Chapter 71: Tatsumi

Parc rolled his eyes, his head twisting and his jaw realigning itself with a sharp cracking noise.

"The only reason you hit me, is because I let you," he iterated from the grey cloaked Tatsumi who was staring down daggers at him. Just as Parc lifted his head to look up at Tatsumi, another fist collided with his cheek with a solid thump.

"That's for getting Sayo and Ieyasu mixed up in this mess."

Parc once again cracked his jaw, spitting out a small red globule to his side while pulling his leg up, leaning his arm over his knee after wiping his lip down. "Eh, I'd say her getting mixed up in this is better than being dead."

Parc could see the anger in Tatsumi's eyes, the way his fist was clenched tight with reddened knuckles. About ready to hit Parc again, only to pause as his anger gave way to his sight of two cold blue eyes staring at him, sending shivers down his spine.

Esdeath lifted her head from Parc's shoulder, glaring up at Tatsumi yet remaining silent just using her oppressive aura to push Tatsumi back.

Tatsumi's feet suddenly jolted and dug into the ground, steadying himself against Esdeath's aura.

"Esdeath, leave the poor boy alone," Parc sighed, cracking his neck. "He's just being a little pissy because of his friend. Nothing to get so serious over. Isn't that right, Tatsumi." Parc growled, forcing a nervous 'y-yeah,' to come from Tatsumi just as Seryu approached them and stood beside Tatsumi.

Parc gave her the smallest of glances before leaning to the side to look towards the three other Jaegers who were just continuing with their own things while watching event unfold. "You three are amazing guards letting a stranger get this far into our camp."

"Hey. To be fair, Seryu gave me the scariest glare I've ever had thrown my way," wave retorted only to be meet with Esdeath's eyes, immediately retracting his statement, "nope, never mind. The captain wins hands down." He shrunk in on himself continuing to whatever it is he was doing by the fire.

"Seryu," Esdeath began, "who is this and why did you bring them here?" she looked to Tatsumi, barely recalling the boy from when she first brought Seryu into the Jaegers after she gained her new prosthetic appendages.

"Captain!" Seryu saluted with her right hand to her forehead, "this is Private Tatsumi. He is a member of the Imperial guard currently in training and has been missing for the last three months!"

Tatsumi flinched, his little disappearing act likely hadn't been taken particularly well… by anyone.

"While he was missing he was reprimanded and striped of his placement after it was discovered he allowed another private to die at the hands of an assassin! I brought him here in hopes the general may pardon him of his crimes and give him a second chance!"

Tatsumi double took Seryu, "second chance? What? Wait, no, I don't want to join the imperial guard again."

"And why exactly should I do that?" Esdeath pulled the blanket tighter to herself, a free hand snaking between her legs to feel the lingering moistness Parc had left her loins in.

"Priva-"

"I believe you said he had his placement revoked. He is no longer a private."

Seryu's breath hitched, "T-Tatsumi is a highly capable fighter and would be an invaluable asset to the Empire."

"Seryu, I'm really not interested in re-enlisting."

"Many people are considered 'valuable' to the Empire. And many more are likely more apt for the position than a coward who couldn't protect a single man from a child none the less."

Seryu froze, "You-you knew?"

A derisive snort made its way from Esdeath's throat while her finger stroked around her thigh feeling a sticky sensation on her skin. All whilst Parc grabbed the blanket, pulling part of it over himself, nudging close enough to Esdeath that he could cover himself fully.

"I made sure to review every one of your profiles. People you are close with, people you may deem enemies. And certainly, possible romantic partners for anything that could possibly be used to damage our cohesiveness as a unit." Both Tatsumi and Seryu blushed, gazes shooting to each other but separating not seconds after their eyes met.

"And bringing in a known defector certainly meets that standard." Esdeath's expression scrunched up feeling something warm press against her thigh, her eyes inadvertently looking to Parc who just gave her a small, silent smile. His hand travelling up her thigh and into her skirt.

"I-that is. But Parc is the same isn't he!?"

"He certainly is. Difference being I am your leader and Parc is an active member of Night Raid under our watch." Esdeath ground her teeth together as Parcs hand traveller around her hip digging under her panties and pressed into the flesh of her ass. "While you are a Specialist, and this Tatsumi is nothing but a disgrace to the imperial guard."

Parc smirked at how Seryu was easily being put in her place. All whilst his hand dug deeper into Esdeath's ass, parting her cheek until he found himself stroking a small line down the centre of her crack, enjoying the small shivers Esdeath was trying her utmost to hide from both him and the others. But her body, still sensitive from the previous toying Parc had done to it, was incapable of fully concealing them from Parc's touch.

"Yes, that's true but-"

"And disgraces don't get second chances." Throughout Esdeath's derisive comments on him, Tatsumi had consistently been slumping his arms further and further down his progressively hunching body.

"You don't have to be so blunt…" he cried.

"And you." Esdeath turned her focus onto him, causing him to stand at attention with arms by his side and head held high to avoid meeting her glare. "Why show yourself no-w." Esdeath's lips slammed shut the moment she felt something press against her back door. That something being Parc's finger.

"I-I saw you leaving the capital and I had been looking for Seryu for a while because I wanted to talk with her. So, I followed you. M-ma'am."

Esdeath frowned, beneath that frown her teeth were grinding together from the small circles Parc was making on her asshole with his middle finger.

