After the battle with Charybdis and the megalodons, the village was plentiful with resources from the scales Milim had cleanly piled on the forest floor to the massive amounts of fish from the sharks to the tonnes of wood from the uprooted trees. They worked to pile all the resources together to have Rimuru devour it with his [Predator] to bring back to the village with ease.

By the time they all got back to the village, the sun had set. Katsumi was walking with Shuna and Shion while purposely ignoring Benimaru. The red-haired kijin dejectedly trailed behind, not quite sure what to do to calm her anger. He couldn't blame her for being mad, especially after what he said. When they got back onto the paved roads, she immediately split off from the group before Benimaru could catch her. Benimaru sighed as Souei slapped his back hard. Even Souei was hoping that they would make up quickly.

Minus Katsumi slipping away almost immediately, the rest of the group slowly scattered to do their own tasks. Hakurou found an open road with Rigurd and Geld and placed himself a ways away from the two others. Rimuru regurgitated one of the whole Megalodons from the fight onto a tarp that was laid out before leaving to deliver Charybdis' scales to Kurobe and Kaijin. Hakurou turned in his spot, his hand resting on his blade at his hip.

"Now, do it!" Hakurou commanded. Across from him, Rigurd and Geld lifted up the dead megalodons. The fish had been preserved perfectly in Rimuru's stomach,so they wanted to make use of it and serve it for dinner as sashimi. Rigurd and Geld simultaneously launched the shark towards Hakurou, who swiftly filleted the fish in a matter of seconds.

"Amazing! You're the best, Master!" Gobta complimented cheerfully. "One neatly filleted Megalodon!"

"A task simple enough to achieve before breakfast... or dinner, in this case," Hakurou bragged slightly with a laugh.

On another strip of the village road, Kurobe, Kaijin, and the three dwarf brothers stared at the mound of scales in front of them. It was twice the height of the dwarves at least and even towered over Kurobe.

"It's so light..." Kaijin noted as he tapped two scales against one another. A light metallic ring sounded from the contact, clean and crisp through the cold, night air. "And so hard. I bet we could use this."

"It'll make some nice weapons," Kurobe agreed as he picked up another scale to examine for himself.

"It could be a shield, too. Or we could even work it into some armor," Garm added beside his brothers.

"We could even make some simple accessories with it," Dord commented. "They'd fetch a high price for sure."

Myrd nodded and hummed his agreements.

At the center of the village around the fountain, various tables and two large pots of cooking megalodon was featured as well as a boat of sashimi-ed megalodon was served, the mouth of the shark wide open at the helm. The townspeople were spread all over the courtyard waiting for the food to finish cooking. As Rimuru was glancing over the crowd, he saw Geld make his way to Gabiru with two cups of alcohol.

"Geld, that was some splendid fighting!" Gabiru commented as he accepted one of the cups that Geld offered to him. They brought the two cups together with a light clink sound. "Your courage set an example I'd like to follow!"

"You were unstoppable yourself, Gabiru! I can't express my admiration enough!" Geld replied happily.

"Oh, no, Geld!" Gabiru insisted.

"Oh, no, Gabiru!" Geld insisted back. The two of the laughed at their compliments to each other and joyously enjoyed the alcohol with the three dragonnewts with Gabiru quickly complimenting them both.

On the other side, Benimaru made his way to Souei with three cups of alcohol. His bright red orbs were scanning the crowd, looking for a familiar head of blue hair, but she was nowhere in sight. With a sigh, he handed one cup to Souei and placed a second one down on a table nearby, keeping the third for himself.

"Katsumi is still mad..." Benimaru said dejectedly. "She ran away as soon as we got back. Can't you talk to her or something."

"I already tried, but she wouldn't listen. Something about how you probably set me up to talk to her since I normally wouldn't bother." Souei shrugged, taking a sip of his drink.

"But I didn't even tell you to before now..."

"Either way, she won't listen to me. She also told me before she disappeared that she still wants to throw you out a window." Souei, despite being upset at Benimaru for angering Katsumi, could help but find the blue-haired girl's anger and threats a little amusing.

