed like miles without much differentiation, everywhere he looked the roads were paved with the same style of houses. Alleyways dotted the area like flies on a rotting corpse and the talking was incessant and deafening; although that was the only problem he had seen so far it already amounted to being far harder than simply sitting on his cart all day.

"Anyway" Tatsumi chimed in, slightly shattering the atmosphere "my plan is to join the imperial army ,so unless you feel like joining the army this is where we'll have to part ways"

For a moment, he hesitated. The army; one of the things that he despised in this world, all simply due to its lack of freedom, but he would learn to abide with it if that was where he would have to go in order to stay with Tatsumi.

"I go where you go; if the army's what you wish to do I'll happily go with you"

When he said happily he really meant in extreme pain, his freedom, no, nearly anything, he had determined, mattered to him as much as getting to know Tatsumi and the excitement that would surely follow him; he was a lost man otherwise, he knew that.

Tatsumi scratched his head and let out a little laugh, seemingly feeling the hidden thoughts in his words.

"Off to recruitment then!" He immediately turned around and began to walk, his strides large in size and fast moving, this was Tatsumis way of helping him as staying any longer would only increase his indecision and, ultimately, his pain, Tatsumi must understand him better than he did himself he thought, and then he followed.

**...**

"Just sign these forms and we'll consider you two, but if you both want to join the same squad together then you've got another thing coming, it's extremely unlikely that either of you would be accepted, let alone both, and in the same squad" the man chuckled slightly, the fat on his chin bouncing as he did so.

He froze, if he was not matched with Tatsumi, then he would surely re-enter the mundane world that he had lived in. He could not allow that.

He was about to speak but was interrupted by Tatsumi before he could begin.

"But this says that we'd be starting off as footmen! We don't have time for that! How about we show you our skill and you just start us off as commanding officers?" he then proceeded to lean over to Roktaror and ask "You do know how to fight, right?"

It only then occurred to him that he had not actually shown his fighting skills in front of Tatsumi, perhaps Tatsumi only felt like he was a burden, the though made him feel oddly sick.

The man had now gotten extremely angry, it seemed that Tatsumi asking such a question had offended him. The mans eye was now twitching and his mouth was trembling.

"Excuse me sir, but..."

The man grabbed both of them by the collar, walked to the door and threw them out in to the street where they proceeded to land on their faces, temporarily fazing both of them.

"You Bastards! Get the hell out of here before I beat your asses!"

"We're already flooded with applications due to the recession, let alone captaincy trials! There's a limit on how many we can take you idiots! And you! Don't ever show your stupid gray hair around here again, it seriously pisses me off!"

He didn't know what his hair had done to offend the man but it made him extremely angry that the man had mocked it without an explanation, that was, unless it pissing him off amounted to such.

With that said, the man slammed the door so hard that splinters flew off.

"Well that route seems out of the question then" Tatsumi sighed and then frowned, the only other choice they had involved them risking prison time. But it was their only choice.

"Guess our only route is to cause a scene in the area, we'll fight each other, get your sword ready, and don't hold back!"

He sensed a chance that he would not ever get again, while he would happily join the army if it involved following Tatsumi, it did not mean that he wished to.

"Maybe we could just not join, you know, find something else..." he had intended to sound confident but had felt his voice slowly drain away as he looked at Tatsumis solemn and determined face

"Like it or not, I'm joining the army with or without you Rok" Tatsumis gaze did not leave him, it was deadly serious and felt as if it was peering into the recesses of his soul.

"Like I said, if it's really your wish to join the army then I will follow you there" this time he did not let the confidence leave his tone, this time he wouldn't let Tatsumis gaze avert him.

"Hmm" Tatsumi sat down and seemed to be pondering his options with a contemplative expression on his face. He decided that sitting down next to him would likely be a good thing to do.

And so he sat. Tatsumi was too absorbed in thought to look his way.

"Hiiii" A voice from above them called as a large shadow crept over them

Both looked up at the same time to see a large pair of breasts hanging slightly above their faces. Startled, he fell backwards and, extremely shocked from what had just happened, immediately proceeded to collapse neatly on the ground. Meanwhile, Tatsumi could not avert his gaze from what he believed must be the very essence of the imperial capital.

"Ummm, so what's up with him?" The woman was slightly confused, although she felt that she already knew half the answer

Temporarily snapping out of his daze, Tatsumi answered "Well, let's just say he's slightly antisocial"

The woman looked down at Roktarors unconscious body which was splayed out in a way that resembled that of someone attempting to make a snow angel, she then looked back to Tatsumi "Ok, I don't really know what you're saying, but, why'd he collapse like THAT?"

Tatsumi would have answered but the woman had unknowingly moved her breasts right into his face, he felt as if he, too, would now pass out.

"You don't want to answer then? Well fine. Anyways, want a lady to help you out with your little recruitment problem?" It was now that she finally moved herself back to a standing position.

Still slightly mesmerised by the experience, Tatsumi managed to murmur out something quite inexplicable.

The lady, with a mischievous smirk on her face, put her hands on her hips "Let me guess, you're from the country and came to the capital in hopes of making it big"

Tatsumi, now broken out of the daze, was quite surprised, did he and Rok really stand out that much?

