Chapter Text
Time is a blessing.. spending every moment with those who mean the world to you makes one feel warmth, endearment, and pure bliss.
Akko hated any emotion that didn't give her that bubbly, heartwarming feeling ever since her momma's passing when she was eight years old. She vividly remembers her pops' tears running down his old, yet tender face and onto his gloomy vest. Her dress- which was matching her pops' tone was only worn once, she swore that she won't ever again wear such a depressing piece of clothing, even if it was one of the most appealing dresses she's seen during her younger years.
"Tuberculosis.. I-I thought that she was just havin' high fever and w-was purposely losing weight for me.. b-but I was wrong. I should've done s-somethin'.. but instead I let her d-die.." is what Akko's pops said during the funeral. The old man couldn't stop his tears- after all he did caused his wife to catch an incurable disease.
Regardless of the multiple "I'm sorry for your loss." or "It must be hard on you darling..", Akko tried her hardest to keep that bright smile of hers glued onto her face. Her pops did the same, the man had some guts to pretend that the love of his life was no longer on the face of this cruel world- but he stayed capable of doing so for his only living family member.
In some rare nights however, his poker face crumbled down by every adult's gateway to escape reality or ruin one's mind- alcohol. Akko's pops would take huge swings of the "drug" and talk to his daughter, or even himself when Akko was asleep. Once when Akko was awake, he said to her with a slur, "Don't you miss her sweetie? I remember the times she would sing you to sleep.. oh how her angel-like voice did its magic, even your old man passed out on the spot!" It was usually those nights where Akko didn't mind when her pops drowned himself in the poison, he would go for hours talking about her momma, but unfortunately it wasn't always nice memories.
She remembers being startled by shattering glass, then rose from her slumber, wondering what was the commotion all about. Rubbing her eyes, she slowly walked towards the living room where the strong scent of "Devil's Blood" hit her and immediately covered her nose with her hands. Her pops yelling is what shocked her the most- "WHY DIDN'T I HELP HER WHEN SHE WAS BOILIN' HOT?! SHE WAS BEGGIN' FOR HER LIFE, AND I TORE IT APART IN FRONT OF HER EYES!!! W-Why didn't God take me instead of her..?"
In all her years of seeing the pure, considerate man that Akko's pops was, she never expected to see him outrage over her momma's passing. Even she was surprised when she heard him crying in his room- she never saw a man cry before, and his soft prayers to his dead wife stabbed deep scars into Akko's young heart. From that day forward, Akko swore she would do whatever it took to make her pops the man he was before- and eventually he was back to his usual self, but that brought consequences for herself as she got older.
At some point during her teenage years, Akko's hatred towards herself grew when she realized how much brighter her life has gotten without her momma. Her pops was recovering well from her passing, yet decided to stay single after many years. "Your momma has something that other woman won't ever have. She's the only one who will have my heart until the day I leave this hell of a world." is what he told Akko, and she believed every word he said. Her pops was a great man, but it made her irritated on how he moved on faster than she did- which caused their first fight.
"You act like her death never happened, like if I never had a ma!! Don't you miss her pops?!" Akko never rose her voice at any adult, her momma always told her to be respectful towards them, which is why she regret it the moment she saw the look on her pops' face as he got from his chair and barked right back with tears forming in his eyes. "Kagari you know damn well I miss your momma!! It's hell livin' a life without her, yet I try to keep myself sane.. for you." He stared into her daughter's eyes while he broke down, "Y-you're the only one I have l-left Akko.. I want to be strong.. so you can follow my footsteps!! Be brave.. and keep that chin up no matter what darlin'.." With nothing but an embrace, the two silently apologized and forgave each other over their actions.That small but fierce argument blossomed a fresh relationship between the two. The self-hatred in Akko was gone, and her eyes opened to a new life in which she could fully embrace.. until she was 22.
She can see the memory like if it happened yesterday. Dinner was two hours ago, Akko and her pops were sound asleep. The day was like no other- perfect. Or at least.. it was.
