Why?

Author note:

In canon, Garou never demonstrated any substantial knowledge of medicine, and I'm doubtful that he does. But Bang and the entire dojo is based on traditional martial arts ideals. As far as I know, they should know the basics of treating simple wounds via simplistic herbal medicine. (a myth I always read about and too lazy to clarify).

It may or may not be true but for the sake of continuity, ignore it. It won't happen again.

Enjoy :)

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"Uggg..." Akame opened her eyes, her body entire body burned with pain. In addition, her body felt heavy, significantly more than usual. She used all of her strength to sit, then checked her surroundings. She was inside a cave, the last thing she remembered meeting Garou and using her trump card to fight him. She looked down at her arm and noticed leaves covering them like bandages. The red markings from the transformation were still visible on her body but noticeably faded.

Akame saw her sword a short distance away away leaned up against the cave's wall, she wanted to grab it, but the pain immobilized her.

"You are finally awake" Garou's voice drifted from the cave entrance.

Akame forgot the pain in her body and looked. In shock toward him. He stood before her while carrying a huge fish on his shoulder. Akame eyes darted toward her sword, she attempted to make a move for it. Despite her will, her body fell tiredly as she winced in pain.

"You are still wounded, I don't suggest you moving around, let alone try to fight" Garou said.

Akame looked hopelessly at Garou, she understood she had no chance to escape or fight back. She was entirely at the mercy of this… monster standing before her. Suicide crossed her mind, but for some reason, she couldn't get herself to do it.

"I treated your wounds, It is not perfect and maybe it will leave a mark, but it will ease the pain a little and help you recover faster. I'm no doctor, but I can tell when someone is incapable of moving because of injuries. I have first-hand experience aftertall." Garou said.

Akame stared at silently. She watched him getting closer to her, she was helpless and unable to even move. he dropped his fish on the ground next to him. He started a fire using stones and broken branches inside the cave. Akame assumed he gathered them earlier while she was still unconscious. Garou began to grill the fish while Akame kept staring at him in bewilderment.

Sometime later, Garou gave Akame some of the grilled fish then he proceeded to eat his share. Akame's eyes darted between the lump of meat in front of her and Garou, who was wolfing the meat.

"What are you doing?" Akame finally asked.

"Helping you to recover faster" Garou gave her a bored look, his eyes showed her a look of disdain as if it were obvious.

"Why are you helping me? If you want information about my friends, then kill me. I won't tell you no matter what you do, even if you torture me" Akame said, doubting Garou's motivation. In her eyes, a monster like him is no better than Esdeath.

Garou ignored her question and said "I didn't take you to be the talkative type. You should shut it and focus on eating."

Akame was not satisfied with his reply, but she could do nothing, for now, she was weak and barely able to move. Hopefully, she would recover and get a chance to kill him, she didn't want to give up.

Akame ate her food silently, but she devoured food as fast as Garou. She was fast enough that he was impressed more by her appetite than her combat ability.

Once the two were done, Akame spoke again "Why are you helping me?"

"Two reasons; first, I didn't defeat you, and if I left you to die like that it will leave a bad taste in my mouth; Second, I told your sister I would leave you to her. Therefore, I'm not letting you die, at least not because of me" Garou finally answered, he decided answering her would save him the unnecessary nuisance.

Unfortunately, his answer agitated Akame more, she believed he was a monster with no honour because of his similarity to Esdeath. Besides, she labelled those who work under the minister as evil, such as Esdeath and Seryu.

"Do you expect me to believe that? After what you did? After killing my friends? Acting as if you have honour and pride! You are a scum!! A lowly filthy animal" Akame exploded back. Usually, she wouldn't talk to her enemy like this, but she was still affected by her friends' deaths. Moreover, she didn't have the strength to do anything more than talking. She might as well be killed while insulting him, this is the least she could do.

Garou initially didn't want to talk with her much, but hearing her, he was a little irritated. Garou narrowed his eyes and said "Don't put your mistakes on me, I didn't kill your friends. The water guy went kamikaze, while the axe guy was killed by your pink-haired friend. If anything, I took revenge for him. I was only going to give you fools a beating, but you idiots decided to start killing yourselves"

Akame didn't back down, she replied "Do you expect me I would believe you? You killed Susanoo!!"

"Susanoo? The horned doll? Are you an idiot? If I broke your sword, would you say I killed it? No, you won't. So what about a human-shaped doll." Garou replied.

Akame got angrier hearing him call Susanoo a doll, she clenched her fists hard, She wanted nothing more than killing the monster in front of her.

"Besides, If I wanted to kill you, do you really believe I would allow you to leave. For starters, I could have embedded the axe into that bitch's head instead of her chest" Garou added.