"How did you know?" he asked

"Once you live in the capital for long enough you can easily spot country folk"

"Wow, really!?" For some reason the way she said it made it sound like a difficult thing, although he sensed that it was really far easier than what she made it out to be.

"Easy as pie. It also helps that your friends wearing a trench coat, no one sells those within 5 miles of the capital and the closest only sell worn and ragged ones, his seem quite new, anyway, if you want a quick way into the government services I can get you an easy way"

"R-Really!?" Tatsumi, now completely absorbed in the ladies words, missed the slight warning in her voice which hinter at her true intentions.

"You have a habit for questioning people, don't you? But before I tell you you're gonna have to treat a lady to a meal! That is, once you get your friend up, can't have you leaving him behind!"

The lady turned and began to walk towards what seemed to be a restaurant which had a pleasant aroma coming out of it

"I'll meet you in here"

She smiled, pointed to the building, and disappeared inside.

**...**

Tatsumi and himself sat with worried expressions on their faces. The lady couldn't stop drinking. He simply could not understand why, upon his first taste of the drink he spat it out instantaneously, it tasted like eating a cockroach, he had been told that you got used to it by the lady but he didn't buy it, she had to be crazy or something similar.

He had now had some time to actually look at her, she had curly blonde hair cut in a way that he didn't know was possible and green eyes, although they lacked the determination of Tatsumis they still had a shine to them. She wore something over her breasts which he had never seen before, he had literally no idea what it was, all he knew about it was that it was black. She wore some sort of utility belt which appeared to currently not be in use, a large star stood out in the middle. She also wore a white scarf with black streaks going vertically across at measured intervals along with a pair of similarly coloured bracers, at least that was the closest thing he could describe them as being; these had some sort of metal bangle attached at the end. For her lower half she simply wore black pants that were lined with dusty brown trousers, a revealing set-up to say the least.

The waiter, a middle aged man with a curled moustache, walked up next to them and gave him the meal he had ordered, spaghetti bolognaise, a dish from the West and also his favourite

He dug in. The food becoming his only primary thought, the world around him only a slight distraction.

Tatsumi was now getting irritated, perhaps Tatsumi really wasn't filled by the 'bread' from before. He wouldn't give him any of his food though; if there was one thing he would never give up to Tatsumi, it was spaghetti bolognaise.

Tatsumi seemed to have reached his limit and stood up quite suddenly, banging his foot against the table along the way and sending a large amount of food flying to cover Roktarors face.

"Just tell me how to get hired already! We don't have time for this" the statement was rather loud and commanding, Tatsumi had not even noted what he had done to his face. He felt rage begin building up inside him, but he managed to barely hold it back.

He groped around in his hair and began removing the food that had become entangled in it; trying to dissuade his anger with the task. It wasn't working.

"Well, ok then" she sighed as she poured out another glass of beer, also ignoring him. The anger inside him had grown to an urge to punch her.

His rage dissipated. He had just though of attacking an innocent person, someone that had not done any harm and was blatantly not evil. Perhaps all those people that he had met in the cart were not wrong, perhaps he was a disgusting being. A depression threatened to settle over him, he would not allow it though; using the last of his willpower he raised his head and listened, temporarily forgetting the spilled food.

"You need connections and money, it's that simple" the woman spoke confidently and slightly seductively, he didn't care much, however, as he had been disconnected from such things for the duration of his life, it was the same reason why he had passed out earlier.

"M-Money?" Tatsumi was quite confused, he hadn't expected this.

"Well….. I happen to know a guy in the military. If you give him enough money you'll be high up in no time at all!" She smiled and proceeded to down another cup of the drink "Just gimme enough money to send to him and you'll be set"

"I see" Tatsumi reached down and grabbed a large bag filled with money which he promptly crashed onto the table, it looked like a lot. But he hadn't ever dealt with money before either so he wasn't sure. Tatsumi leaned over to him and lightly whispered "Gimme the meat".

He reached down to grab the meat, the squishing when he did so sounding as disgusting as always.

Tatsumi grabbed the bag and threw it onto the table as well "And here's a tip as a thank you".

When she saw the meat the womans eyes lit up, but when he realised what Tatsumi had decided to do with the mean his eyes, had, instead done the polar opposite, in seconds tears were rolling down his cheeks and draining away the last of the meat left on his head.

"Will it be enough!?" Tatsumi asked, somehow managing to miss the delight on the womans face.

"Absolutely! This will definitely be enough!" she squealed, grabbing both the money and the meat

"I got the money as a reward from killing danger beasts on the way here" Tatsumi felt that he needed to justify his actions or it would seem suspicious, accompanying the words with a prideful smile.

The woman suddenly changed her expression and became rather serious "You're strong then, huh?" she asked

Before Tatsumi could answer she let out a light giggle which she then accompanied with a smile. "It'll absolutely be enough, don't worry yourselves, just wait here for me and I'll come back with all the stuff you'll need"

"Thank you!" Tatsumi bowed slightly and sat back down.

He was amazed at the determination Tatsumi had shown over such a small thing. He wished to be like that someday, he truly did.

The lady laughed again and left the table.

