Akame Ga Kill FanFiction- The Crystal Blade

Chapter Six- Making Friends

One thing we learned the next day: the camp was huge. It had everything from a giant mess hall to a training center, all built out of resources in the local area. Our guide was a man who looked to be in his early twenties, surprisingly young to be a commander for the army. He seemed like a calm man, and he obviously knew his way around as he explained the purpose of each specific facility. After a three hour tour, he finally dismissed us to the training grounds. His words were "Socialize with your new fellow soldiers." Great, because socializing was something I was so good with. We walked there together.
"What do you think everyone else will be like?" Chloe asked, being as curious as ever.
"No idea. If they joined like we did, they're probably all either insane or stupid." I replied. She narrowed her eyes at me.
"Are you saying that we're insane?" She asked, venom dripping off of her words. I smirked.
"Who wants to be sane? That sounds so boring." I said. Her expression lightened, and she shot a quick smile at me as the training grounds came into view.
It was a huge, wide open area where the ground was densly packed dirt. Noticing the people, it shocked me to see how many were here. There had to be at least two hundred other people here, all of them doing some kind of training exercise. Then, I saw her. The same girl with long red hair and bright eyes. She stood off to the right of the grounds, talking to a couple of other girls, one of which I recognized as the girl who tagged her yesterday. Her shoulders rose and fell as she started laughing, and her expression was light and cheery.
"Oi, stop staring. You'll attract attention." Chloe said, elbowing me in the ribs.
"Wah, I wasn't staring. I was just.... observing." I snapped. She smiled evily.
"Oh, really? You were observing that red haired girl pretty well. Just keep your eyes above the neck, Blake." She teased. I blushed, and she laughed at my expression. "All right then. Well, we were told to make some friends, so I'll do that. Good luck!" She said, before taking off towards a girl about her age. Chloe was always better with people than I was. Looking around me, I sighed. Friends, huh? This will be harder than I thought.
I started to pump myself up. I wasn't good with befriending people, but I was good at reading them. There seemed to be about twenty different groups of guys scattered around the field. Estimating their age, I eliminated multiple groups. Judging by the way they stood, the way they walked, the way they held themselves, I was able to determine the skill level of many of the people there. I needed to pick a group I could trust, but I didn't want to join anybody too weak or too strong. Maybe I could idnetify other people with imperial arms. If I saw the way they fight, then maybe I could-
Something dug into my right foot, causing me to lose my focus and yelp in pain. I hadn't noticed Chloe jogging back over to me, and now she was driving her heel into my foot.
"Ow! What the heck was that for?" I yelled, and she let up.
"You're doing the thing again. You're overthinking it, I could tell from twenty meters away. Honestly, you're socially hopeless. Just go over and fight a training dummy or something! Do anything to integrate yourself with other people. But do it fast, I can't watch you forever." She snapped. Without waiting for a responce, she walked back over to the girl she had been talking to.
"Just go fight something, huh?" I murmered to myself. Seemed as good an idea as any. I made my way over to a figthing dummy, the size of a person holding a sword and a buckler. There was a bin of flimsy practive swords off to one side, so I grabbed one. It felt light, made of some kind of wood. I prepared myself, trying to ignore the people that were obviously watching me. My world narrowed down to me and my immediate vicinity. If this were a real fight, what would be happening?
I imagined five enemies surrounding me. Two on either side, one in front, and two in the back. The situation was common enough, and I knew how to react in seconds. I exploded forwards, thrusting my sword up towards the first assailant. The speed from my takeoff was too fast for most amateur soldiers to handle, so I imagined it penetrating his lower stomach.Stopping my momentum, I pulled my sword out and spun towards the others, who would have foolishly rushed towards me and clumped up. Being so close to eachother, their mobility was next to nothing. I nearly saw their swords descending towards me before I batted each away, slicing their throats or spearing them in seconds. The last enemy approached me, preparing to strike, when I heard a poorly disguised laugh come from behind me. I let go of my concentration, the world going back to normal as the fake soldiers dissapeared.
Turning around, there were three guys about my age, if not older, watching me with humorous expressions on their faces. The one in the middle, who had short brown hair, dark blue eyes, and a muscular build was covering his mouth with his hand, faking concealed laughter. I disliked them instantly.
"Can I help you?" I asked, trying not to come off as too hostile.