Akame stared into his cold red eyes but found no trace of deception. She was still in disbelief, so she asked again "Then why did you join the Jaegers in hunting us?"

"I didn't join them, I tagged along to see what kind of interesting weapons your group has. I don't care about your war and catching you isn't my problem" Garou shrugged.

"Then why are you training with them?" Akame asked another question.

"Who else would I be able to spar against" Garou answered.

Akame became silent, she thought about all the previous encounters with Garou, what she knew about him and finally what he just said. Assuming he was being truthful, didn't that mean he wasn't really their mortal enemy? They just fought and died for no reason, the man himself didn't intend to kill them or capture them.

She stared at him, then she remembered Chelsea, so she asked "A friend of ours went missing yesterday after the battle. She's around my age and has orange hair"

"Oh, the one with shape-shifting makeup box. I met her yesterday" Garou said.

Akame tensed hearing him, she asked with a worried tone "What happened to her? Where is she?"

"Beats me, I left her near the battle location after I crushed the stupid box. No clue where she went after that" Garou answered with no care.

Akame was slightly relieved that Chelsea was okay. But then a stronger depression hit her. Was everything they have done and the lives lost for nothing. There was no need for anyone to die, the entire battle was meaningless.

Akame lowered her head and kept her silence, not knowing what to do or think. She hated him, she wanted to kill him, but she felt a greater despair of being unable to do a thing against him, despair of knowing he didn't care about them from the very beginning and their own mistakes led to the death of their friends, they even killed one of their own.

Garou watched her fell into a state of silence, so he didn't bother to talk with her again. He started meditating to pass the time, he believed she won't take too long to recover, her injuries weren't severe in the first place.

After a while of silence, Akame raised her head and looked at Garou, she saw him mediating not paying her any attention. She turned and looked at her sword. The first thing that came to her mind is to kill him here, but she immediately shook her head. She looked at him again and spoke "Garou, you aren't on the empire's side, right?"

Garou opened his eyes and looked at her, he spoke plainly "yes."

"Why don't you join us? You can put your strength into a greater cause" she said. If he wasn't with the empire, then maybe She had a chance to convince him of joining them.

"I have no interest in joining your stupid group" Garou replied.

Akame clenched her fist and asked "Why? Don't you feel this world is wrong? People suffer because of the minister and his people. The empire became corrupted to its very core. You are strong, too strong. You can bring change, you can make the world a better place!"

Garou looked at her, he considered her words then spoke "Kurome told me you betrayed her and joined the enemy, why?"

Akame couldn't help but show a sad expression, she looked down and said "When I realised the evil hidden in the empire, I decided to leave it for good. I tried to get her to leave with me, but I couldn't, she ....."

"So you left because the empire was filled with evil. What did they make you do?" Garou inquired interrupting her.

"They lied to me, they told me I was cleansing evil, but it turned out I was killing innocents for their benefits" Akame answered.

"So at some point, you realised things weren't as they seemed and so you decided to leave" Garou said, as Akame nodded.

"Then tell me, What are you doing with the revolutionary army?" Garou asked.

"I'm assassinating corrupt and evil officials to weaken the empire's forces" Akame answered.

"So you are doing the same job for the same reason, but the employer changed" Garou said.

"No, this time I'm fighting against the corrupt and evil" Akame argued.

"Who told you they are evil? All I see is the same pattern repeating itself, and you are nothing but a tool in the hand of someone else" Garou replied.

Akame felt anger rising in her heart as she heard Garou's words, she wanted to refute his words, but he continued "Let's say you killed the evil officials, didn't you kill innocent guards? Didn't innocent servants suffer because of you killing their masters? What about the families of those people? Your so-called 'slaying evil' brought misery for many. You said you are fighting against the minister and his people, then why are declaring war against the entire empire? If you genuinely wanted to end his evil reign, you could attempt to kill him, not start a civil war, which will hurt far more people than if you simply left the minister do his bidding? Finally, if you had an army, how are you sustaining it? I'm not knowledgeable about armies and wars, but I know massive army needs food and supplies to survive. If the people are sick and suffering as you say, where do they get money from?"

He asked a question after question, none of which she had an answer for. She had never asked nor considered any of those things. She remained silent, not knowing what to say. Garou waited a little then continued coldly "You don't know how your own army survives, and I bet your friends are no better. That's why you are nothing but tools, following orders without question."

Akame hearing him say that angered her, but she couldn't refute him, she didn't know how to. She clenched her fists as hard as she could as she maintained her silence. She knew he was right. Garou didn't speak any further.

Edited by B33RUS.