"Ahh.~ Come on, Akira-kun," Moegi chimed in quite the seductive tone, hunching herself forward to show off her cleavage. "Why don't we have just a bit of fun?~"

Akira let out a deep sigh and gave her an annoyed stare. "I already told you, I have a wife. Who I am seriously devoted to."

"But she doesn't have to find out!" She retorted childishly. "Come on, just think about it!~ I have a bombshell of a body compared to hers! Plus, she doesn't have to find out! That's what makes it spicy.~"

"...My answer is still no."

She pouted. "Boo.~ You're no fun."

"Not the first time I've heard that."

Yomihime soon walked in and began to push Moegi out of their home. "If that's all the business you need to attend to here, please leave."

Moegi grunted as she jolted forward out of the door, "Ack...! Sheesh, you don't have to push me out of there, bestie!"

"Just get going." Yomihime sighed before she shut the doors as Moegi scampered off. She soon faces Akira with an apologetic look. "I am sorry for how persistent she is."

"It's fine. She's not necessarily the first person I've dealt with that has had a similar personality to hers."

"In any case, dear cousin, what is that you're working on?"

"Oh, this?" He held up one of his leather bracers that had some sort of mechanism on it. A mechanism that could retract a blade into a small slit where it could also be deployed for a quick, hidden kill. "I had one of these back when I was doing... Work I'd rather not be doing before. However, those broke as they were pretty much a one time thing. And right now I'm trying to work on making them again."

Yomihime hummed before she walked over and examined the mechanism. Her head perked up, "Ah, I do remember seeing a design of sorts like these."

"Really? From where?"

"My fiancé—Well... Former fiancé, really..."

Akira furrowed his brow. "You know, you never really told me what happened with the guy."

"I believe I told you that it was because of a difference of opinions and views," Yomihime curtly replied.

"Still doesn't narrow down what I'm asking about what happened, Cuz." He crossed his arms, but soon sighed. "Fine. I won't press further on the topic unless you're ready to talk about it."

As he went back to his work on trying to figure out and configure the mechanism to work properly, the two were completely silent. Yomihime had many thoughts roaming through her head, still wondering how she was going to tell her dear cousin about the fact that she nearly tried to kill his wife. Even more so, hearing some revolutionary news about the Hinowa girl he had met. She had mentioned about killing her aunt and mother. This was obviously referenced back to the day, those years ago that Yomihime killed her aunt and the woman that looked like the girl she met a few days ago. She couldn't help but surmise to the fact that the "aunt" person Hinowa was referring to was her own aunt, Miyuki, Akira's mother.

If that was apparently so...

"You seem to be deep in thought," Akira soon spoke up.

"Hmm? Did you say something?"

"I said you seem to be deep in thought," he repeated. "In fact, your face is quite conflicted. Want to talk about it?"

Yomihime held her tongue. She didn't want to bring up that news right now, so to distract him from her own deep in thought expression, she moved it over to her wanting to learn more about her cousin's past. That much was true as the young woman wished to know what she missed out on her cousin's time in that far away land.

"I was wondering... If there were any other persons you had feelings for... The same ones you felt for your own wife."

Akira paused his work. Some sort of metal clunk was sounded out as he placed the items gently down onto the wooden table he was sitting at. He soon let out a deep sigh.

To be honest, he could tell that wasn't the thought that Yomihime wasn't thinking of. But again, if she didn't wish to talk about it, he wasn't going to press further about it and persistently ask unless she was ready to do so. But, he decided to entertain the idea of giving more about his past. Even if it did bring up quite the painful memories he'd rather shackle down in the back of his mind.

"I... Did. I did hold feelings like that for two others. However..." He didn't face her, but she could tell that Akira was holding a bitter and sad smile. "Just like the others... It isn't always a sad tale to write about."

"...I'm sorry for bringing up something painful."