Close to the exit the lady turned around and waved back at them in a reassuring manner "I think you'll learn a valuable lesson from this kids" she called and walked out the door.

Both he and Tatsumi let out a sigh of relief and prepared themselves for the wait. It was then that Tatsumi finally apologised for spilling the food over his face

"Sorry about earlier, I didn't mean to do that, I'd buy you another but we just gave all our money to her" Tatsumi let out a slightly nervous laugh and tensed his eyes. Preparing himself for either pain or a scolding; maybe both. What he got instead was a confused expression.

Realising who it was that he was talking to Tatsumi felt quite cruel and hoped he could repay him in the future, for now he would just explain "This would be around the time where you would either scold me angrily for not considering you or butt heads with me"

Roktaror responded with a quick blink.

"You're a cruel person, you know that? Well then, I have only one thing to say..." He cleared his throat

"You NEVER touch my food" he accompanied this with a flick to Tatsumis forehead

Having done that he sighed and sat back down; preparing himself for the womans return.

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><p><strong>I know it might have been slightly confusing with the changing of character perspectives in the middle of a scene but from now on it'll be far more refined.<strong>

**Sorry about moving forward so slowly but I'd like to give some time for the OC to develop before we really get into the action, next chapters going to get us up to night raids first appearance. Hope I'm not boring you guys.**

**Also, I'd like to note that the story may have not changed much so far but there are going to be some major changes in future.**


	3. Kill the evil

**From this point on the character perspectives gonna be changing up quite a bit so that I don't stray from the characters actually existing in the universe**

**Like I said before any feedback is appreciated just as long as it's not simple hate.**

**And so chapter three begins**

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><p><em>2 Hours Later<em>

Roktaror had become rather irritated, waiting was a new thing and something he could not appreciate, wandering had felt much calmer and less painful. But he supposed that it would have to do for now.

_2 Hours Later_

Tatsumi sat patiently and did not move a muscle, only a little longer and he would have found a way to help the village, only a little longer.

_4 Hours Later_

The wait was becoming rather hellish. He had changed his mind, nothing was worth this type of boredom. Perhaps if he went outside and got some fresh air.

Sighing, he stood from the table and walked through the door, Tatsumi didn't seem to notice ; he simply sat there like a rock. Roktaror didn't really care, staying so long with someone was rather tiresome, even if it was him. He needed some time to reflect on the beauty of the world.

**...**

The air outside should be far more pleasant than the stuffy inside of the restaurant, he breathed it in; surprisingly cold. On his travels the night had always provided a hidden warmth that spread throughout his body and brought calm to his mind, the cold was only an afterthought. This was wrong, it was tainted and horrible.

Perhaps it was simply the change of atmosphere, he highly doubted it, the change was too deep and hellish.

Maybe a walk would take his mind off things, supposedly they had a calming quality, conversations between passengers had taught him this. He took his steps slowly and precisely, trying to distract his mind from the disturbing air, there was definitely something wrong with it he had decided.

The air he breathed in now was worse than that which surrounded the beasts, the morning had left him too distracted to notice, usually he would have left such a place immediately but the hopes he still felt for the future had kept his mind in control.

He passed by a dark alleyway, on the road the faint light of the moon reached everywhere in sight, from forests to mountain passes, the moon did not reject any. Here it seemed the moon did not share itself, he could already feel the darkness emanating from it's cobbled walls, he felt it all around him in fact, every single alley, every single path.

He thought he had faintly heard something, an evil snigger, it had come from behind; a hundred meters. He turned; five men stood there, armed with an assortment of weapons ranging from a rapier all the way down to a club.

"What do you want?" He asked, adding a slightly threatening tone to his voice, he sensed a wish to do harm in these people so he felt it was fitting to scare them.

"We'll make it simple for a country man like you" it was the man with the rapier that had spoke, he assumed he must be the leader "Give us all the money you have on you, and while you're at it that fancy coat you have there as well" the man lowered his rapier and pointed it directly at him, a dark smile now crossing his face.

"And if I don't?"

"Well, then we'll have to kill you and take it off your corpse" the other men began to walk forward now, approaching at an intimidating pace.

"I see" Roktaror smiled and lifted his hands from his pockets "You are an evil being then, perhaps it is you that is tainting the air" he reached for his sword, it had a simple design and was shaped as a common longsword "Very well then, I hope this is fun." His smile growing berserk, he began forward.

In the consecutive thirty seconds five screams of terror were heard from the area.

_30 minutes later_

Roktaror was still not back. Since his companions departure Tatsumi had managed to relieve some of the tension that had been kept him unmoving but he was now confused.

Roktaror had been willing to enter the army in order to follow him but had left for half an hour without any warning at all. Perhaps he had become bored of him and left to find another cart.

No. Roktaror had seemed to hate that life with a deep passion, him going back to it was... unlikely.

Tatsumi took a breath and laid back in his chair, pondering the awkwardness of the days occurrences. He didn't quite know how Sayo and Ieyasu would react to Roktaror but he didn't think it would be that bad.

He found himself once again thinking of what might have happened to them but he wasn't too worried, Sayo and Ieyasu were both extremely skilled, dealing with a few bandits wouldn't be too hard for them. The main problem was whether they had arrived in the capital yet and whether they had enlisted.