"I'd let her throw me out a window at this point... as long as she talks to me again..."

"What the hell?" Souei made a face as he took a step away from the red-haired kijin. "You're crazy if you'd be willing to let her throw you out a window just so she'd talk to you."

"What do you expect me to do?! She's going to be mad until she actually throws me out a window probably. It's not like I enjoy being thrown out windows, but I'd be fine if it means she'd actually talk to me again."

Souei sighed. His best friend sure was desperate, but he couldn't exactly blame him either. Incurring Katsumi's wrath was terrifying in and of itself. That in addition to being avoided by someone that he chased after for years, Souei could see why he was desperate to get her to talk to him again.

"Just ask your sister to put in a good word for you or something. The girls talk a lot more and she'd be more willing to listen to them since they usually would do anything to spite you anyways."

"Great idea." With that, Benimaru ran off to go find his sister.

~~~

Katsumi sat in the water of the bathhouse alone, her blue hair was tied in a messy bun and out of her face with a few loose strands of hair framing her face. She let out a huff, sinking lower into the water so that only her nose and above was out of the water. Her heterochromatic eyes fell on the blue flower that was sitting at the edge of the water and narrowed on it as she swam over. Bringing her hands out of the water, she picked up the flower gently. Twirling it lightly in her hand, she looked at it sadly.

"It means so much to me yet he..." She trailed off, brushing her thumbs over the cold petals of the ornament.

As she stared at it, she completely missed the sounds of people heading into the bath. The door slid open with a loud bang and chatter instantly filled the air, causing Katsumi to almost drop the flower. She caught it just in time, placing it gently onto the side again as she glanced at the door. Soka, Erin, Shion, Shuna and Rimuru were standing there. She waved a quick hello as they joined her in the water. Shuna and Shion made their way to sit on either side of her while Soka and Erin sat on the other side.

"What're you doing here alone, Katsumi?" Shion asked as she sunk into the warm water.

"Ah, I was just thinking about some things." Katsumi frowned slightly.

"Are you still mad at Benimaru?" Shuna asked. The pink haired kijin leaned back slightly and glanced at Katsumi from the side.

"I'm not mad." Katsumi shook her head. "At least, I don't think I'm mad. I think I'm just a bit hurt. I thought he'd remember how important it was to me and how much the words he said to me in that moment meant."

"Are you going to forgive my idiot brother?"

"Do you think I should?"

"I think you should throw him out the window first and then forgive him."

Katsumi giggled at Shuna's suggestion. She might've threatened it, but there was no way she could actually throw him out the window. Aside from him being physically stronger than her, she knew she would feel worse after if she actually managed to toss him.

"He really does feel bad though, Katsumi." The blue-haired kijin glanced up at Shuna, then back to the water.

"Did he tell you to say that?"

"Yea." Shuna paused, then quickly turned to face Katsumi. "Wait! I mean, I think he genuinely is regretting his actions! He told me not to say that he talked to me because you didn't want to talk to Souei..."

"Don't panic, Shuna. I know..." Katsumi twirled a loose strand of blue hair between her fingers. "I'll talk to him later. I'm just being petty."

"No!" Shion lunged at Katsumi, grabbing both her shoulders as the purple-haired kijin shook her back and forth. "You have every right to be upset! It meant so much to you, how could he forget?!"

"Shion, she can't reply if you're shaking her so much." Shuna laughed as Shion quickly released Katsumi, apologizing profusely. Katsumi only laughed along and assured her that she was okay. For Katsumi, it was nice to know that the girls backed her up, but she still needed to talk to Benimaru.

"Sheesh... I'm really worn out after all this," Rimuru said to the open air once the girls had calmed down and faded into silence. "You were a big help, Milim. Thanks again." Rimuru turned towards the center of the pool of water and Milim popped her head out from under the water, causing Katsumi to let out a small yelp. She hadn't even know when Milim entered the bath.

