Akatsuki: The Second Act (Magi Ja'far X Fem Reader)

Chapter 10

Author's Note: Updated! Finally! After the first 1.5 weeks of school!

I hold the squirming young girl tightly against my chest, preventing her from witnessing the revenge Irie and her flock are wreaking on the soldiers. When it's over, a mixture of feathers and blood coats the soil.

Irie hops over to Pisti and exchanges a few chirps with her. "Well, this is a rare occasion!" she exclaims, turning to Masrur with a smirk. "The flock finds your strength impressive. The leader, Irie, has decided that her flock will become your subordinates and go under your protection."

Masrur's stoic expression falls away, surprise taking over him. I laugh, "It's a rare honor. Won't you acccept it?" He pauses, regaining his composure. His voice is calm and firm as he agrees, but his fingers are gentle as they caress Irie's feathers, just like he used to when she was a baby bird.

"Let me go!" grunts the girl, wriggling out of my grasp and stumbling away. "Wait!" I call after her. "Get away from me, you vampire beekeeper!" she shrieks. Ouch. Well, I do look weird in my anti-mosquito oufit.

I sigh, removing my mosquito net hat. "We're not going to hurt you, I promise." Instead of looking less apprehensive at the sight of my normal human face, she now looks like she's seen a ghost. My face doesn't look that bad, does it?

"R-red crescent," she stutters. I stiffen. Why does she recognise my birthmark? "It's impossible. The last generation was captured by Al Thamen." Her expression of shock shifted to a look of joy and relief. "Forgive me for not realising it earlier," she says, touching her forehead to the ground. "I'm Karin, a survivor of the Night Rukh clan, and I'm willing to serve you, the bearer of the Red Crescent curse."

Ja'far

When (y/n), Masrur and Pisti return with a dishevelled girl, all of them smelling like jungle and bird droppings, I just shake my head and brace myself for whatever story they're about to drop. Sin is already leaning against a wall next to the rest of the Eight Generals.

"We should take care of your injuries first," I say to the girl, noticing the purple bruises circling her wrists and ankles. Slave cuffs. "No!" she protests. There's a surprising sharpness to her voice, with a fierceness in her dark eyes to match. Whatever harrowing experience she's just had, it hasn't quelled her fiery spirit at all.

"There's no time for that," she continues. "My people are in trouble. A week ago, we were attacked and captured by an organisation that called themselves Al Thamen. They were looking for...something. Something we didn't even have. So they decided to turn us all into slaves. Most of us are still in the village, but a few of the younger ones like me have been taken away."

Pisti cuts in, briefly explaining how we found her in the forest with a group of Al Thamen soldiers, and how they were annihilated by a barrage of birds led by Irie. "Since they're all dead now, we can't really interrogate them," she shrugs nonchalantly. I can't tell what's more disturbing – the fact that the baby bird I helped raise is now the commander of an army of killer birds, or the fact that none of my friends seem bothered by it at all. Oh. And Al Thamen managed to get into Sindria again, despite our added security measures.

Sin asks her, "You said that Al Thamen attacked your people because they were looking for something. Do you know what it is?" She bites her lip and looks up at (y/n), who gives her a reassuring nod.

"This isn't our first time dealing with Al Thamen. Years ago, when I was just a toddler, they came for the bearers of the Red Crescent curse. They succeeded, and decided to slaughter all the villagers who got in their way. Only a handful of us survived and escaped. Now, they've found us again, looking for any bearers of the curse that might have been left."

She pauses, glancing at (y/n). "Or any bearer that's escaped from their grasp."

Stunned silence, thick and deafening, envelops the room. All this time, (y/n) thought that her entire village was wiped out. Now, there are survivors. Survivors that are being enslaved by Al Thamen, and no one here knows that kind of suffering as well as (y/n) does.

But she doesn't look bothered. Instead, a soft smile lingers on her lips, the only ripples that disturb the calm lake of her expression. "Karin," she says to the girl. "Thank you for telling them. You can trust them, I promise. We'll definitely find a way to free the villagers."

"You shouldn't risk your life to save ours! It's our duty to protect you, the bearer of the curse," Karin exclaims.

"She has a point. This could be a trap to lure you in. With the powers you have now, you're a threat to Al Thamen," adds Spartos.

(Y/n) looks up at us, her (e/c) eyes steely. "I can't just let my clan suffer."

We fall into silence, mulling over our own thoughts – about all the things that could go wrong if she goes, and all the things that could go wrong if she doesn't. Finally, Sin announces that we'll discuss this again later. We need some time to think. 

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I grunt, lifting my head from the desk. Sunlight filters through the curtains, bathing the room in a warm gold. The familiar clang of sword against sword drifts up from the palace grounds – (y/n) sparring with Sharrkan and Sin.

"Morning already?" I grumble, peeling a sheet of paper off of my face. It was my third night of dealing with my neverending stream of paperwork, and the second time that I ended up falling asleep on my desk.

My head feels like it's filled with a gallon of water, yet I somehow still manage to drag myself to the window. Instead of just sparring with her usual partners, she is now also fending off three "water dummies" at the same time, courtesy of Yamuraiha. She really is working hard to harness her powers.

She leaps nimbly out of the way before Sharrkan's sword can touch her. From her left, Sin tries to attack, but she pushes him away with her magoi. That just leaves the three water dummies rushing towards her. She pulls a grenade from her pocket and throws it. The explosion is small, but enough to vaporise her attackers and blanket the courtyard in steam.

"She's forcing Sharrkan and Sin into her playing field!" I realise. How is it that she always manages to come up with such unpredictable plans? Suddenly, I hear a snort coming from behind me. Pisti stands at the door with a giant grin stretched across her face.

"Mind helping me deal with this annoying merchant? He came barging in at the break of dawn, screaming about how we're not transporting his silk fast enough," she says. "Right. Of course," I say, smoothing down my slightly crumpled robe.

I stop, squinting at Pisti suspiciously. "Why are you looking at me like that? Do I have ink on my face?" "What are you talking about, Ja'far? I'm just looking at you like I normally do," she says as the teasing, knowing look in her eyes gleams even brighter. I sigh. She's doing this on purpose, isn't she?

"You're weird," is the only retort I can think of.