It would certainly be hard to find them in such a large place but he was sure that if he asked around he would certainly find them. He had to find them; they were a team, they would live together and die together, they had swore it to each other.

He looked up hopefully, someone had just opened the door to the restaurant, perhaps the woman was finally back, or maybe Roktaror had returned, perhaps even Sayo and Ieyasu. He was disappointed to find that it wasn't any, just another customer come for a late dinner.

He rummaged into his shirts pockets, trying to find the idol from his village he had placed there earlier. He let out a light sigh when his fingers brushed over the smooth clay features of the idol, he grabbed it and brought it to his face.

It was the usual colour you could expect out of clay but the craftsman had to have been extremely skilled as every little detail had been painstakingly carved into the features. The idol was meant to represent the path of peace, a religion that had sprung up not too long ago and had already received a large following. The village was one of the first to be fully converted, there were a few that didn't accept the new religion but they didn't raise a fuss about it.

That was all mainly due to the problems the village already had; in-between the increase in beasts attacking the village and the large rise in taxes the village was only barely holding out.

The three of them had been sent out to save it, but all Tatsumi had to contribute was the fact that he had reached the capital.

The clock chimed yet again, another hour of waiting had gone by, there was something wrong here. The woman should have been back by now, there were no reasons for such a wait.

All he could do, however, was wait. He prepared to close his eyes and rest for a while but before he could do so a voice called to him from behind "You do realise you've been swindled right?"

Tatsumi froze, let out a light whimper and let his mouth fall agape. He turned to face the voice, the waiter.

"B-but that's fraud, I need to report her for this!"

"That's useless. Here in the capital the fault goes to the one who got swindled, sorry pal" Tatsumi froze yet again, this couldn't be happening, he'd just given all the money that he'd gained from killing the danger beasts out to some random woman just because she had large breasts. Crap.

**...**

Tatsumi walked out of the restaurant in a depressed mood, he had no money and no food. Things could hardly be going worse, he'd even already lost Rok, he wasn't sure if he should be glad or sad about that though. He'd just have to sleep outside tonight and see if he couldn't find him in the morning.

It'd been raining earlier, however, so it wouldn't be a pleasant night, that was certain.

He sighed. There was a rather dry corner nearby, that would have to do. He sat and prepared himself for the long night to come.

Sleep was coming slowly. It'd been an exhausting day, that was true, but the incessant hunger was extremely irritating and kept him awake rather well.

The random sounds interrupting his calm didn't help either, they were loud and annoying, nothing like the country, perhaps it'd be an even worse night than he had thought.

The sound of horse hooves once again brought him out of his thoughts, this was getting rather irritating. The hooves stopped, a light splash of water flicked onto his ankle.

He opened his eyes, a girl stood in front of him, a light smile on her face.

**...**

Tatsumi sighed and laid back in the bed that had been prepared for him, he was glad the people in the capital weren't all like that woman, the girl, Aria, had given him shelter last night and had even been so kind as to give him another.

Her parents had even promised to send out missives to find Sayo, Ieyasu and even Roktaror. He had also offered to put in a good word with a high ranking friend in the military. They were truly wonderful people.

The words of one of their guards, however, hung on his conscience, the new emperor was little more than a boy and had won the fight for the throne due to only one man. The minister.

The guard had also said that the minister was the real man holding the strings, that the emperor was being controlled by him and did exactly as he bid, if he told him to execute someone that person was executed, if he told him to praise someone then that person was praised. The minister was the reason that taxes had increased so exponentially, he was hungry for money and power and cared little for the wellbeing of others.

Tatsumi clenched his fists grabbing the bed sheets in the process. He had to live with such a man controlling him and the rest of the country, it was all because of him that his village was suffering.

There was nothing he could do, however, without stooping down to the level of the assassins that the guard had also pointed out, they killed simply because someone had power and money; a group of people that called themselves night raid. He had been warned that they may attack this place and to be ready just in case. He didn't know if he was but he did know that if they attacked he would show them no mercy.

However, for now all he could do was close his eyes and sleep.

**... **

He didn't know of course, that only a couple of kilometres away that the group was already preparing to strike at the exact location he was currently resting in.

Suspended high in the air on what, at first sight may appear cobwebs, night raid stood.

"You do realise we were followed right?" a light voice belonging to a pink haired girl commented

"Yes" a dark haired girl replied, not hesitating for a moment "If someone is able enough to follow us on his own then we must assume that they are skilled, otherwise following us would be impossible, we must also assume that they have an intent to fight us, you and Bulat will deal with him"

"Why do I have to go! Bulat can deal with them easily" the pink haired girl seemed irritated, crossing her arms in annoyance and letting a frown cross her face.

The dark haired girl did not reply, she simply continued looking forward

"Yeah! Why does he get to go with her!" A green haired man with red rimmed goggles; currently neatly tucked into his hair, asked "He's gay and he still gets all the girls" the man sat and let a disgruntled expression cross his face

"Oh, don't be jealous Lubo" a blonde haired woman commented "You always have me" a mischievous smile crossed her face; the man didn't really move.