"It was nothing! It's only natural I'd do that much! Feel free to thank me more!" Milim said proudly as she smiled at the slime. She swam across the body of water, the rest of the group watching as she moved. "You were really something yourself, Rimuru! If you said you planned to become a Demon Lord, I'd have no objections!"

"A Demon Lord? You know I wouldn't become one of those. Is there any merit to being one?" Rimuru reiterated to the young girl.

"Merit?" Milim repeated as she stopped swimming.

"Why did you become a Demon Lord?" Rimuru asked.

"Why did I?" Milim asked herself. She spun around to face Rimuru. "Did something bad happen and make me become one out of frustration?"

"Why are you asking me?" Rimuru replied, confused.

"Good point! I can't really remember!" Milim brushed off happily. "It was so long ago that I forgot!

"I see." Rimuru had just barely finished saying two words when Milim jumped out of the water.

"Oh, yeah! I just thought of one merit!" She leaped from the water towards Rimuru, water splashing up at the others as she did so. Milim grabbed Rimuru up out of the water and lifted him high in the air, exposing her body to the cool night breeze as well. "It's because I became a Demon Lord that I found myself a bestie!"

"R-Right..." Rimuru trailed off as she smiled happily up at him.

"Anyway, bestie, I need to get back to work now." Milim brought Rimuru down to eye level.

"Work?" Shion echoed.

"Right now?" Shuna asked, a bit surprised.

"That came out of nowhere," Rimuru agreed, a bit shocked at Milim's announcement himself.

"Well, it doesn't mean I'll never see you again!" Milim threw Rimuru back into the water and made her way towards the edge before crawling out. "We'll only be apart for a little while! Transform!"

Milim's form was obscured by a glittering pink hue before she reappeared, this time fully dressed. She turned around and posed for the group as the girls all clapped and smiled at her, amazed that she could so easily change like that. Rimuru emerged from the water after being thrown and coughed a bit to expel any water, despite the fact that he could easily just swallow it without suffering any consequences.

"I'll be sure to tell the other Demon Lords not to mess with this place, so don't worry about that!" Milim promised Rimuru.

"You're going to see the other Demon Lords?" Rimuru clarified.

"Indeed. That's my job!"

"Careful you don't let them trick you," Rimuru warned. The five others in the group echoed the same warning to the childish Demon Lord in various phrases.

"You all worry too much! They can't trick me! I'm too smart!" Milim brushed off with a smile and laugh.

"Well, I'm off! Fwoosh!" With a strong push, Milim leapt into the sky with ease and disappeared.

"Hey, wait!" Rimuru called, only to have no reply. "Oh. She's gone."

"I envy how free-spirited she is," Erin commented as she faced the three Kijin.

"That's so very like Milim-sama, though," Shuna replied with a smile.

"I look forward to seeing her again," Shion agreed.

Katsumi stayed silent, her thoughts preoccupied slightly as she thought about how she was going to talk to Benimaru. Despite being in the warm bath, she knew she wasn't relaxing at all while she was concerned with the whole Benimaru issue. With a sigh, she grabbed her towel from the edge and got out.

"Where are you going, Katsumi?" Soka asked as she saw the girl climb out and wrap the white towel around herself. She leaned down, picking up the flower and holding it carefully in her palm.

"I'm going to go clear my head in the forest." She gave everyone a quick wave as she exited the area to go change. Shuna and Shion exchanged glances, then scrambled out to go find Benimaru. They hated seeing Katsumi so down the past few days, so they figured that now would be a perfect chance for them to talk things out.

~~~

Katsumi had her arms wrapped around herself as she took slow steps through the forest. She could still hear the chatter of the town behind her so she knew she wouldn't get lost. On her back was her claymore, strapped diagonally so it didn't drag on the ground. She had brought it just in case there were any monsters, though she doubted it since she hadn't wandered that far. She could never be too cautious though.

