Treyni flew off the table as everyone gathered to the side. Rimuru, Benimaru, Katsumi, Shion, Shuna, and Souei stood in front of Treyni while everyone else stood behind her. The Kijin had finally relaxed their stances, but the weight of her words still rung through the air.

"Defeat the Orc Lord?" Rimuru asked as he stared at Treyni. "Um... You're asking me?"

"Yes, that's right," Treyni said with a smile fit for a Dryad.

"That's quite a selfish request from someone who just appeared out of nowhere, Treyni the Dryad," Benimaru said stepping in front of Rimuru as he regarded Treyni suspiciously. "Why have you come here? There are races far stronger than goblins."

Treyni maintained her smile, despite Benimaru's hostility.

"Yes, that is true. If the Ogres' homeland had been at full strength, perhaps I would have gone there." The Kijin slightly flinched at the reminder of how their village had been stormed. Katsumi clenched her hands into fists at the seemingly innocent comment that Treyni had just made. Did she have to remind them of how quickly the ogres fell to the orcs?

"Though, even if I had done that," Treyni continued, ignoring the slightly ticked kijin, "I still could not have ignored this individual's existence." She looked down at Rimuru.

"Were our settlement to be attacked by the Orc Lord, the Dryads could not hope to fight them alone. This is why I have come to request assistance from someone strong," Treyni explained.

"The idea that the Orc Lord even existed was still just a theory to us..." Rimuru said, trailing off.

"The Dryads have knowledge of essentially everything that happens in this forest." Treyni casually picked up a potato chip that was sitting out on the table. "The Orc Lord does exist."

Everyone stared at her while she happily munched on the chip after confirming the group's theory. It was good to have confirmation, but they were hoping that it wasn't true. Now there was no doubt; the Orc Lord was commanding an army of 200,000 Orcs through the Great Forest of Jura.

"If a Dryad acknowledges it..." Rigurd trailed off.

"Then it must be true." Kaijin confirmed for Rigurd.

That Orc Lord is dead to me, Katsumi thought murderously. She knew she was just trying to place the blame for the death of her parents somewhere else. She told herself that the Orc Lord was the reason for their death, yet the feeling of her [Haemokinetics] made her second guess herself every second. With each passing day as she felt this power, she knew that she had been the one to kill her parents, even if they had died one tenth of a millisecond before the orc general had swung. She had still killed her parents.

Self-hatred flooded through Katsumi with each passing second of silence that hung in the air, suffocating her and choking her. The presence of the Orc Lord meant that there was somewhere to direct her anger, yet it had crossed her mind that once the orcs were gone, what was she going to do with herself? Should she just die on the battlefield to atone for the death of her parents? No, Benimaru said that he needed her. Plus, she has the rest of the kijin. But if she didn't die, then how would her parents be able to rest in peace? Her head was spinning.

"Give me some time to answer," Rimuru said to Treyni. "I will back up the Kijin, but I don't want to go poking at a hornet's nest for no reason. Let me take stock of the information we have before I answer. Despite how I look, I'm the leader here, after all."

Treyni looked surprised at his well thought out answer. He had considered all of his subjects, Kijin and goblin alike. The Kijin surely wanted to fight to avenge their fallen village. It was a given that they wouldn't sit calmly on the sidelines. On the other hand, the goblins had accepted the Kijin for the moment mostly out of protection rather than vengeance. If Rimuru could, he didn't want the goblins to fight, though it might be inevitable if the Orc Lord came to the village. Despite the fact that he hadn't agreed, Treyni was pleased with Rimuru's answer.

"Ah, Treyni-san, we were actually in the middle of our meeting," Rimuru said, realizing that the goblin lords were standing around the room waiting for the meeting to continue. "Would you like to join us?"

"If you don't mind," she said with her ethereal smile. As the goblins quickly pulled up a chair for the Dryad, Benimaru took Katsumi's cold hand in his warm, ignoring Souei's death glare as he did so.

"Are you okay?" Benimaru whispered worriedly. "You looked nauseous."