"Oh, no, please continue your dance routine. It was highly amusing to see you flail around waving at the air." He said with a smug grin. After a few moments, he faked a look of realization. "Oooh, you weren't practicing sword fighting, were you? My bad, I guess some styles just don't come off as very.... intimidating." He finished. My eyes narrowed as I put the pieces together. His sly look, muscular build, annoying cockiness, and group of lackeys gave off an aura of authority, but the way he held himslef gave it away; he had never seen battle. That meant I could beat him.
"Well, it wasn't meant to be very intimidating. If you're that interested in it, though, why not get a feel for it yourself?" I asked innocently. His expression faltered for the briefest of moments before clearing.
"Alright, I suppose there isn't anyhting wrong with teaching the new guy how to fight." He said, shrugging his shoulders. We had gathered a bit of a crowd, but whether they were searching for someone who could knock this guy down a couple of pegs or just eager for a blood bath was beyond me. I hoped for the first.
Drawing a plain iron sword, he took up position ten feet in front of me. Superiority shown in his eyes, he thought he had already won. When it was clear he was ready, I took no time getting started.
I launched myself at him, allowing a bit of my anger to trickle into my body as I exploded towards him. His eyes widened in surprise, but he was fast enough to catch my sword as it descended towards him. He parried, then brought the tip of his blade towards my ribs. I knocked his sword to the side, then slammed my free fist into his kidney. The air rushed out of his lungs with a satisfying woosh, and before he could recover I hooked my foot aroung his ankle and pulled his legs out from under him. He landed hard on the ground, my sword falling perfectly above his neck. Silence dominated the field as the dust around me settled. Looking around, my eyes landed on the red haired girl from before.
For a second I worried I had scared her, but something different was in her eyes. Was is.... approval?
The guy under me groaned, and I sheathed my sword amd extended my hand out to him. Looking at it, he climbed to his feet on his own. He just now seemed to realize how many people were watching, and his face clouded over.
"What are you all looking at? Don't you have anything better to do?" He yelled, then stormed away muttering something about begginer's luck. People began to disperse, but I thought I saw a couple satisfied smiles in my direction. Feeling a tap on my shoulder, I turned around to come face to face with the red haired girl. She was a mere foot away from me, and heat rose to my cheeks before I could stop it.
"Uh, y-yea?" I asked nervously.
"Pretty good fighting just now, I'm impressed. Where did you learn to fight like that?" She asked. I could smell the fruity scent of her hair from this close, and my brain was on hyperdrive from it. Still, I managed to formulate a responce.
"Um, I lived in the city as a mercenary. For me, it was either kill or be killed. Not much more to it, right?" I said. She smiled.
"I guess we have more in common than I thought. My name is Chelsea." She said, holding her hand out to me. "Nice to meet you."
"Y-yea, nice to meet you too. I'm Blake." I stuttered, reaching out to take it.
"Well, better keep training. No rest for the wicked. See ya!" She said enthusiastically, then walked away.
Did that really just happen? I thought, amazed that I actually held a conversation with a girl other than my sister. Still in a daze, I heard a voice off to my right.
"Ah, you lucky bastard!" It said, directed towards me. Turning, it was a boy looking to be about my age, with long dark hair and a mischevious look in his eyes.
"Dude, Chelsea doesn't even talk to most of the guys here, let alone show interest! How does is feel to be in the spotlight of her sexiness?" He asked, throwing his arm around me. Heat rose to my cheeks again as I pictured what he could mean by sexiness. Seeing my expression, he exploded into laughter.
"Aw man, you really are interesting. Not a single impure thought in that head of yours, huh?" He asked.
"Hey, I have impure thoughts! Most of them are just better not discussed in plain daylight, although I see you have no difficulty with that." I snapped, making him laugh even more.
"Wow, you're cracking me up. The name's David." He said.
"Blake. Wait, how much do you know about Chelsea?" I asked, curious. He seemed ready to reply until his eyes darted over my shoulder.
"Woah, hold on, slender beauty approaching." He announced. Confused, I spun around to see Chloe approaching. I elbowed David in the ribs for his slender beauty comment, then walked towards her. As soon as I got close, she smacked me upside the head.
"Ow!" I complained. "Although I thought that was coming."
"That was for goofing around." She snapped.
"What? Didn't you tell me to make friends?" I asked with a grin. She rolled her eyes at me.
"We'll talk about it later. Najenda wants to talk to us."