Her mind was a bit messy as she thought about what she wanted to talk to Benimaru about. Sure, she had already been angry for multiple days, but the feeling of hurt hadn't faded at all. The flower that was now clipped into her hair had been her lifeline through her hard times. Whether it was her trying to ignore all the taunts and words of the naive children in the ogre village or the pain she felt when she and her parents' deceased bodies were surrounded by hundreds of orcs, the flower was basically the only thing keeping her fighting.

A rustle behind her cause her to spin around, her heterochromatic eyes narrowing as she instinctively reached for the handle of her claymore. When her eyes landed on a familiar head of red hair and two black horns, she sighed, relaxing her stance and turning back around. Benimaru took a few steps forward, stopping at a distance where she was just out of his reach.

"Katsumi..." Benimaru started. His red eyes scanned over her, trying his best to read her mood and her thoughts.

"Shuna and Shion told you where I was, didn't they?" Katsumi asked. She wasn't all that surprised, but she did wish they gave her a little more time before they went scrambling to the red-haired kijin. She didn't know what she wanted to say yet.

"Yeah. I really need to talk to you, love." Benimaru took a hesitant step forward, noting how she glanced at him from the corner of her eye (indicated by how her head turned slightly) but didn't try to move away. "You can hit me, slap me, throw me out the window, anything! Just let me apologize for what I said that day."

Katsumi took a deep breath, then turned around to face him. She looked down at her palm, then back at Benimaru.

"Can I really hit you?" She asked. Benimaru nodded without missing a beat. He knew that her hits wouldn't hurt, so as long as she felt better about it, he'd definitely be willing to take a few hits from her. He closed his eyes tightly.

"Go ahead."

There was silence for a moment. Katsumi took careful steps forward until she was standing right in front of the kijin that she loved so much even though he had royally messed up. She raised her hand and Benimaru, feeling the air move, tensed slightly as he waited for the hit.

Instead of a hard contact, he felt a small tap on his nose before two arms snaked around his waist. His eyes snapped open in shock as Katsumi leaned her head onto his chest.

"You stupid. I can't and I won't seriously hit you, even if I'm really mad. Aside from how I'd feel about that, it's not like you would even feel anything if I did anyways." Katsumi pouted slightly as she felt Benimaru wrap his arms around her, pulling her closer.

"I'm so sorry, Katsumi. Please believe me. It's not a good reason, but I really don't know what came over me that morning. Usually when I see the flower I think about how much you've taken care of it and I remember how excited I was to give you the flower and I really don't know why I said the things I did and what came over me -" Benimaru was rambling, so Katsumi quickly cut him off.

"It's okay now, Benimaru. I get it."

"I really am sorry. I know how much it means to you and it must've been upsetting to hear me of all people tell you to replace it. If you're still upset, please throw me out the window or something like you've been saying. I deserve it."

"Stop it, I won't throw you out the window."

"If you're still mad, just hit me as hard as you want. I wouldn't dodge or anything -"

"Benimaru!" Katsumi quickly unlatched her arms, cupping her hands over his mouth as he blinked at her. "Calm down. I'm not mad anymore."

"But -"

"Benimaru, love. It really is okay. I'm not mad anymore, I promise." She gave him a smile and then moved her hands to cup his cheeks. "If you really feel bad, make it up to me."

"What do you want me to do?" Katsumi smirked and Benimaru's expression turned more wary.