He held a hand up. "It's okay. Honestly... It's good to talk about it. Like I'm getting it off my chest. Besides... They were good people... But they deserved better. Just like how Akame deserves better than a fool like me."

--: 10 | Acquired Power :--

A few days after the battle at Mount Kageboushi, Akame was accompanying Hinowa into Yaenami Village. This time around, however, Air was with them, the young girl clutching onto her mother's hand as they walked the dirt streets.

Akame was munching on a few skewers that consisted of different kinds of meat. Hinowa couldn't help but crack a grin at Akame's everso normal attitude when it came to food, seeing such a joyful smile as she chowed down on them. Air was eating a meat skewer herself, but remarked how she'd rather have her father's cooking than this street food. But the home cooked meals of her father and mother were more of a preference to her, so she could eat these street foods from time to time.

"Thank you, Hinowa. They are both delicious."

"We're always having seafood, so it's good to switch it up every once in a while," Hinowa replied. She then looked at the pink-haired girl. "Do you like it, Air?"

"It's fine," Air nonchalantly dismissed. "But Father's cooking is better."

She smiled. "I understand. Home cooked meals are better in some cases."

Rustled and hurried footsteps could be heard coming up from behind them. The three of them turned around, turning to see two young kids staring up at them with wide smiles on their faces. Particularly, they were looking at Akame, one of them presenting a few clams in her hands whilst the boy next to the little girl had a net full of them.

"Hey, lady! You wanna try some clams too?" The boy asked.

"They are yummy!" The girl exclaimed.

With a bit of a frown, Akame stared down at them. The cheerful expressions on the two childrens' faces faded as well. Unsure, Akame had turned around to look at Hinowa.

"It's okay if I have some seafood too, right?"

"You should eat what you like, Akame!" Hinowa beamed.

Gaining her smile again, Akame looked at the two children, "Then, I'll take the whole basket!"

"Yay!"

Air sweat dropped. "Mother..."

As always, Akame's happiness and decisions can always be swayed by meat and food in general. Mostly meat. Air and her family could attest to that.

Soon, three men from the fishing collective walked up to Hinowa, the red-haired girl looking to them. The three of them were quite stern, still a bit disappointed in Hinowa's decision to join the army and go to war, thinking she was going to get herself killed. However, they were surprised that she was here and standing in the flesh, even hearing her exploits and how she was easily promoted to Captain.

"...Hinowa," the first one spoke. "You've suddenly hit it big, haven't you?"

"Yep!" She beamed a big smile. Almost in a smug kind of way.

The second scoffed, "Things may be smooth sailing for now, but there's no telling when the waters will get choppy."

"Yeah," the third one agreed. "Life is like the open seas."

"Thanks for the warning! I'll be careful." To add insult to injury, Hinowa kept her smile and bowed. Despite it kind of being smug, the three men recoiled as if they could feel the radiation of the girl's aura of happiness.

Hinowa then went off to rejoin Air and Akame.

"...Why do I suddenly feel lonely?"

"Idiot! Don't admit that!"

---

"Ahh.~" Tobari let out a relaxed sigh as she sat back in the waters of the hot springs.

"Tobari. I knew we'd find you here."

The girl opened up her eyes to see Akame, Air, and Hinowa coming in. Tobari soon gained a wide grin as she waved for them to come in.

"Ooh. Ever since getting back to the village, I've been soaking in the hot springs a lot." She then shoots up, pumping her fists. "My injuries are almost healed up. Look!"

"You're just about back to full health!" Hinowa exclaims happily.

Akame began to wade herself in the warm waters, Air soon following suit. Placing herself in front of her mother, Akame soon began to wash her hair. As she does so, Akame looks at the two with quite the serious look.

"We've got to get a hold of good swords by the next battle," Akame noted.

Hinowa nodded. "Yomihime said something about Meihou. It sounds like a kind of weapon, but I'm thinking of asking the Elder about it at class tomorrow."

Air perked her head back. "Mother, are these Meihou referring to...?"

