Chapter 1

In this frantic battle that I was forced into, I was facing a complete monster.

She had lost herself in this hectic battle that we're currently in.

If I didn't stop this woman soon I would surely lose my life whether she was infatuated with me or not. I was entertaining her and she's loving every single second of it.

That sadistic smile went from ear to ear.

"Tatsumi, I haven't had this much fun in so long! Entertain me more, Tatsumi! I knew I was right about you! That potential… is so raw…!"

-!

I spun around slicing an icicle in half that was aimed right for my back.

This woman wasn't holding anything back.

As the ice spun all around my face, I had no idea what was coming next…

Until I saw that crazed smile behind a block of ice!

I prepared myself to block the rapidly incoming attack until I saw that look in her eyes…

The look of someone who was thrilled with hunting for new beast to slay, the look of a person drawn to war…

Esdese…

I jumped backwards so fast that it surprised even me.

If I blocked that attack I would have been crushed from her overwhelming strength.

As soon as the beast of a woman landed, it seemed like she rocket propelled herself forwards. I flicked my wrist blocking her next strike. She smiled at me deviously as the clang of our swords rang through the air, those once soft eyes looking into mine crazily.

She showed me every single one of her teeth…

And it made my blood run cold.

If I didn't calm her down soon I'm going to die! I felt my sweat trickle down my face as I grimaced back at her.

She was lost, wandering in this adoration for combat.

"Esdese, knock it off!" I desperately tried to calm her down… but instead of being met with a warm smile I was met with a fist… straight to my throat.

Crack…!

Involuntarily my blood escaped from my body.

I spun haphazardly through the air smacking into a tree roughly.

"Tatsumi! You can't possibly want to go to sleep yet! You haven't even let me hear one of your screams!"

This wasn't Esdese, this was a wild animal.

Through one closed eye I stared at her in fear.

There's no possible way that Night Raid could defeat this woman. The Revolution was a silly dream that was far out of reach.

She crushed all of my hopes in this one fight.

"E…Esdese… There's no way that I would go to sleep that easily."

But for some reason … I too was enjoying this fight. I wanted to show her just how fearsome I could be.

I dashed at her balling up my fist, before I even knew it myself I was underneath her throwing up a speedy, but hefty uppercut.

But to my dismay she caught it with one hand. She grasped my fist making me bellow out in pain.

"Good Tatsumi, that's so good!"

I felt myself getting lifted off the ground and before I knew it, I was slammed into the ground.

But I didn't have any time to rest, Esdese's sword was slicing through the air at an astonishing speed straight for my face.

I rolled away getting up on my feet as the dirt was abused, then I delivered a solid head butt on her face.

The sounds of our skulls coming into contact ripped through the air.

I smiled at her, she smiled at me.

-!

One punch to my stomach, another punch to my stomach, lifting me off the ground and then to cap it all off a kick to my chin.

Unwillingly my head slapped backwards on the hard dirt underneath me making it look like I German-suplexed the air… and then my body followed behind as I tumbled into the hard stone wall.

I would be lying so greatly if I said this didn't hurt. It hurt more than anything I've ever experienced.

This situation was the worst situation I've ever been in.

I was a helpless rabbit that unintentionally wondered into a wolves den and now I was paying the consequences.

I cursed myself repeatedly at my weakness. No matter what my body didn't do as I asked. As the smoke cleared up there was Esdese looking down at me with those condescending eyes.

She has this weird motto that only the strong survive… But against her isn't everybody weak?

"Esdese, stop it now! If you continue on you'll kill the poor kid!" Some random guard tried standing up for me.

And that's when her head slowly turned to the source that was interrupting her fight. The guards knew, they knew that if they tried to stop her entertainment they would become her prey next. Those eyes were those of a royally pissed off animal.

I couldn't help but let out a subdued chuckle. From the woman who was so enamored by me to the woman who wanted nothing more than some cheap entertainment.

It was a complete and utter victory. I didn't even land one hit on her.

This woman went easy on me, and I had only lasted five minutes when she was calm. When she got into the fight I lasted a mere thirty seconds…

I was a fool, nothing but a fool for even thinking about accepting this woman's challenge.

But just as I was expecting a sword to rip through my body as it's hungry teeth greedily ate my flesh, I felt a hand on the back of my head combing through my hair.

"Good job, Tatsumi."

Esdese complimented me. I looked at her completely and utterly surprised.

"You did well against me today. Not once did you back down against me. Those eyes of yours clearly showed your resolve."

Her hands moved tenderly through my hair as those soft eyes looked into mine lovingly. It seemed like that rampaging beast had gone back to its slumber.

I felt my arms being folded into my lap and then two arms wrapped underneath my neck and underneath my legs.

Esdese was carrying me.

"So, for now, you get to rest. We'll continue tomorrow, I expect great things from you, Tatsumi."