"What I want you to do is..."

~~~

"I'm going to die, Katsumi," Benimaru whispered as he stood in front of the door to Souei's house. It was dead in the middle of the night since her request was something that had to be done quietly and secretly. While they waited for time to pass, the two of them had simply just sat and cuddled together, enjoying one another's company after fighting for a few days. "He's definitely is going to kill me for this."

"He won't even know it's you if you do it right, Benimaru." The red-haired male gave Katsumi a glare as she smiled innocently. In her hand was a bag that emitted what was sounding scarily like the wails of Shion's onigiri. Benimaru took a glance into the bag, his face draining of color when he realized that the bag indeed held one of Shion's purple, poisonous onigiris.

"Why is this even a thing you want to do?" Benimaru asked as he used unwillingly reached a hand into the bag to pull out the plate that held the onigiri, holding it as far away from him as possible.

"This is for all the times he left me with Shion when she started cooking."

"If you did this, you'd have less of a chance of dying than if I do this, you know that right?"

"Yea, but Souei is still terrifying, so I'd rather you get my revenge for me."

Benimaru sighed, leaning down to kiss Katsumi quickly before she stepped back and waved her hand, signalling him to enter. He took a small breath, making sure to avoid breathing in the fumes from the horrid onigiri made by Shion. Carefully, he opened the door, trying to take quiet steps as he made his way to Souei's bedroom. The layout was basically the same in every one of their houses, so it wasn't that hard to figure out where the bedroom was. Benimaru poked his head in carefully and he felt his heart calm slightly when he saw that the blue kijin had his sheets pulled up right to his nose. The even breathing that filled the room assured Benimaru that his friend was still sleeping.

Benimaru glanced at the doorway, making sure that he had a clear exit from the house before taking a breath and tiptoeing into the room. He carefully and quietly placed the plate onto Souei's nightstand, facing it toward the bed so that it would be one of the first things Souei saw when he woke up. The red-haired kijin glanced down at Souei, noting that he was still sleeping. When he was assured that he wasn't caught placing it, he turned to make his way out the door.

Katsumi stood outside, poking her head through the doorway to see if Benimaru was coming out. Suddenly, there was a loud yelp from Souei's bedroom. Her head snapped to the doorway, hearing a couple things crash and a small scream emit. A murderous aura began to seep from the room, making her shiver, before Benimaru rushed out the doorway. He stumbled as he made his escape, almost tripping over himself as he ran for the door. Katsumi blinked in confusion, but allowed Benimaru to grab her and start pulling her away.

"Katsumi, we need to run!" Katsumi was going to ask what happened exactly, but then she glanced behind her. Souei was stalking to the door, his two blades glinting dangerously as he exited the shadows of his house. Katsumi paled, then started running alongside Benimaru. She'd ask later what Benimaru had done to wake Souei up knowing that their lives depending on the blue kijin staying asleep.

~~~

It had taken them one hour at least to manage to get Souei off their tail, but it was only truly because Souei had given up out of exhaustion. They didn't miss the fact that he attempted to chuck the horrifying onigiri at them, but Benimaru managed to dodge and pull Katsumi away from the incoming weapon of death. When it missed, Souei had let out a loud, audible click of his tongue before retreating back to his house, grumbling under his breath. Katsumi and Benimaru held their breaths until the front door shut and they quickly agreed that their deal was done and they were going to head back themselves to sleep.

When Katsumi woke up, she was tucked up next to Benimaru with his right arm slung over her waist. His left arm was under her head as her pillow and his hand lightly tangled in her hair as she leaned more on his shoulder than his arm. Their legs were tangled under the sheets with her left leg on the very top. She blinked, rolling slightly as she yawned and stretched her arms up. When she shuffled around, Benimaru's right arm tightened around her waist and pulled her closer to him.

"C'mon Benimaru, I need to get up."

"No."

"Wha-"

"No."

Benimaru nuzzled his head into her back, his black horns making her shiver as they brushed over her neck. It was unfortunate that Benimaru seemed to like doing this since horns were horribly cold basically all the time. She sighed, knowing Benimaru wasn't about to let her go. Giving up, she turned around in his arms and snuggled back into his arms. Within a few short minutes, she had fallen asleep again.

The second time she woke up, Benimaru was already up and was just absentmindedly running his fingers through her blue hair. Her heterochromatic eyes focused sleepily on the red-haired male who smiled at her when he noticed that she had woken up.

"Good afternoon, sleepyhead." Benimaru teased as he placed a light kiss on her forehead. She rolled her eyes slightly, snuggling in closer as she buried herself in the blanket. It was too cold for her to get up at the moment.