"Let's go Mine" what appeared to be a man in thick armour, somewhat resembling that of a samurais grabbed the pink haired girl and jumped. The fall, around fifty metres would have killed a normal man but the armour he wore protected him it seemed.

They were going to try and surprise him, have the armoured man, supposedly called Bulat face him head on while the girl, Mine, prepared a surprise attack on him.

This power was far more useful against people than beasts it seemed, beasts were stupid, attacking from base instinct and not creating plans. Humans were far more interesting.

He smiled, this would be fun, he would eliminate the evil that tainted the air; what did it matter if had some fun while doing so?

"It's time to die" he said to no one in particular and began to walk towards the duo, the berserk smile that he had become quickly accustomed to distorting his features.

**...**

Mine sighed, she was angry that she had been forced to go after some random idiot rather than stay and get rid of those disdainful people. She only hoped that she would actually get to do something before Bulat finished them off.

She estimated that the man was now only two-hundred meters away from Bulat, the fight would begin soon. No, not a fight, an absolute destruction of a fly.

The trap was perfectly designed, there was no way he'd be able to avoid a bullet while he was fighting Bulat, that was, if he even lasted five seconds.

She could see him now, approaching in the dark of night, he appeared to be smiling. Cocky bastard, they'd wipe that smile off his face in no time at all.

The man stopped, she could see the outline of his mouth moving, a talkative type then, this would be even easier than she had expected. She looked down the scope and began to aim. She wouldn't need Bulat to deal with him; he just needed to stay put for a few seconds more.

The target reticule was now over his head, she breathed in, steadying her aim.

The man was still speaking. It was over.

She pulled the trigger.

* * *

><p><strong>And that's chapter three folks, next time some fighting will actually occur.<strong>

**As a side note, I'll be skipping the scenes that Tatsumi had at this point since literally nothing would have changed.**


	4. Kill the power

**This chapter will finally have some action, hope you enjoy.**

* * *

><p>Roktaror walked forward, the duo were prepared, their ambush set, lucky for him that they would never get to execute it.<p>

The man in armour stood in front of him now, only a number of meters, he would question him first, then move in for the kill, it would be simple enough. The girl would shoot when he moved in, around a five second delay, that would give him enough time to tune into her breathing. When it decelerated he would simply move out of the area she was aiming at.

The man talked first "Who are you? Why'd you follow us? If you are an enemy you must be prepared to die" the man crossed his arms and stood waiting for a response.

He felt that answering would be the right choice "My name is Roktaror and I am here to end your evil, to clear the taint out of the air. And on the contrary, it is you who must be prepared to die; I will remove this taint in the air, I will destroy the evil that taints it. That task starts with you."

He assumed the man was frowning as the helmet he wore had dipped slightly, emotional then. That meant he would fight harder than most, this might actually be a challenge.

He tuned into the girl, she was likely preparing herself.

Interesting.

The girls breath had slowed already, she was planning on breaking the plan then, he would have to keep attention on her, she would likely fire in the next ten seconds.

The man spoke again but he could not pay him any attention, the girls breath was slowing even further, the shot would come soon. Five seconds.

Instead of anything that could be considered a direct response he asked "Do you really think that'll work?" The man was slightly taken aback, he had drawn his weapon but the shot would reach first. One second.

He heard the bang, not as loud as he had assumed it would be.

He had only ever seen one gun in his life it had been ill worn and was broken beyond repair. The chances of finding a gun were one in a million the driver had told him, finding a working one was even rarer, what luck he had to be facing someone with such a weapon.

The shot would reach him in approximately half a second, that only left him enough time to lean back and avoid the shot. Judging by how slow her breathing had been when she fired the shot would be aiming for his head, the easiest to dodge with.

He saw a flash of light in front of his face, that was strange, he'd been told that guns fired something called bullets, small conical things that could break through most armour easily, this was not what he had expected.

The shot was not a bullet but a beam, a glaring white beam that illuminated the surrounding area; beautiful, for evil to have such a thing was truly wrong.

The shot had missed as he had expected but there was something wrong. There was a dull pain emanating from his nose.

The shot had not fully missed, it had grazed his nose very slightly, thankfully not cutting it off but burning it significantly.

They were far better than he had anticipated, he would give them that.

He raised his head back to full height; no more shots came.

The man in front of him was standing bewildered, barely moving. The time to strike was now, the man was wide open and an easy kill.

He charged, he would not need to increase the power of his sword to cut through the man. He had only been ten meters away, no chance that the man would be able to respond in time.

His sword drew close, only another second and the mans dark blood would be spilling over the ground.

His sword hit, a shrill sound now filled the air. That was truly strange, the mans armour had deflected his sword as if it was nothing. What a wonderful twist, he would not be so easy a kill after all.

The man, now broken out of hid daze swung his weapon, appearing to be an oddly shaped lance at his open body.

There was not enough time to dodge, the weapon was too long and he was too close to the enemy to be able to duck or jump. He raised his sword to block, considering the power of his armour the sword would be easily cut through if he did not empower it.

The blade grew dark, shadows filling it's previously shining glory, his hand was sending his power into it, the weapon was now an extension of himself.