"...Possibly. I'm just hoping there isn't another one that holds a nature like that..."

"Another nature like what?" Hinowa and Tobari asked.

Akame seemed to have pondered for a moment before she shook her head with a smile.

"It's nothing." Akame then finished washing her daughter's hair.

It was very much true that these Meihous could provide them the boon to turn the tide of battle. Akame was certain of that.

However, it was the fear if there were Meihous that had taken in the form of certain weapons she's used or seen in the past. There was the Teigu she wielded herself, but it was the other kind of Teigu that her husband had wielded. A type of Teigu that she wished she would never lay eyes on again, nevertheless even touch it.

She could only hope that such a thing didn't exist. Or haven't been created ever again. The pain and suffering it brought upon. Then she remembered the effects of her own Teigu.

She couldn't help but look down at her arm, 'Yomihime... She's a tough opponent. I've got to do something about this body of mine.'

---

"Both of your promotions are great military achievements," the Elder said with a smile.

Tobari rolled around on the floor, throwing a fit. "Aahh! I wanted a promotion too! Uuugghh!"

The Elder couldn't help but laugh. "Just consider yourself lucky you're still alive."

His words only seemed to annoy Tobari even more, her tantrum and cries of annoyance increasing in volume. Though, the others seemed to dismiss the girl's behavior and carried on with their meeting in the old shack in the woods.

Hinowa then raised her hand, "Elder. I want to know about Meihou."

The old man's eyes widened a little before he hummed and stroked his beard. Sitting himself down at the table, he got comfortable and began to explain it to them.

"In simplest terms, Meihou is a weapon made from fearsome beasts. It possesses far more strength than your average weapon."

"I see..." Akame nodded. "There was something similar in the land I come from."

"I never heard of it before," Tobari said with confusion.

"That's because they come from a land very far from here," the Elder elaborated. "Now that technology has at last expanded across the whole of Wakoku, you'll probably be hearing a lot more about them."

He continued his explanation a bit more by bringing out a scroll and laying it out onto the table. On there was a diagram of sorts. Displaying a plethora of tiers of weapons, along with the materials that can be used to create them and the difficulty to obtain such things to construct such powerful arms. Hinowa and her group were examining the diagram very closely.

"It's very difficult to craft Meihou. It's hard to secure the creatures for its raw materials and they cost a lot to manufacture," the Elder explains. "But the King of the Tenrou Nation is spending vast fortunes to mass produce Meihou, from what I've heard..."

"He's already made that much progress?" Kumehachi was beginning to grow worried. "The Tenrous are way too scary."

"It'd be best to assume that all of the 'Ten Stars' the Tenrou Nation is so proud of are in possession of Meihous," the Elder said.

"Then we have to prepare for the next battle and get a hold of some Meihou ourselves!" Hinowa announces.

Suzumaru agreed, "Ordinary weapons would break, otherwise."

The Elder soon gained a warning gaze. "If you obtain strong weapons right off the bat, you will come to rely too much on them. First you obtained skill... But now calls for using your reward money. You must defeat a monster and craft Meihous for yourselves. Even here in the Soukai Nation, if you get to the capital, you will find a blacksmith up to the task."

"Is a Meihou simply a weapon with strong attack strength?" This time, Akame asked a question.

"Most are, yes," the Elder nodded. "If the highest quality of material is used, tale tells of the weapon imbued with unique properties. Though, I believe the number of such Meihous are quite low."

Just as she thought, the Meihous that are able to manifest with the creatures' powers were basically similar if not actually Teigu. Which came down to the conclusion the red-eyed woman was thinking of. There must be a Meihou that possesses the properties she's looking for... The blessing for them to finally have the gift the two of them have always wanted.

However, the Elder was quite astute with his intuition. Looking to the raven-haired woman with a keen stare and a hidden grin, he spoke up to reassure her.