"I would've been up earlier if you hadn't kept me hostage here." Benimaru let out a light laugh, allowing her to wiggle closer to him, her hands tucked between their two bodies.

"As much as I would like to keep laying here, Rimuru-Sama told us that he wanted to announce something in a little bit."

"Hm? Rimuru-Sama?" Katsumi hummed slightly, rubbing her face onto Benimaru's clothes as the latter quickly adjusted the fabric so that her white horn didn't get caught on it. After a couple more minutes, she finally stopped, pushing the blankets off of her and shivering slightly as she swung her feet to the side of the bed. She already missed the warmth of the blankets.

The two of them swiftly got ready, though Benimaru didn't miss any chances to tease Katsumi that morning. He had missed out on multiple days of playful banter with her, and he made up for it while they were getting ready. Of course, he kept it to a minimum since he did still feel bad for starting their fight in the first place.

By the time they had finished fooling around and Benimaru had gotten back the cape that Katsumi stole and tried to hide, they made their way to the courtyard. Despite arriving there before the time specified by Rimuru, the two of them were still the last people there, aside from Rimuru himself. As they entered the meeting room, Souei's glare immediately fell on the two of them, making them flinch and avoid is gaze. Not only was the blue-haired male extremely hungover, but he had woken up in the middle of the night to the terrible sight and smell of a Shion Onigiri. He wouldn't have known it was Benimaru and Katsumi had the red-haired male not tripped over the blade sheath that he had thrown to the ground in his drunken state. Faced with the poisonous ball, Souei had sobered up enough to chase after them until his headache came back and he retreated back to his house.

Purposely sitting away from Souei, Benimaru led Katsumi to two empty seats. Gathered in the room were all the kijin, Rigurd, Rigur, Gobta, Kaijin, Gabiru, Soka, Vesta and Geld. Benimaru found it surprisingly that less than half their group was visibly hungover, Souei being one of them. He could've sworn that aside from Katsumi and himself, they had all drank a terrifyingly large amount of alcohol the night before. Those who weren't suffering from a painful headache were chatting happily while those on the verge of cracking their own heads open were slumped over onto the table.

Rimuru entered right before the time that he originally called the meeting for. The blue slime was fairly surprised that they had all arrived earlier than him. He was even more surprised to see that Katsumi and Benimaru were once again playfully bickering in their seats. Hadn't they been in the middle of a huge fight just the night before? Despite his slight confusion and his concern for the others currently trying to force their hangovers down, Rimuru decided to get straight to the topic: he was leaving the town. The closer group of leaders and monsters were abnormally quiet and serious considering the topic, though Rimuru found it a bit unnerving since there was usually some banter here or there just by how close the group was.

He explained to the group about Shizu's regret, the children in the human capital, and the promise he made to Shizu. The mask was laid in front of the blue slime as he addressed the group, who stared silently at him as he continued talking.

"I understand what you're saying... but..." Rigurd trailed off.

"If anything should happen to you, the Jura Forest Alliance could be ripped up from its very roots, after it was only just beginning to come together," Hakurou finished for Rigurd.

"I will go with him," Ranga spoke from behind Rimuru, his tail wagging slightly. "You can all rest at ease."

At Ranga's words, the Kijin exchanged glances. They did believe in Ranga's strength, but this was their leader going into unfamiliar ground. There were simply too many factors to consider when it came to Rimuru's safety.

"What Ranga said," Rimuru agreed, bringing the attention back onto himself. "Work together to keep this town safe. I need you all to fulfill your roles the best you can."

"Yes, sir!" Everyone replied simultaneously with a bow.

With that, Rimuru dismissed everyone, telling them that if they wanted to see him off, they should meet him at the edge of the town in ten minutes, and they began to file out of the room. There was a range of emotions from worry to confusion to concern, but by the time they had made it out the door, they felt better as Rimuru assured them things would be fine. The kijin were the last to leave the room, with Shion and Shuna clearly about to start another fight as to who would be holding Rimuru for the last bit of time. Unfortunately for the two of them, Rimuru had other plans.