"My thoughts were just running wild," she brushed off with a forced smile. He didn't believe her, but there wasn't much time to question further as Treyni had seated herself between Rigurd and Kaijin and the meeting was about to start. The said dryad wasn't feeling at all out of place as she sipped on a cup of tea.

"Let's continue the conference," Rimuru announced once everyone got seated again. They had assumed the same seats as before, with the exception of Treyni now being in the mix.

"Anyone have any ideas what the Orcs might be after?" Rimuru asked.

"One thing does come to mind..." Shuna said hesitantly from her spot beside Rimuru. "Souei, did you investigate our village?"

"Yes," he said, almost dejectedly.

"Judging by your reaction, I assume you found none?"

"Yes," Souei replied again. "Not a single one belonging to either our brethren or the Orcs."

"Not one what?" Rimuru asked.

"Corpse," Souei said gravely. The Kijin all had dark expressions. When they had returned to the village after the ogres had left chasing Katsumi, there wasn't even a single piece of flesh left in the village, as disgusting as it would have been to find it. Even for Katsumi, she had purposely not looked back at her parents' dead bodies, wanting to preserve the image of their whole corpse and not one being devoured by the disgusting pigs. It was horrifying enough the first time watching the children she tried to protect get torn up and eaten. Her grip tightened on Benimaru's who hadn't yet let go of her hand. He glanced over and squeezed back comfortingly, albeit not knowing the true horror that she had seen that day. Even worse, none of them were able to bury any of their brethren or family.

"We didn't understand how they were getting the supplies to keep an army of 200,000 fed," Benimaru added darkly. Rimuru stared slightly, as if not wanting to believe what the Kijin were implying.

"Are you saying..." Rimuru trailed off.

"They eat everything in their path. The living, dead, orcs, ogres, strong, weak, old and young." Katsumi swallowed as she talked, shivering slightly at the memory of the sight. The kijin glanced at her worriedly. Clearly she had seen something they didn't. "Even children aren't spared. The orcs simply eat whatever is in sight without hesitation."

Everyone flinched at her words, their expressions turning from disbelief to horror. Between the intelligent monsters and humans, children were always the hardest to kill because of how innocent they usually were. The way Katsumi had said it, however, sounded like she had personally witnessed an orc tearing into children. Even just hearing about it was hard.

"The Unique Skill... [Starved]," Treyni filed in, her eyes overshadowed.

"Starved?" Rimuru echoed.

"It's a skill that the Orc Lord, a calamity that brings chaos to the world, is born with. It's influence reaches all those who serve under him, making them devour everything in sight, like locusts. At the same time, they consume the victim's strength and abilities, making them their own sustenance." Treyni's explanation set a dark mood over the table as they truly began to comprehend what they were fighting against.

"It's quite similar to your [Predator] skill. In return for obtaining [Starved], they feel constant, insatiable hunger. The Orcs move forward for no other purpose than to sate their endless hunger and gain more power. That is their king's only wish." Treyni picked up her cup and took a sip, leaving the table to ponder her words. The Dryad's words hung heavily on the participants of the meeting.

"So the Orcs' goal isn't to wipe out the superior forest races, the Ogres and Lizardmen, but to steal their powers?" Rimuru clarified. The table only stared back in silence as the weight of the situation was getting heavier with each word. Rimuru stretched his arms upwards before smiling back down at the table.

"Well, if that's the case, I can't say we're in the clear. We have Tempest Wolves, Kijin and Hobgoblins. Flavors aside, they're all meals with powers that the Orcs would kill for."

"Aren't you forgetting the one meal that would attract them the most?" Benimaru said with an exasperated expression, referring to Rimuru himself. Katsumi managed a slight smile.

"Huh?" Rimuru said as he raised a potato chip to his mouth.

"We have the strongest slime here, remember?"

"Where?" Rimuru took a bite of his potato chip as Benimaru chuckled while Rigurd looked at Rimuru in slight disapproval at his blatant and feigned ignorance. .

"In addition," Treyni continued, bringing more bad news to the table, "we have confirmed that a certain majin is behind the Orc Lord's appearance. I believe it is someone you won't want to overlook."