This woman… was truly terrifying.

I coughed making my crushed throat hurt. My stomach ached like I just had drunk too much milk.

As Esdese looked down at me in her arms her hair gently covered me like a protecting cloak.

Before I knew it, I was fast asleep, the pain inflicted on my body forcing itself to shut down.

…

My heavy eyelids forced themselves open, my pounding headache making its presence known.

I found myself staring at my bandaged body. I looked like a mummy. How did I even end up in this mess to begin with?

I should be at home resting with the rest of Night Raid, filling up Leone's glass as Mein grumbled something incoherent to herself while Akame softly smiled. The sound of Lubbock insulting me would be heard while Najenda sat in her chair smoking and laughing…

But… unfortunately for me, life isn't so nice.

I was stuck in this hell hole of a palace slowly rotting away shackled by Esdese.

She had found me when I was doing some spying, ever since then I haven't been able to get away. We've been training endlessly or going out to hunt monsters for no apparent reason besides the fact that it was entertaining to Esdese.

If she could only just join the Rebel Army this wouldn't be so tiresome.

I honestly didn't enjoy it here. This overly grand place was changing my personality and view on many things. From in here it looked to be fine and dandy, this was the cream of the crop, this was prosperity, but on the outside of this guarded sanctuary it was hell.

It all made me so angry.

Trying to escape this hell hole was of course no use, Esdese would somehow conveniently run into me and drag me off to do some inane things.

Living like this… I couldn't help but harbor resentment for everything.

I wanted to get stronger… I wanted to help my friends… but I didn't have the power to even escape from the enemy's vice grip.

Damn it all.

My feet landed on the cold wood floor. Right now I was in Esdese's room.

And that's when I decided that I was going to leave this place regardless of what happens. Nobody was going to stop me, nothing was going to stop me.

This hell hole that I've been in for three months… was beginning to form a demon, an unstoppable demon…

I took off the eye patch that covered my eye and uncaringly tossed it on the floor. I slipped on my pants, shoes, and shirt and fashioned my sword on my waist.

Even if I have to cut my way out of this damn building… so be it.

Esdese

I was busy working on some preparations to end Night Raid's little fun streak. They were such a nuisance getting in the way of plans all the time, but they did provide some entertainment.

Annoyed, I decided to take a walk outside the palace to clear my head.

It wasn't that great of a day out. The clouds looked slightly glum trudging through the sky… it brought my thoughts back to Tatsumi who hasn't looked particularly happy of late.

He always looked troubled, no matter what I do his expression doesn't change. That lovely smile of his was no longer there, it was replaced by a face of boundless determination.

Maybe it was too selfish of me to hold him here…

Just then I was dug out of my thoughts as I heard a scream…

And then I saw the body of a soldier drop in front of me. He still looked to be alive but his breathing was labored. I looked down at him.

The sound of slow trudging made me look back up.

In front of me looking forward with dead eyes… was no one other than Tatsumi with his sword in hand, blood dripping off of it.

"Tatsumi? What are you doing out here?" I looked at him impatiently wanting an answer.

"What does it look like I'm doing? I'm leaving."

With that he started to walk off again. Quickly I reached out grabbing his hand.

"No, no you're not. Come back inside-…"

I was cut off, the words that he spoke in an exasperated tone while those angered eyes bore into mine.

"Shut it, don't touch me."

He ripped his hand from me and continued to trudge forward at a leisure pace.

"Tatsumi, what's gotten into you?"

I once again grab his arm stopping him. I gave it a good squeeze to let him know that I wasn't kidding around.

And then he surprised me again.

He grabbed my face violently, getting close to my nose.

"Didn't I tell you to shut up and not touch me? Or are you deaf or just daft?" Those eyes mercilessly looked into mine. This wasn't Tatsumi… this was a wild demon that was infuriated.

I tightened my grip on his arm.

"Don't you know who you're talking to? That tongue of yours has surely gotten sharp these past months. Maybe I should cut it off?"

"Didn't I tell you not to touch me?"

When I heard his tone, I jumped backwards away from him, that killing intent that I felt, the rage that I felt… was terrifying.

"We're enemies, Esdese. The next time we meet won't be pretty. Oh, and why do you look so petrified? Isn't this what you wanted? My potential has been unlocked and now you look like you regret it."

This was no longer Tatsumi, this was what happens when you push a man to his limits. Tatsumi has snapped, he broke right before me. No longer could I treat him like the fun loving boy he once was.

"Tatsumi, please, calm down. Whether we're friend or foe matters not. Just… just stay here, okay?" I plead trying anything to calm him down.

"Why should I stay here?" Tatsumi begins, looking at me twisted. "I've got a home already but you selfishly took me away from it bringing me here thinking that I would be your little experimental toy. Well, Esdese, I will not be your source of entertainment any longer. I've had enough of your little games so I'm leaving."

