Akame Ga Kill - Split The Earth In Two, Quake

Chapter Four: Joining Night Raid

Minazuki arrives at a hotspring in the middle of the forest. "A hotspring? After what I've been through, I need this.", Minazuki says to himself as he sits down and starts to take off some of his clothes and armor. He opens up his bag and pulls out a towel he snagged back at that bandit cave before thinking, "I might not be able to show my face, but that doesn't mean I can't at least bathe." He sets his clothes and armor on top of his bag and his towel on top of that before getting into the hotspring with only his mask, a pair of swimming trunks and Quake on. As he starts to sink into the hotspring, he feels the warm water relaxing every muscle in his body. "Ah, this isn't half bad. Now, where do I go from here?", he thinks to himself before reaching over to his bag and pulling out a map. He looks at the map and sees that there aren't any villages near where he's at now. He sighs and says, "I guess I just keep heading north east and try my best to find those ultra danger beasts Izunaga talked about." His train of thought is derailed when he closes his eyes and senses footsteps coming his way. There are three sets from what he can tell: a man, a woman, and what he could only guess was a ninja for how light their steps were. He quickly shoves his map back in his bag and waits to see what happens. "If I run now, they'll surely catch up to me if they're decent trackers. I should be able to handle myself with just three of them.", he thinks to himself as he rests his back against one of the walls of the hotspring and waits. He senses the three people form a perimeter around him in the forest. "Ah, so they're here to kill me? Or maybe they just plan to rob me? Doesn't matter.", he thinks to himself before he senses that the man and ninja are armed with weapons while the woman is armed only with her fists. He senses the ninja starting to rush in before seeing a girl with long black hair and crimson eyes rush out of the bushes wielding a katana and wearing a black and red outfit with a skirt and arm guards. She goes to strike him down, but Minazuki blocks the attack with Quake before leaping out of the water to the opposite side of the hotspring from her. She rushes in again with rapid slashes, but Minazuki manages to block every hit before catching the blade with his hands. He turns his whole body and pulls the sword right out of her hands before burying it deep underground in a hole he just made. "That's one enemy disarmed. Now to land the killing blow!", Minazuki thinks to himself before trying to take the offensive. He throws a punch at the girl, but she nimbly dodges with ease. He manages to slide the ground under her feet in just the right way for him to be able to land a blow, but it's blocked by a man wearing a suit of armor. Though the man blocked the attack, he's sent flying by the raw force of the impact. "Bulat!", the black haired girl shouts. "Bulat? That man from the pos-", Minazuki begins to say before he recognizes the girl as Akame of Night Raid. "Night Raid. What does a group of assassins want with a monk?", Minazuki says as he keeps an eye out for the woman. Bulat gets up and says, "You're strong, I'll give ya that, but we're under orders to take you out. You got too close to our base I'm afraid." "Murasame, the one hit kill sword and Incursio, the demon armor. Those are some dangerous Imperial Arms you have there.", Minazuki says as he tries to sense the woman and finds her stalking around in the nearby bushes. "So, you know about our Imperial Arms then? What else do you know?", Akame asks with a glare. "I know there's one more of you and she's trying to be sneaky, but doesn't seem to know that I can sense her. What a shame, if it were any normal person she'd have snuck right by my defenses and been able to eliminate me with little to no effort.", Minazuki says as he glances over to the woman hiding in the bush. Suddenly, the woman leaps out at him like a wild animal. She has long wild blonde hair, cat ears, large breasts hidden behind a bra, no shirt, crotchless brown and white pants, black leathery panties, black boots, and a belt that resembles one of the Imperial Arms that he read about in that book last night, Lionelle, on. Her hands are like lion claws and she's planning on using them to rip through Minazuki's throat. He manages to duck under her attack as he retrieves his bag to keep it safe. "Damn it, he wasn't bluffing. How could he sense me that easily?", the blonde asks as she lands by Akame and Bulat. "I'll ask again. What do you want?", Minazuki says with a glare. "We just want you dead!", the blonde says before rushing at him with Bulat following close behind her. He dodges both of their attacks while saying, "I help your little friends escape the Imperial Soldiers and this is the thanks I get? That's quite rude, Night Raid." He leaps over Bulat's spear and kicks him straight in the head, sending him flying into the blonde and both into the hotspring. "Wait, you're the monk who helped Sheele and Mine?", Akame asks after retreating back to the blonde and Bulat. "That