"There is no need to rush, Akame. I'm still looking into the curse afflicting you." Akame gasped. "For now, I'm concocting a medicine that will curb the effects, albeit for only short periods of time."

Upon hearing such news, Air couldn't help but gain a wide smile. Not a moment later, she soon buried her face into her mother's chest, something Akame had welcomed as she had wrapped her arms tightly around her daughter's form. Already, she could feel her clothing beginning to be stained with something wet, Air weeping tears of happiness as she felt that their whole reason as to why they came here was seemingly a step closer to them.

"I knew we could count on you, Elder!" Suzumaru expressed his delight.

"Isn't that great news, Akame?" Hinowa smiled at the red-eyed woman.

Akame couldn't help but smile back. "Yeah."

"As thanks for saving Hinowa in her first battle, I will cover the costs of Akame's Meihou."

With their assignment received, Tobari bursts up from her spot on the wooden floor and hurriedly runs outside, slipping her sandals on as her friends follow suit. As per usual, when Akame and her friends leave for a dangerous mission of sorts, Air is to stay here with the Elder. Normally, she'd stay over at Hinowa's little shack with all her animals, but if she accompanied her mother to the classroom, she would stay here.

"Let's hurry up and go!" Tobari urges. "What kind of monster should we aim for!?"

"If it's an Isonade, I know how to defeat it," Hisame suggests and offers. "And I can help if it's a Dorotabou."

The Elder then interjects. "Unless it's a strong creature, its benefits will be weak. You must go after an Umibizou. That will make for a good raw material."

Tobari was ecstatic. "Wow! An Umibizou! Sounds like fun!"

"It will surely make for a good raw material." Suzumaru agreed with the Elder, but as usual, he sweat drops at Tobari's excited attitude. The girl was always willing to do whatever it took to be the greatest soldier there was.

"It should be a dangerous foe," Akame said, stating the obvious if the creature were to be a good raw material for their weapon.

Hinowa nodded, "On nights of the full moon, it's best not to go out fishing. They say in Yaenami Village that an Umibizou who spots the light from your ship will attack."

The Elder offers one more piece of advice, "It'll be no good if you confront it in the open seas. You should intercept it from an uninhabited island offshore."

Up until now, Kumehachi was quiet. His face was pale, sweat dripping down his forehead profusely, and he held quite the worried look. Hinowa noticed it.

"What's the matter, Kumehachi? You look pale," Hinowa asked.

"You're not scared, are you?" Tobari teased.

Kumehachi coughed. "The... The truth is, I... I! I used the reward money on girls..."

Silence then envelops all of them. Of course, he was an idiot, Akame sighing internally as what Kumehachi had said hit close to home. Because of a certain someone herself and her husband knew, who had also more or less shared the same personality as the boy. With a ticked off face, as evident by the annoyed tick mark on her forehead, Tobari ran up to the idiot and kicked him in his cheek, Kumehachi recoiling back with pain as he fell backward.

"It would've been cuter if you were actually scared!" Tobari retorted.

"The Elder said not to spend your money on things not necessary for living," Hisame stoically scolds.

Hinowa sighed and put her hands on her hip. "I swear, Kumehachi, you are a lost cause."

Kumehachi groaned whilst he laid on the floor. "I can't help it! The girls treat me so different when I have money! I was a king!"

"Idiot." Tobari rubbed her temple in annoyance.

"Everybody, donate some of your money to make up for what Kumehachi lacks," the Elder then says.

Tobari recoiled in disbelief. "Geh...!"

"Ooohh!" Kumehachi got onto his knees and began praising his mentor. "Elder, you're so kind!"

"In return, you will be tasked with the most important job of all in bringing down the Umibizou," the Elder says with a close-eyed smile, patting Kumehachi's shoulder.

"...Huh?"

---

Nighttime rolls around, and currently on an uninhabited island off the shores of Yaenami Village, Kumehachi could be seen roaming the rocky shores. A lantern in hand and a nervous face, he continued to trek the dark and rocky, plus slippery, area to lure the Umibizou out.