"Katsumi, I have something to talk to you about." Benimaru glanced down at Katsumi who only nodded to the slime. He seemed confused, so Katsumi offered him a smile, her heterochromatic eyes hiding a concern that Benimaru couldn't quite pinpoint. As she slipped her hand out of his grasp and followed after Rimuru, the red-haired male turned to his sister in confusion. Shuna only replied with a shrug.

~~~

Katsumi followed Rimuru into one of the other rooms nearby just out of everyone else's earshot. Subconsciously, she reached her hand up to the flower clipped in her hair and tapped it a couple times with her index finger. She had an inkling of the conversation topic, but she was anxious.

"Katsumi, you asked me before if I would remove your [Haemokinetics] before, right?" Katsumi nodded. "Do you still think the same way?"

"Rimuru-sama, with all due respect, nothing will change the way I feel about this."

"You don't even use your ability all that much. In fact I don't think I've seen you use it aside from when you fought the orcs. No offense, but if you don't use it in the first place, why're you so desperate to get rid of it? The more power, the better for you, right?"

Katsumi shuffled her feet and looked down at her feet.

"Rimuru-Sama, I'm sure that you've already examined [Haemokinetics] and you understand how the powers develop. I don't like using it knowing that the ability is at the cost of my parents' lives. It feels like I'm using my parents' blood to fuel the power..." Katsumi swallowed, then looked at Rimuru with utmost seriousness. "If I ever have children and they somehow get this ability, I'd hate to for them to feel the same way that I felt. I'm sure if Benimaru and Souei weren't there for me through all of it, I'd have let myself die when the Orcs invaded, if not earlier."

Rimuru nodded, taking in her comments as he morphed into his human form.

"I can't take the power away from you, but I can keep it from getting passed down." Katsumi nodded as a way to tell Rimuru that she was fine with that. "Activate it"

Rimuru almost forgot how terrifying [Haemokinetics] could be. Red, viscous vines of blood swirled around her. It almost reminded the slime of snakes. Katsumi's sunset eye seemed to glow as she gathered the tendrils around her. They appeared tangled, weaving in and out of the mass, but it wasn't until Rimuru said the next words that he realized they somehow weren't.

"Send them all at me, Katsumi."

Katsumi's eyes seemed to bore into him without emotion, but she did as he asked without another word. The mass of red tendrils shot towards the slime, barely giving him enough time to react as the ball seemed to unravel and untangle in milliseconds. He took a step back, then activated [Predator] with his hand as he reached it out. The bloody vines centered in toward Rimuru's palm, which only made him smirk. As soon as the first tendril touched, it was immediately enveloped in a blue slimy substance. Shortly after, the entire mass that had been hovering around Katsumi was coated in the blue color. The kijin blinked in surprise at how fast Rimuru had managed to contain the power.

Katsumi wasn't quite sure what Rimuru was doing, but she caught him mumbling under his breath. Something about a great sage, though she wasn't exactly sure what was going on since she only caught bits and pieces. It didn't hurt Katsumi in the slightest as Rimuru's slime covered the tendrils all the way to where they connected to her on her hand where she had dug her nails into her palm to draw blood.

After a few seconds, Rimuru drew back the slime covering the tendrils. Katsumi didn't feel any different as she withdrew the bloody vines and bundled them up again. She held her hand up and stared at the spot where the blood was flowing out from.

"I had the Great Sage alter it so that it's no longer genetic, but I unfortunately cannot take it away from you unless I devour you like I did to Veldora."

"This is more than I could hope for already." Katsumi quickly bowed, kneeling down in front of Rimuru. She felt her throat close up as she swallowed the lump in her throat. She was so relieved. Even if she couldn't get rid of the power, she was glad that at least if she ever had children, they wouldn't go through the same things she did. Rimuru smiled a bit at the kijin, putting his hand on her head and ruffling her hair slightly.