little girl with Pumpkin and the girl with Ecstasy?", Minazuki asks as he lowers his fists slightly. Akame nods and Minazuki says, "So they really were with Night Raid, interesting." "So, you're an ally?", the blonde asks as she gets out of the hotspring, drenched in water. "I'm not an enemy, but I haven't decided whether or not to be an ally of a group of assassins just yet.", Minazuki says as he tosses her his towel. She happily takes it and uses it to dry herself off as Bulat asks, "You don't want to support the Revolutionary Army? That's just as bad as supporting the Empire." "I have my own plans. All I need to do is get a better understanding of Quake's abilities and I'll be able to get close enough to the palace to topple the whole building down on top of everyone inside.", Minazuki says smugly. "You think they'll just let anyone into the palace? You're either crazy or stupid.", the blonde says with a chuckle. "I won't be above ground. I'll attack from below and get out undetected.", Minazuki explains. "Just killing the Prime Minister and the Emperor won't be enough you know. The whole government needs to be purged.", Akame says to him. "Yeah, but that'd be a good start, right?", Minazuki says with a slight hint of doubt. "How about this? You come join our group and we can work together to take down the Prime Minister and the Emperor. We'll bring about a new order together.", the blonde suggests as she tosses his towel back to him. He takes a moment to think the offer over and recalls Izunaga saying that this would be his new life and to leave his old one behind. "I'll observe your group. If it's worth joining, I don't see why I shouldn't lend you my power.", Minazuki says as Murasame is sent out of the ground like a sword sticking out of a stone. "You can have that back now. I just wanted to make sure that I didn't get nicked and died. That's one dangerous blade.", Minazuki says as he motions for Akame to take it. She pulls the blade out of the ground without any hesitation before sheathing it and turning away from him. "Hey, come on, you should be happy! Our family's growing again!", the blonde says as her cat ears disappear and her claw hands turn into normal human hands. "Come on Leone, let's take this guy back to the Boss and get her opinion on him.", Bulat says as they all start walking away without Minazuki. Minazuki just gets dressed, not worried about losing them before following after them. He keeps his distance from them, just incase they decide to revoke their deal and try to murder him again. "Hey, why are ya all the way back there for? If you're going to be part of the family, you should at least walk by us, right?", Leone asks with a confused look. "Don't take this personally, but not trusting assassins you've just met is kind of common sense. Akame literally has a sword that can kill almost any living thing with just a scratch. I'm keeping my distance from that for now.", Minazuki replies bluntly. Leone gets a smug look on her face before saying, "Fine, if you won't come up here, I'll come back there to you~" She turns back and walks over to Minazuki's right side and says, "See, this isn't too bad, right?" He glances over to her before saying, "You just have to have your way, don't you?" She snickers and says, "You already know me so well." He then glances to Akame and Bulat and sees that they are keeping a firm grip on their weapons as they continue to walk ahead of them. "Why exactly are you letting your guard down? Akame and Bulat haven't let up on their weapons since we've started walking together.", Minazuki says as he looks over to Leone. She puts a finger on her chin as she looks up trying to think of an answer before saying, "Don't know. I'm usually not this calm. I'm kind of laid back, but my instincts usually tell me if there's something up. I don't sense that with you though. It's like, you're already one of us somehow." She leans over to his ear and says, "My turn to ask you a question. What's with the mask?" He lets out a chuckle before saying, "I'm a monk. Of course I'd wear a mask." She sighs and says, "You're a pretty good at lying, but I can sense that you're lying. One of the advantages of Lionelle is increased senses and awareness." "I can sense that you're bluffing you know. A person's heartbeat spikes slightly when they try to lie or bluff.", Minazuki says bluntly. "Aww, I thought I had you for sure! I guess you're like Akame, nothing gets past you that easily.", Leone says happily. "I'll ask a different question since I get the feeling you weren't answering that last one honestly. What's your name?", Leone says as she puts her hands behind her head and looks up to the sky as they walk. He glances over to her and doesn't see the harm in just telling her his name before saying, "Minazuki." "Minazuki? That's one I haven't heard before. Well Minazuki, I hope the Boss lets you join. You seem tough as hell. You took on the three of us all at once and better yet you walked away without even a scratch on you.", Leone says wholeheartedly. Minazuki glances over to her and sees her smile, which seems to calm him for whatever reason.