She heard the door break and the booming footsteps that echoed around their wooden house. "Outlaws.." is the first thing that came into mind- what else would make such an entrance? Akko carefully got out of her mattress and searched for a box underneath her bed. There, she slowly opened the box and pulled out her pops old Colt Revolver, or as he called it, the Peacemaker. He gave the gun to her on her 20th birthday, his words rung into her head as she held the gun, "You gotta learn how to defend yourself out here, the West ain't gonna let a pretty lady like you a chance to live like a queen." At the time, Akko laughed at those words, who in these parts would threaten a woman like her?
To this day, Akko wished that she asked her pops how to actually use the revolver, but she never thought she'll see that day where she had to point a barrel at a man. Fumbling with putting the bullets in the loading gate, she prayed that her pops was taking care of the outlaw. She decided to put three .45 rounds and spun the loading gate- the small "click" told her that she was ready for the shootout. Pushing down the hammer, the gate turned and Akko tip tioed towards her door and opened it. She then slowly made her way to her pops room, where the door was wide open and two shadows were reflected on the floor.
"Where's my cash Kagari? Thought we had a deal!" said the outlaw in a teasing tone. Akko's brow rose as she made her way closer to where the ruckus was- when did Akko's pops own an outlaw cash? Her old man wouldn't do deals like this.. right? "R-Reid! Breaking down my d-door will only make me waste money! G-Give me a couple of more months.. 125 gold nuggets are hard to fi-" Reid interrupted with a crazy high pitched laugh, causing both of the Kagari's to freeze. "Don't give me that shit Kagari! I know you got a job, where's your pesos!?" The man was now furious, and Akko's old man stutters weren't helping the outlaw get his part of the deal. "Tch.. the older you got the more stupider you've become huh Zenji?! Either you trade me everything you own, or you're a dead man!!" Akko knew it was now or never, she has to shoot this man down or her pops was gonna get killed, she couldn't allow another family member disappear from her grasp. "Reid you know I can't give you that! I'm beggin' you to give me more t-" A click was heard along with a low chuckle, "Time's up Zenji!"
Akko gripped on her revolver, "It's now or never..!" Rushing into the room, she pointed the barrel behind the intruder's head, "I-I don't know what my pops did to own y-you currency, but please give him time! He's been busy h-helpin' the townsfolk, he's getting money! Just please.. don't kill him..." The outlaw turned to meet the voice who interrupted him, then his eyes widen. He stared at Akko, then whistled a cat call, "My oh my.. you didn't tell me you had a lovely daughter Zenji! A beauty at that! Your wife could never compare to this hunk of meat.. oh! An idea came into mind!" The man lowered his revolver and smirked at Akko, making her cringe in his efforts of "wooing" her. "Give me your daughter.. and your debt is done. What do you say?" Zenji laughed a bit, "You're that same sick bastard from 20 years ago Reid.. I'll never give you my daughter!" Reid's smirk fell as he turned his head to Zenji and raised his revolver once again, "Then you'll give me your life you son of a bitch!" It happened too fast, Akko couldn't hear herself scream as looked down, pulled the trigger and the gate turned.
BAM!
A body felt onto the floor, then silence overcame the room. Akko lowered her gun and sighed quietly, "I had no choice.." she thought. It was quiet for a few seconds, but it felt like an eternity. She didn't want to look at what she's done, but slowly she lifted her head. Ever since Akko went to the butcher shop and watched the poor animals get gutted, she couldn't handle blood. It made her insides twist and flop around, never did she want to see the insides of a living thing again. Yet tonight she saw the horrifying sight from her pops with a bullet in his stomach, his eyes looked soulless from the shot he received. "Gosh.. tonight is just filled with surprises! Try again darlin'!" teased Reid as he pushed the hammer from his revolver and Akko did the same with tears forming in her eyes. "When I count to three, you pull the tri-" Akko yelled in anger as she pointed the barrel at the outlaw and pulled the trigger. Nothing but a click was heard and Reid howled in laughter, "Now it's my turn!"
BAM!