The lance drew extremely close. He drew his sword up to block, considering the power of his armour the lance would stay intact.

The connection was stronger than he had anticipated, it felt like he had just been hit by a mountain. His feet dug deep into the earth so he could maintain his position but it was not enough. He flew backwards.

The impact was rather painful, the dirt was dryer than it should have been, it had rained only yesterday after all.

He could not stay down contemplating this however, the girl was still in the fight and would fire at him soon enough. He stood up and flew back at the man, this time he knew how to dodge.

The lance flew at him in an arc, he slid under it and brought his sword up to cut the mans leg tendons; leaving him with a large advantage.

The man jumped before the sword could connect, landing a few meters away, to be so fast in such thick armour was amazing; he had misjudged the power of this evil, it could prove to be a fatal mistake.

He heard a bang like before, the girl had fired again, he was in a bad position to dodge. He rolled over onto his side, the shot barely missed him and left a large hole in his trench coat.

He stood back up, the man was not moving, waiting for him to charge as he had before. This was a dangerous situation, his sword hadn't been able to strike yet, the shadows surrounding it were swirling faster now, hungry for the blood of evil.

Another shot, they weren't giving him a second of reprieve, this time he didn't know where the shot would be aiming, he had to move his whole body out of the way or that would be the end for him.

He dodged again, the shot had missed again, a large hole now stood where he had once done.

This was bad, he didn't see any other choice than to use his power to its full extent.

He'd only been forced to do this once before, against a very powerful beast that had nearly killed him many times in their battle, it was a last ditch resort that he had no mastery over, a dishonourable trick.

He had to use it.

**...**

Bulat stood motionless, he would wait for the next strike, the opponent was backed into a corner. He must know that eventually a shot would connect if he did not finish him quickly.

Strangely enough the man had a collected expression on his face. How could someone be so confident after having nearly been killed four times in a row.

"If you give up now we promise that we'll consider letting you live" the man seemed to have a just reason for fighting although the tainting of the air stuff seemed a little crazy.

"I will never give in to evil, I will defeat you here and now" the man did not betray his calm face but his tone had a sense of desperation to it. The man was nervous but did not show it; a good warrior.

His sword was strange though, it had been shining in the moonlight when the battle had begun but now there was a strange shadow surrounding it, spiralling crazily.

Could this man be holding an imperial arms as well? He had never heard of one such as his but he didn't see any other explanation.

The man moved again, charging as he had before, not very smart it seemed, skilled but definitely not smart. The man was fast and would be within his swords striking distance in a matter of seconds. He was already in his own striking distance however, he moved his lance to attack, this time he would not let the man dodge, he surged forward along with his lance; this time the man would not be able to dodge and his sword was too far out of position to block in time.

The lance connected.

The man disappeared in a shadowlike smoke, he had completely disappeared, nowhere in sight.

He reached out with his mind to see if he could sense him, yes, there was definitely something; he was directly behind him, there was no way he could block if the man was preparing to strike, but his armour had prevented the mans last attack from breaching. It would so again.

He turned slowly, a serious face hidden behind his mask. He saw the man lunge forward, preparing to rip through his armour, it would not work.

He felt a sensation in his stomach and looked down.

There was a hole in his armour, the man had broken through somehow. It was amazing. The wound was not deep however, more of a scratch then a wound.

The man had broken through his armour, that was amazing.

He had both a want to stop evil and large amounts of power, a good recruit.

The man still stood there, obviously shocked that Bulat was still standing.

"Impossible, that's impossible" his face contorted into that of a man in extreme pain. "I have failed, the taint will not fade" he had fallen to his knees, tears running down his cheeks.

A pure heart as well.

He couldn't take the man back while he was conscious though. He would have to explain the truth to him later, it was obvious he misunderstood.

He grabbed his lance and butted the end of his lance into the mans face. The man fell limp and his body slumped to the ground.

Bulat, slightly regretting that he had to do such a thing, reached down and picked him up, his body resting over his shoulder.

A light rustling came from behind, Mine walked out of the bushes with a scowl on her face, obviously angry that the man had been able to avoid her shots. She walked up to Bulat slowly.

"Why the hell haven't you killed that guy yet!" she shouted at him, crossing her arms in annoyance.

"There's no need, I think he'll be a good addition to the team" he removed his mask, feeling the night air against his cheeks.

Mine was even angrier now, having someone so easily able to dodge her shots on the team would be embarrassing to say the least, but he did not want to kill someone fighting for so pure a reason.

Mine let her anger dull away and sighed "Fine then, but I'm not carrying that hick back, that's your job. The other should be finished by now, lets head back"

**...**

It'd been ten minutes since they'd returned and Mine wasn't happy. She'd had to wait with this thing snoring away on Bulats shoulder and it was infuriating. Lubbock had been opposed to it at first but Bulat had somehow managed to convince him in less than a minute.

It was even more to her horror that when the others arrived they were holding yet another country hick, this time he was even conscious.

Her anger flaring up again she shouted "Why the hell did you bring this thing back with you!"

"I owed him a favour" was all Leone had in response "And anyway, you brought one too, ooh, it looks like it's your friend from earlier Tatsumi"

The country hick jumped up and inspected the man on Bulats shoulder "That's him, but why's he unconscious?"