"A majin?" Rimuru muttered to himself. The kijin themselves weren't all that surprised with the appearance of majin in this conversation. After all, they had attacked Rimuru thinking that he was one of the ones associated with the initial attack.

"A majin is a subordinate of a Demon Lord, after all." was all Treyni said. The table remained in silence as Rimuru thought deeply. It was only disturbed by the scrape of the chair as Treyni stood up.

"Honored Rimuru Tempest." Treyni reached out a hand. Not quite knowing what was going on, Rimuru stood up as well.

"I once again request that you defeat the Orc Lord. As the one who received the Storm Dragon Veldora's protection, subjugated the Direwolves, and became the patron of the Kijin, you are surely more than a match for the Orc Lord." Rimuru said nothing and hummed in thought.

"Of course he will!" Shion suddenly declared, latching onto Rimuru. "That Orc Lord is no match for Rimuru-sama!"

"Wait, Shion..." Katsumi trailed off. Even if Rimuru was strong, she didn't think that Shion should be jumping to conclusions and making decisions like that. Benimaru simply shook his head at her, saying that it was hopeless to try to stop Shion now. Much like her cooking that they had to endure, trying to stop her admiration for Rimuru was close to impossible.

"Oh, you agree with me, then?" Treyni said happily. She clearly played on Shion's pride in Rimuru. Rimuru only stared at Shion in shock before he dispelled his [Mimic] and reverted back to his slime form.

"Fine, I'll accept this request to beat the Orc Lord," Rimuru relented. "You're all in this with me."

"Of course, Rimuru-sama!" Shuna was the first to stand up.

"That was our plan all along," Benimaru also stood, followed by the other Kijin.

"We believe in you, and we're with you. That's all we need." Kaijin added in, standing up although his height didn't change all that much from when he was sitting.

"Exactly! Let's show them how strong we are!" Rigurd towered over the rest of the table.

"If we're taking on an army of 200,000 Orcs, I feel like we should consider an alliance with the Lizardmen, but given the guy they had representing them... I'd really like to talk to someone who'll actually listen..." Rimuru trailed off. It had been clear to everyone who met Gabiru that he wasn't going to be someone they could trust watching their back. It would be too risky with his attitude.

"Rimuru-sama," Souei said seriously, standing up from his seat. "Would you mind if I spoke personally with the chieftain of the Lizardmen?"

"You can do that?" Rimuru asked in surprise.

"Yes," he confirmed with full confidence.

"Okay then. We'll join forces with the Lizardmen and attack the Orcs." Rimuru pointed down at the map they had created for the surrounding areas. It was crude, but it served its purpose. "The battle will probably take place in the marshlands inhabited by the Lizardmen. The Lizardmen's cooperation will be essential for this to work. I'm counting on you, Souei."