"You were following us to speak with Seryu? Then talk. And leave before I have you apprehended for avoiding proper sentencing for abandoning your position as a member of the imperial guard."

"Ma'am! If I may. Tatsumi wished to speak with Parc when he learnt he learnt we had a member of Night Rai-"

"You informed a civilian that we had a high-class individual under custody. How much more did you tell him? Our operations? The location of our informants?"

"What!? No!" Seryu yelled, "I-I just told him about-about him!" she pointed at Parc, "that he's the one who killed captain Ogre and Dr. Stylish!"

"That is still more information than any civilian needs to kn-ow…" Esdeath's jaw chattered shut as Parc pressed the tip of his finger her hole, easily silencing her enough for him to say.

"Esdeath, it's fine. Tatsumi won't be a problem here," Parc with the very tip of his finger pressed into her tight hole, began to slow push and pull it, twisting his finger to widen the hole before it forced itself shut with each twitch he felt of Esdeath's body as she chewed on her lips.

Parc looked up to Tatsumi, "especially if he ever wants to see Sayo again. So, Tatsumi. You going to be an issue for us?"

Tatsumi shook his head, "No, none. I just want answers."

Parc nodded, pushing his finger in deeper into Esdeath though some exerted effort on his part. Just the small bit of his finger already eliciting a small rumble from Esdeath's throat, and twitch of her eye.

Esdeath remained silent, focusing her focus on keeping her outward appearance in check under the eyes of her subordinates.

"Then get to questioning."

Tatsumi's mouth hung open, looking to Esdeath who just gave him an exterted glare that screamed 'get on with it.'

"First. Uh. Why did you kill Captain Ogre."

"Really? That's the one you go for? Sayo's going to be pissed when she hears you put more importance on a muscly old man instead of her. But, to answer your question, we were hired to kill him. So we killed him."

Tatsumi groaned, "I meant, why were you hired to kill him?"

Parc rolled his eyes, he'd explained this little tidbit to Seryu, could she not have just explained it to him herself? "He did crimes, and we dealt out the justice because the Empire can't regulate itself."

"What. Crimes."

Parc squinted, "Framing the innocent, forgery, collusion. ****, Murder. You name it. Ogre had his fingers into everything that lined his pockets and his made him feel all powerful."

Tatsumi's hands clenched into fists, he didn't want to believe it. But after all he'd seen since leaving the Imperial Guard, he had no choice but to. "I thought so…"

"Wha!? Tatsumi!? You can't believe him! He's lying!" Seryu yelled out acting as her own voice of reason.

Tatsumi tilted his head towards Seryu, "Seryu… the Empire. Its… its not what you think it is. Its, I can't even begin to fathom the things I've seen since we separated. There's something, very, very wrong here Seryu. I don't have any choice but to believe him."

'Jesus Christ. He does realize he's saying this in front of a fucking general to the Empire, right? He's lucky she's too focused on her ass to give a damn about him.' That she was as she crossed her arms, digging her fingers into her upper arms and ground her thighs together feeling a more recent moisture forming in her soaked undergarments.

"Why!? Why are you doing this again!?" she screamed, throwing her arms out towards him while Koro growled by her feet. "Captain Ogre was our teacher! Not some degenerate criminal! He was the most admirable man in the Empire!"

"I'm not saying he wasn't!" Tatsumi argued, "it's just. I've spoken to people who have run into the captain. And they all tell me stories of how their parents, their children were suddenly arrested and accused of crimes they didn't commit then put to death without any investigation at all. They were just arrested, and put to death the next day. It was like clockwork Seryu. Every. Single. One."

Seryu's face paled with anger, staggering back and away from Tatsumi, disbelief and tears in her eyes that Tatsumi would betray her again. "Seryu," he tried to reach out to her only for her to slap his hand away and swiftly scurry off towards the furthest parts of the camp, far away from both Parc and Tatsumi.

Tatsumi just watching her scramble away from her, holding her head as if her entire world was collapsing around her once again. She had been told her idyllic Empire was not what she thought so many time it was beginning to scratch at her sanity. She refused to believe them. She wouldn't believe them.

But what if they were right? What if Captain Ogre really did those things? What then? Could she still dedicate herself to protecting the Empire when the very person who taught her every thing she knew was the very monster she hunted.

The thought terrified her.

Tatsumi, with a trembling lip turned back to Parc, his skin paler than before with guilt strewn across his face. He looked at a loss for words until some finally came out, "Sayo… is… is she and Ieyasu okay?"

He clearly wished to move away from the topic of Ogre and his misdeeds. And what better way to move away than to go onto his missing friends.

Parc frowned while Esdeath twitched as he suddenly pulled his finger from her ass and out of her skirt. His mouth opening, beginning to tell Tatsumi about Ieyasu's death and Sayo's current, soon to be solved should everything go as planned, predicament.

By the end of it, Tatsumi had grown red, not with embarrassement, but rage.

"Sayo, she's okay?" he asked.

"About as much as a one legged, traumatized girl can be. But yeah, otherwise she's doing okay. Got a new family taking care of her every need."

Tatsumi sighed, his expression never changing to loose its tenseness at his worry for his friend, "if you are lying. I will kill you."

Parc snorted, "yeah, go ahead. Sayo'll just get pissed at you for doing it."