He groaned. "Darn it all! Most important job, my butt! I have to act as bait to lure the monster out? I'm basically food at that point! This is even more dangerous than the battlefield!" Kumehachi sighed. "I just hope it decides not to come out..."

And as if on cue, he heard a loud groaning noise coming from behind him. Soon followed up by a loud explosion coming from the water, something exiting it, he gained a terrified expression as he looked over at it. With its tentacles and opening mouth, the monster known as the Umibizou thrashes out and attacks him, causing the boy to hightail it out of there.

"It didn't show any mercy and came right out...! And, whoa, it's fast!" Whipping himself around, he took out his bow and arrow. "You beast...!"

Pulling back on the bowstring and a loud thwack cracking throughout the air, Kumehachi fires two arrows simultaneously. Though it did nothing, the Umibizou shrugged off the attack like it was nothing as the arrows bounced off the skin of its tentacles. Kumehachi then shrieked, diving over to the side as he dodged the tentacle striking, which destroyed some of the upright rock spikes with superb strength.

The rest of the group soon came out of hiding from their spots behind some of the towering rocks. They were about to rush forward and attack it all at once, only for Tobari to halt them. With powerful whip-like strength, the monstrous tentacled monster thwips its appendage through the water, wading a powerful wave toward the group. Due to her being an assassin as her original profession, Akame was able to avoid it with ease, looking like she was able to ski over the water after jumping to avoid. The others, however, did not fare so well as they were swept away by the powerful wave. But atop a small board, armed with a spear, Hinowa came surfing across the wave and traversed atop the water to head straight for her prey.

Once she drew herself close enough, she leapt off the board and soon found herself on top and above the Umibizou's head. Heading down, dropping and stabbing the sharp end of her spear into it, Hinowa was able to slay the beast.

Akame was able to land safely, staring up at Hinowa proudly with a smile as the girl looked down at them, her hand on her hip and the other holding her spear tightly as it was planted down in the head of the monster. The rest of the teenage group coughed out water as they waded out of the deeper areas of the sea before hoisting themselves up onto the rocky outlook.

"We... We did it...!"

They all realized they had won, after recovering from the skirmish. Another step forward to gaining their power.

---

Heading into the capital of the Soukai Nation, the group were looking for a blacksmith to procure their raw material into Meihous. Soon enough, they found a middle-aged man who looked like he was able to do the job.

The man quirked his eyebrow at them as he stopped his work for a moment. "Meihou? There's no way you kids could ever—"

Hisame interrupts him, "We've brought you the raw materials." He plants a bag onto his worktable.

"And the money, of course," Suzumaru adds, planting a jingling bag of coins on the table as well.

"Is this for real!?"

He grumbled, thinking these kids were off their high horses as he watches them shuffle out of his shop. Groaning in annoyance, as he already had orders from other soldiers to produce some more rather normal weapons, he walked over to the bag of raw materials and opened it. His jaw only dropped.

A month later, the group returned. When they walked in, the blacksmith looked to them and grinned, resting his forging hammer on his shoulder.

"Hey, there, kids. That was some fine material you have me. So I was really motivated to work on it." Getting a tarp from under a table, he lifts and heaves it onto his worktable, unwrapping it to reveal the new batch of weapons he had forged for them. "Look! If you bring these into a battle, they won't break."

Tobari grabbed her dual katanas and held them up in awe. "So these are Meihou...! I can feel a strength coming off these swords."

The others soon took their picks. Likewise, Akame received a katana, the same with Hisame. Suzumaru obtained a naginata with a slight curve to the blade and Kumehachi received a bow. For Hinowa, it looked to be a sword with a much thicker, brutish blade. With a smile, she looked up to the sky.

"I've got men and strong gear. I'm going to keep up this pace to aim ever higher. Just you wait and see... Mother."