No one was willing to answer his question, she felt quite good about that.

Akame walked towards the edge of the rope and prepared to leave "Let's go, Bulat, you'll carry Tatsumi n your other hand" with that Akame jumped off.

Slightly irritated Mine followed, Lubbocks string helping brace her body from the fall.

Two country hicks in one day, this would be just brilliant. She let a frown cross her face and continued onward.

* * *

><p><strong>Sorry for another short chapter, I just felt that it was a good cut off point and next chapter will hopefully break the 3k mark<strong>


	5. Kill the Lies

**Sorry for the delay guys, a lot of stuff happened that stopped me from writing so this chapter is pretty short too, and it's 2 days late.**

**Anyways, hope you enjoy.**

Tatsumi woke with a start, the bed he now lay in was surprisingly comfortable, the simple look made it look like a rather uncomfortable and worthless. He had been dumped here last night and went straight to sleep.

The room was being lit by a few rays of sun coming in through the window, the rays forming an odd pattern on the floor in front of his bed.

He could hear the birdsong from outside although it was mainly drowned out by the snores coming from the other side of the room.

They had put Roktaror in the same room as him, the bed Roktaror laid on was identical to his own but had metal straps attached, tying Roktaror down to his bed.

Apparently he'd attacked them quite openly and in a berserk manner, that didn't seem like him, Roktaror had seemed like he was a far more calm person than that.

The snoring was extremely irritating, it had kept him from falling asleep for at least an hour last night.

He got up, still clothed in the jumper from earlier, he looked to Roktaror; no change in clothes there either.

The room was rather small and pleasant, just like the one he had at home; a wave of nausea pass over him as his thoughts went back to Sayo and Ieyasus destroyed bodies, he could feel the insides of his stomach churning and threatening him.

He had been told the bathroom was the first room to his right when he walked outside, taking a deep breath he began walking towards the door.

He opened the door and entered a large corridor that stretched onwards in a circular fashion, doors ran along the inside corridor as far as he could see, there were probably more here than there were in his entire village.

He sighed and walked toward the door which opened to the bathroom. The door was rather large, about a metre taller than he was.

The bathroom was pristine, white tiles shining around each wall, a small toilet clumped into the corner and a bath that spanned the entire left wall.

He was taken aback, to get anything even remotely clean in his village required large workforces of the village, from what he saw night raid amounted to seven people at most.

He walked over to the toilet and leaned his head forward, he felt like his stomach was being ripped apart, maybe this was how Ieyasu had felt while he was dying, even the though sent his stomach into further levels of pain.

He spent another few minutes like that, attempting all the while not to think of his dead friends.

He stood back up, after staying here for so long without any change it was extremely unlikely that the change would occur without major warning, he had been told that the graves for his friends had already been dug and filled, for now he would just go and wait there.

**...**

Roktaror coughed, the motion sending his body scraping over the metal straps that restricted him.

He had failed. The evil had beaten him, sending him whirling into unconsciousness, likely keeping him alive only so that they could enjoy his slow death from hunger.

The man in armour had knocked him out while he lay in the mud, a cruel thing to do.

It was rather confusing though, the air felt decent here, just like the country during the dewy mornings after a downpour of rain.

He turned his head and looked to the opposite of the room, a scruffy bed stood there, it appeared someone had been sleeping there lately; keeping an eye on him it seemed.

He wondered how long it had been since he had been knocked out, perhaps a few hours, perhaps a week. He now deeply regretted leaving Tatsumi and going off to do such a mission by himself, especially with his inexperience fighting humans.

It appeared to be midday, rather hot as well, he was thankful that he wore clothes that covered his entire body and prevented the heat from touching his bare skin.

Looking over his body he saw that the hole in his trench coat was smaller than it had first appeared, barely large enough to put a finger through; the adrenaline of battle was odd, clouding your vision and thoughts, keeping you focused on the battle.

A faint sound came from behind, likely where the door was as it was hidden from his vision, someone was probably coming to begin the torture on him.

The sounds appeared to be coming from around two-hundred meters to the let of his head.

Listening closer it appeared to be the sound of two people talking, the voices seemed oddly familiar; the armoured man and the sniper, if he remembered correctly their names were Mine and Bulat, odd names, it was strangely reassuring to have people with similarly unique names as his own.

The sounds came close, it seemed as if they were directly outside his door now. He took a deep breath and prepared for what was to come.

**...**

Mine watched Bulat open the door, she didn't particularly want to deal with this hick but he had been able to dodge her shots from only fifty meters away, that should have been impossible.

Walking through the door she saw the bed of the other hick that Akame had brought with her.

Bulat had gone straight to the mans bed and was looking intently at him with a frown on his face; looking closer it seemed that the hick was looking straight back at him with a blank expression, a complete opposite to his persona yesterday night.

"Why did you attack us" Bulat asked, not changing the expression on his face.

"I told you last night, I will destroy the evil that taints the air" the hicks expression had not changed either, he was evenly matched with Bulat.

"More importantly...how did you dodge my shots so easily you hick? They travel at the speed of sound and I was only fifty meters away, the body of a countryman like you can't react that fast let alone move at such a speed" she let an intimidating frown cross her face in order to scare him a little.