"Tatsumi, what are you saying?"

"I've consulted with the enemy long enough! Don't come near me! You're part of this corrupt Empire and I'm part of the Rebel Army, simple as that."

Tatsumi once again started walking away from me.

"I told you to stop Tatsumi!" I sprinted forward after him but just as I got close, almost instantly his sword licked through the air looking to taste blood. This couldn't be real… Tatsumi was pushing me away, he was telling me he didn't want to be with me at all…

I stood watching in disbelief as he sauntered away from me not caring at all about what he just did.

Was this all my fault?

Tatsumi

I sighed walking away from Esdese. I was now in the forest trying to walk back to Night Raid. All I really wanted to do was head back and continue daily life with my friends. I really just wanted to get this rebellion over with.

I sort of ended up snapping at Esdese declaring that we were enemies.

But what did she expect? Containing someone like a puppy smothering them in love every four seconds wasn't exactly something everyone could handle.

I took a long detour around just to make sure nobody followed me. Lucky enough for me the guards and people in the palace believed I wouldn't try something as rash as escaping so it was easy enough to leave.

Still, destroying Esdese's heart was the only thing that I could think of to get her to not chase after me. If she used force then there was no way that I could have won. Just like many of the other times she would have beaten me in the blink of an eye and dragged me back.

More than anything however, I was so looking forward to seeing Night Raid. I couldn't wait to tell them everything, I couldn't wait to talk to Akame as she would be stingy and not share her food. Just imagining it all made me smile such a big smile.

I stopped in front of a river and scooped up some water. Washing my face, I looked at my reflection.

I didn't look happy at all. I looked… well, broken.

All the spunk was drained out of me. That's what happens when you're trapped in a place you don't like for months.

I wonder if everyone thought I was dead or something. Esdese hadn't mentioned anything about Night Raid in a while.

Or what if they have a big welcome back party planned for me?

That would be so cool.

Everyone would congratulate me saying, "Whoa, look, it's Tatsumi! He's back!"

Then we would have a big party, Leone would drink big time while Lubbock would groan that his harem has been destroyed.

Akame would give me a big smile saying, "You're alive!"

And I would reply:

"Yeah, of course I'm alive. I am strong after all!"

Since it was quite a ways back until I would get back home, I found a secluded but hard to find place and got comfortable.

The last thing on my mind was my friend's smiling faces.

Esdese

I sadly stretched out in my seat. I couldn't focus on my work right now. The only thing on my mind was Tatsumi's angered face, the angered face that I had caused.

I'll find him, I'll find him and I'll surely bring him back. I'll make everything right again. Then we could go on adventures together, hunt monsters and be happy.

I was too forceful and ended up pushing him away.

I was too caught up in my own thoughts and didn't think about his own.

I kept him reigned in the palace like he was part of my cattle.

"E…Esdese…" I blinked twice hearing someone from around the table call my name. It was someone discussing Night Raid preparations again.

"What is it?" I ask dejected.

"Well, err, we've discovered Night Raid's location… what would you like to do?"

I locked eyes with the man hearing that statement. That was great news.

"Dispatch troops to their location. I'll accompany them as soon as possible. Let's move out!"

I got my belongings and quickly strode to my room to get my things.

Finally, the main leaders of the Rebel Army…

I've found you.

Tatsumi

It had been maybe a day since I had fallen asleep near that river. I was really close to our hideout. Just a bit longer and I'll reach there.

Ah, what should I say! I surely have to look cool when I go in there.

"Oh, yeah, it was no problem. Being next to Esdese was as easy as ever. No worries there."

I played scenarios over and over in my head.

I felt my anxiety rising.

I was finally going home! After all this time I could be with my friends!

I bound over the hill to where the Night Raid hideout was expecting to see it in perfect condition… but what I saw instead was something horrifying.

The Night Raid hideout was on fire.

The scorching flames were bursting out everywhere dancing tediously, ridiculing its target endlessly.

What was this?

This is surely a joke, right?

The home that I was looking so forward to coming back to… is ablaze right before my very own two eyes.

And it was at that exact moment that I felt the anger course through me.

Who was responsible for this…!?

I ran towards the hideout, my legs churning endlessly. This was surely a joke.

I slid down the hill almost falling over. I pathetically ran in front of the fire until I heard the neigh of a horse from somewhere off in the distance.

And it was at that moment that I saw who the figure was sitting atop the horse…

Esdese.

The woman who continuously tries to destroy my life.

That's the first chapter! If you like it, review, those really do help a lot. It could have been better but for some reason I just cannot write fan fiction well no matter how hard I try. :(

If you guys want another chapter make sure you somehow let me know. I start school in like a week so… yeah.

Such a drag.