"No.. n-no!! NO NO!! PLEASE STOP IT!!" The tears were now flowing from her eyes, they couldn't quit- her pops was shot twice in the stomach. The man was coughing blood now, if Akko didn't stop Reid now.. she'll be alone for good. She pushed the hammer once more and Reid took the risk to turn his head towards Akko moved his forehead right on the barrel, "Last chance love.. make it count!" Her hands were shaking, the revolver was swaying, yet she pulled the trigger.
Click.
"Ahh.. that was your golden ticket to get out of this mess Ms. Kagari.." said the manic with a giggle as he moved away from the barrel, "It was really nice knowing you.. if only you agreed to be mine, your pops would've live!" Sobbing, Akko yelled as she threw her gun to the side and threw herself onto the man, she had to do something to save her pops, so without thinking she bit into his shoulder as hard as she could. Reid yelped and dropped his gun from the sudden pain, "Damn it girl!" He grabbed Akko's head and ran full speed towards a wall the opposite from them.
SLAM!! Akko's head was roughly crushed against the wooden platform. She gasped in pain, she felt like her skull cracked from the impact. Next thing she knew, bear like hands were around her neck as the man raised her body against the wall with no effort and stared into Akko's eyes. Zenji groaned as he crawled his way towards the guns on the floor, but Reid's spine chilling laugh made both of them stiff while he got closer to Akko's face and whispered very quietly, "Next time I see you.. it won't be so pretty."
With that, Reid let one of his hands get away from Akko's neck and punched her right eye, making her scream in agony. Zenji gasped in horror, "A-Akko!! Stop hurting my daughter you bastard!" The outlaw laughed at her weeping face and gave another mighty swing to her stomach, knocking the wind out of her. She coughed out blood- the pain was overwhelming. Letting go of Akko's neck completely, her body slumped down onto the floor, her vision slowly became hazy as if she chugged bottles of "Rattle's Poison." Reid grunted as he reached for both of the guns and smiled at Zenji's face, his face painted with defeat. "Your old man killed with the revolver you pointed at me Akko.. Peacemaker my ass.." Reid kicked Zenji's face and rolled him over to see the blood pouring out of stomach. With a smile, he shot his gun again, causing him to gurgle some more of his own blood.
Sighing, Reid put his revolver in his holster and stared at the Peacemaker, "Did you even load the gun sweetheart? That would be pretty damn stupid if you put no rounds in here." Aiming the gun at Zenji's head for fun, he fired.
BAM!
"Huh.. guess it was. Well my job is done, nice meeting you darlin'!" Reid opened the loading gate, took out the remaining two bullets and put them in his coat pocket. "I'll leave your gun outside. I might be a theft, but Zenji was a very old friend of mine and I'm positive that he'll haunt me in my sleep if I take something of his." He looked at Akko and tipped his hat, "Sorry it had to be like this kid, it's a lesson to those who make deals with the devil." Patting her shoulder, he walked out the house with a smile, "Deals with the devil.. I like the ring to it." Leaving the gun down in front of the house as he promised he would, Reid hopped onto his horse and gripped onto the reins, "Giddy!"
Akko faintly heard the man ride off, then the night's silence took over. She can hear her heart beating, each pump got slower and slower until she could no longer feel anything. Her body went numb as she fell into a very deep slumber, the last thing she saw was her pops body, and the blood surrounding them.
Akko wasn't sure what time she woke up, but when she did, her pops was as pale as the moon. The pool of blood reached up to her feet, and she scrambled up to get as far as possible from it. As she stared at his body, she wanted to cry, to hold her pops in her arms- but the man was dead, she couldn't do anything about it anymore. The sight was unbearable, but the smell could kill the poor girl if she let the body stay in the house any longer. Finally having the courage to move, she went outside and saw the Peacemaker covered in sand. "Least we didn't get robbed since our door is gone.." Akko reached down and grabbed the revolver, ignoring the burns from her fingers when she brushed off the sand. Putting it back into the box underneath her bed, she noticed how ghostly her hands looked- if anyone saw her, they'll think she rose from the dead. Unfortunately, that wasn't her only problem.