"But Katsumi, I don't want to see baby kijin running around yet, okay? You and Benimaru are too young to be parents. " Katsumi lifted her head slightly and stared at Rimuru in confusion. After a couple seconds, his words finally processed and her face flushed a red brighter than Benimaru's hair. She quickly shook her head and began to ramble and stumble over her words as she quickly agreed that there wouldn't be any kids resembling her and Benimaru soon. Rimuru laughed, dropping his hand from her head.

"Anyways, I'm glad I could do something. I was getting worried that I wouldn't be able to help after you came to me with that issue."

Katsumi stood up, then she glanced at Rimuru hesitantly.

"Rimuru-sama, before you leave..." Katsumi shyly looked down, then took a couple steps and wrapped the slime into a hug. She was sort of awkward with the hug considering that she didn't hug him a lot, but she'd seen Shion and Shuna do it regularly. "Thank you, Rimuru-sama. Please stay safe while you're away because I can't promise that we won't destroy the world for you if you get hurt."

Rimuru blinked in surprise, then wrapped his arms around Katsumi in a hug. Her hug felt different compared to Shion's hug which was basically a tackle and Shuna's hug which was more gentle yet still a bit tight. Instead, she felt hesitant, but it was still a comforting, familial hug. It felt like he was comforting his younger sister or something.

After a couple seconds, they released each other from their hug and stepped back. Katsumi thanked Rimuru a couple more times for everything before the two of them left and headed back to the group where everyone was waiting. Katsumi trailed behind, stopping beside Benimaru who immediately picked up her hand in his, holding it gently as he gave her a questioning look. She only smiled, which confused him more, but he didn't ask as Rimuru hopped onto Ranga's back.

"Well, I'm off," Rimuru said from atop the largewolf.

"P-Please be well! We will await your return always!" Gabiru cried out dramatically.

"Gabiru-sama, you're so sensitive!" one of his loyal followers commented.

"Gabiru-sama, you're so kind!" another of the dragonnewts said.

"Don't be so dramatic. I'll be back in no time," Rimuru reassured everyone as Ranga turned to face away from the crowd.

"Please do come back as soon as you can!" Shion said a bit worried still.

"I pray you'll have a safe journey!" Shuna added.

"Come back safely, Rimuru-Sama!" Katsumi called.

With that, the group bid farewell to Rimuru as he and Ranga headed off to the human city. They stayed there and watched until the two were but a speck in the distance. Slowly, everyone began to trickle away, save for the Kijin and Rigurd. They continued to stare into the distance in the direction Rimuru had left. They knew it wasn't farewell, but they didn't know how long it would be until they saw Rimuru again. Katsumi felt tears well up slightly in her eyes as she watched their leader leave. Even though she had tried to fight him at first, he had helped her so much. Benimaru glanced down when he heard a small sniffle.

"Are you crying?" he asked as he cupped her face in his palms. She quickly turned away, hiding her face behind her sleeves as she quickly wiped the tears off.

"No! I'm not! I just..."

"Yea yea, dust in your eyes."

"Shut up, you quail." Benimaru smirked and leaned over to kiss her on the lips.

"Love you too, Little Herring."

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Hey y'all!!

Happy Holidays! I think this is my favorite season of all time because I get hella money from my family. Christmas + New Years + Chinese New Year = I'm rich (just kidding). But yeah. You gotta love a family/culture that celebrates these holidays with red envelopes.

Anyways, this is officially the last chapter of Through Thick and Thin! I'll be posting an official completion chapter like I did with Black Shadow but I do want to say first thank you so much to everyone for coming through this story with me. 

Also, as promised, I've included a picture that I sorta drew (a lot of tracing involved because I can't actually draw this on my own. All those artists out there are hella talented >~<). It's a bit different from the ones in Black Shadow because I did those ones on Adobe Illustrator/Photoshop with a mouse and I did this one on Procreate with an Apple Pencil. O.O I don't draw that much, so hopefully it looks okay. Shadowing is still pretty hard for me so don't look too hard at that part T^T. Let me know what y'all think though!

Stay Safe and Healthy!!
ThePurpleDragon