She was quite surprised to see the man just turn his eyes back at her and let a small smile cover his face.

"It was quite simple, I timed my movements with your breathing, when it slowed to a certain limit I began my movements, I simply moved before you shot."

The frown had now turned into a look of confusion, he had heard her? That was another impossible feat, not even danger beasts had that good a hearing especially while in combat with someone else.

"How could a hick like you hear me?" this type of hearing went beyond possibility and annoyed her to no end.

Bulat coughed to gain back the mans attention "Does this hearing have anything to do with your powers?" Bulat was slightly taken aback by the mans statement as well, it was rare for him to have a confused look on his face.

The man let out a small laugh, she felt the immediate urge to slap him but satisfied herself by threatening him "If you laugh again, you fly, I'll happily shoot you" she topped this off with leaning close and creating an imposing air.

The man turned and looked directly at her, he smiled slightly and then immediately returned his face to the monotone expression it wore only a few moments ago.

"It is rather funny seeing evil being offended, but regardless, I am sorry to have offended you" the man turned his body to the fullest extent he could and faced Bulat.

She furrowed her brow in irritation, he'd just shaken her off like nothing, she would have to pay him back extra for that when she was told to execute him.

"If we must return to the matter at hand I will simply say that I will not help evil taint this land any further, my secrets will die with me" Bulat frowned slightly but immediately composed himself once he realised that he had done so.

"I assume that this taint is something quite prominent for you if you wish to mention it so much" Bulat adjusted himself in his chair and asked the man rather plainly, "What is it you believe to be tainting this air then?"

"The answer to that is simple, it is evil, and you are one of those evils. I do not expect you to understand"

"I see" Bulat stood up rather suddenly and walked towards the window. "It appears that you have been misinformed, please allow me to explain to you the truth"

The man did not reply, he simply lay looking at Bulats back.

The next ten minutes were utter hell for Mine, how could Bulat talk for so long without getting bored? She was yawning by the five minute mark.

This was really irritating, she though. That was another reason on the list to dislike the hick.

She sighed and sat down where Bulat had been sitting previously, there was no way she would stand up for so long when she stood nothing to gain from it.

She looked at the man, his face was currently rather funny; his face was still the blankness that he wore earlier but she could see the silent anger hidden in his eyes.

Bulat stopped speaking, the silence was absolutely wonderful, sometimes Bulat could really be a pain. The happiness was short lived, however, as the talking started up again as suddenly as it had stopped.

It was now that she was really regretting agreeing to bring the hick back, she wouldn't have to live through this dull experience if they hadn't, the very thought of the man laying unconscious in the dirt made her smile.

"For now we'll leave it at that" Bulat turned back and looked at the man, "you have three days to choose whether you wish to join us or not, till then you'll be getting your meals in here" Bulat walked out of the room.

Mine followed closely behind him with a frown on her face.

"Why the hell would you offer that hick a chance to join us? He was trying to kill us only yesterday night!" she was used to shouting in front of everyone so she didn't really care if the man in the room could hear her.

"I can see that he wishes to fight for good and has a pure soul" Bulat smiled slightly "Plus he is extremely skilled, he managed to dodge your shots after all" he did have a point there but that hardly amounted to enough of a reason to let him join.

"Don't blame it on me that he broke through incursio, it's your own fault for not seeing his as a large enough threat" she enjoyed mocking him since he didn't really care that much.

"That's true, I severely underestimated his close quarters fighting potential after that first blow, next time I'll be more careful" Bulat frowned while he said this, he'd never liked not honouring someone with a fight worthy of their potential while he fought with them, he was weird that way she felt.

"There's also one other thing Mine, did you notice it?" Bulat was still frowing, what was he so worried over?

"See what? How annoying his face is?" She regretted saying the last part as she felt it was a large misjudgement of the atmosphere

"No, his hair" Bulat said this all in a hushed tone, this was serious, but what was wrong with his hair?

She stopped, that was wrong, his hair was different from last night, completely different.

While they had fought last night his hair had been a different colour, not the grey that it had been while he lay in the bed; last night his hair had been undeniably black.

**...**

Roktaror sighed, this was very unexpected, the man was not lying; the pacing of his breath and the beating of his heart had been too calm for that.

How could he have been so utterly wrong? He had attacked two people simply because he thought they were evil; no evidence needed.

He was appalled with himself, what he had done was utterly wrong, it went against his very principled.

By all rights he should be dead for such an act.

He wasn't dead, instead he had been offered redemption for his actions, he had been offered a chance to join the very people he had attacked last night and correct his wrongs.

The presence of those two hadn't been intimidating or cruel at all, there was an odd warmth emanating from them that warmed the air and turned it into the best he had ever felt. The choice was simple and yet he could not take the final step.

There was no way that he could be redeemed for his actions, what he had done went against everything good in this world, how could he corrupt the air surrounding these people with such a taint?

There was also the fact that he had to find Tatsumi holding him back, being Tatsumis enemy would be impossible for him, Tatsumi had freed him and he would repay him for that.

He lay there and thought, the bed comforting his back and the air soothing his skin.


End file.