She almost screamed as she look at herself in the mirror- her right eye was bruised in a shade of dark violet and midnight. Looking at her reflection, she softly brushed her hand onto the injury and winced, "I look like a damn raccoon.." Akko couldn't go anywhere looking like this- folks would think that she went off with a man and he had his way with her.. which is somewhat true. "I'll take care of it later.." she said as left the small restroom shack.
Picking up a corpse- especially her pops- isn't something Akko had in her bucket list. It's not like she could simply ask someone to help her- if the townsfolk knew that her pops was doing business with an outlaw, they'll think she was in it as well and either put her behind bars or even kill her. "It's not worth taking the risk, I'll rather get my hands dirty than die trying to prove my innocence. Hopefully all those years of carrying luggage will do the trick for me.." Akko went towards the barn and grabbed the poly wagon, "Rusty, but she'll do the trick."
Surprisingly, Zenji's body was as light as a small bale of hay- lifting it and putting it on the wagon took less that thirty seconds with no effort. She sighed looking at the corpse, even with a bullet in his head, her pops still looked like the goofy, lovable man that he was. She put her hands on her face, her throat was clogged with sobs and chokes- she was alone with no one to look up to. Sniffing, Akko looked at her pops again and the words he said in their argument came into mind- "Keep that chin up no matter what.. I-I'll do that for you pops, you'll be a-alongside momma soon.." she said as she rubbed her nose and took the wagon into the barn until her preparations were done.
It took a few days, but Akko kept her word. She first went to Warmsprings in disguise to let a doctor check out her eye. He didn't ask how it appeared, but he told her that she'll be fine in a week or two, which was a huge relief to Akko. After that, she went to Tornpeaks to buy a cheap, yet sturdy coffin and a small tombstone with her pops information engraved. She waited patiently for the man to finish and payed him a bit extra when she saw the final product. She returned home, then went to collect the coffin and tombstone the next day. It took much concentration to put her pops in his best suit since his body was quite fragile, but she did it in a few hours. Resting the body into the tomb, she put on the top on the coffin and called it a day.
When her black eye was fully healed days later, Akko went to Warmsprings again to tell the folks the "news" of her pops. "He told me to do an errand for him in the Wallows.. and I came home yesterday to see him dead. Who knows how long he's passed.. but I-I've should've been with him.. but now he's g-gone." After she got words of sorrow from those who heard her tale, Akko invited those who wanted to see her pops get buried, and some men were nice enough to dig a spot near her momma's grave. Some teased that he would've haunted them if they didn't bury him next to his wife, and Akko chuckled along- she was sure that he would do something like that.
At the day of the funeral, the graveyard was pretty packed with families. Zenji Kagari was pretty well known in this side of the west, he was great at business and making friends in minutes so it wasn't a surprise to see so many people. Many women couldn't stand the sight of the bullet in his head, and Akko was pretty shocked how people believed her story of his death being a "possible simple robbery which lead to a shootout." Akko was bombarded with consolations, but she handled it well with her smiles regardless if she cried for a while. Tears were shed, laughter was rare, but everyone was deeply miserable over the death of Zenji. The funeral lasted for three hours, and when everyone was gone, Akko could finally give her final goodbyes to her pops.
"I know you're not a bad guy pops.. you wouldn't do something like this. Yes.. you probably did kill a few people, but you had your reasons right? I just.. I promise I'll avenge your death, even if you don't want me to." Akko weakly laughed, "Besides.. I ain't a little girl anymore, I'm free to do what I want now that.. y-you're gone and all.." She swallowed back her choke and got on one knee, "I'll kill him pops.. I'll kill that bastard for his crimes. He'll regret messing with a Kagari." She got up and walked out of the cemetery where Chariot, the horse her pops got her when she was 15, was waiting for her. Akko hopped onto her and squeezed the reins, her tears now pouring out of her eyes, "Giddy!" She rode off, sobbing as her mind raced with billions of ways to make sure her pops killer was dealt with.
Rest in peace
Zenji Kagari
07/21/1832 - 2/10/1870