"It shall be done." Souei bowed his head to Rimuru before disappearing in a flash of black.

~~~

While Souei was off on his mission, the rest of the kijin had been sent off to prepare themselves to fight, though when they would fight was still a big question. They had prearranged it for a week from now, but who knew what would happen. They had to be prepared at any time.

Despite the long meeting, the sun had basically just set and the sky was still fairly bright. Benimaru, despite knowing that he had the backing of the Kijin and Rimuru, was feeling the pressure of avenging his fallen brethren as he trained. Disregarding the fact that he did not want to be the young master for years, he was still their leader and he couldn't let them down even in death.

"Hey, calm down," Katsumi called as she forcibly grabbed his hand to make him drop his sword. His temperature was rising exponentially it seemed, so she quickly began to absorb it. "You're going to get a fever if you keep worrying."

"How can I not worry? Especially since I have to keep watch over an anchovy." He smirked as she glared at him.

For the time being, she seemed to have cooled him down enough, so she let go of his hand and drew her claymore, motioning her head to his katana. She wanted to spar. Benimaru wasn't going to argue with that, so he swiftly picked up the sword she had made him drop and readied himself. Without missing a beat after, Katsumi made the first move.

"Very funny, you loon," she replied as she swung her claymore down. He blocked it easily and pushed her blade off, quickly trying to get a strike in, only to hear the sound of metal clashing when she blocked his attack.

"I'm pretty sure loons eat anchovies."

"Anchovies eat loons."

"How does that make any sense? A loon is like thirty times the size of an anchovy."

"You're the anchovy. I'm the loon." She smiled at him, dancing around his blade as she parried and then jumped back.

"What no. You're the fish. I'm the bird."

Benimaru put himself in a ready stance as he smirked at her. The sparring session had turned more into a play fight than actual training. He supposed that chatting with Katsumi had always relaxed him. She always knew how to act and what to say to take his mind off of things that stressed him out. Perhaps that was one of the reasons he had fallen for his childhood friend.

For hours, they sparred, bickering back and forth until Benimaru finally ended the fight since Katsumi clearly had run out of stamina.

"After all these years, I still can't get that victory against you," Katsumi complained as she laid herself down on the grass. He smirked as he sat down next to her, laying his sword on the grass next where she had tossed hers.

"You sparred for five hours."

"Does that mean I can take you on now?" She retorted, staring up into the sky with her mismatched eyes.

"Try harder," he smirked. "But that's pretty good already considering that you sleep three hours a day." She glanced at him and sighed.

"You didn't forget that?" she asked as she closed her eyes and relaxed slightly feeling the wind.

"How could I? You're worrying me with how often you seem to be having nightmares."

"I have nightmares every night," she confessed to him. Without looking at him, she lifted her hand up waiting for him to pull her up into a sitting position. Benimaru did exactly as she expected and swiftly pulled her back off the ground. Once she was sitting, she wrapped her arms around her legs and pulled her knees to her chest. Thankfully, the kimono she was wearing was long, so she wasn't worried about the skirt riding up.

"Every night?" He echoed with a frown. It was worse than he thought. Katsumi hummed in confirmation. "Why don't you ask me to help you? You can't just deal with it yourself."

"I could, but you already have enough on your plate with the war with the orcs coming up. You never wanted to be the young master, yet you worked hard to fulfill your duties anyways." She smiled as she laid her head against her knees. It was way past midnight, but the two of them weren't tired in the slightest, so they stayed sitting in the empty field talking. "Plus, you can't stop my nightmares. They're not a physical thing you can fight off."

Benimaru couldn't say anything in reply knowing that she was right and that she was simply looking out for him. Despite this, he felt a pang of hurt at the fact that she didn't rely on him when she was having a hard time. Wasn't there anything he could do to help her? She had been his pillar throughout all those years when he was forced into lessons to run the ogre village. Not to mention, she had been the one to forcefully calm his powers when they got out of control.

"Still..." Benimaru pouted, half in annoyance at himself for not being able to refute her arguments. Katsumi let out an amused breath as she reached her hand out to him. Without having to think, he automatically reached out and held it.

"How about this?" Katsumi said as she changed her sitting position. She used her knees to waddle a bit closer to Benimaru before sitting down with her legs tucked under her expectantly. "You can sing me a lullaby."

"On second thought, perhaps there really is nothing I could do." Benimaru cringed at the thought of having to sing. Sure, he didn't sound like a dying cat, but he wasn't confident in his singing voice either.

"Oh, c'mon, Benimaru." She gave him large puppy eyes, which made him turn away with a faint blush.

"No," he insisted, hoping that if he sounded stubborn enough she would stop. If Katsumi continued making puppy eyes, surely he'd give in.

"Please, just one?" She asked, inching closer. He closed his eyes and shook his head stubbornly. Katsumi huffed before proceeding to lay her head onto his lap with her body turned on her side. He flinched and looked down in shock as she settled her head comfortably on his thigh. "Fine, then can you pet my head like you did before?"

"Who pets a fish?" he retorted, gently placing his hand on her hair and brushing it back. Her light blue hair was soft and silky.

"You do, apparently," she laughed. He didn't have anything to argue back, so he just flicked her on the forehead. In reply, she randomly stretched her arm above her head and hit his muscular torso.

"Weakling," he taunted as the hit was barely a fourth of her strength. She waved him off sleepily, her hand moving limply before she dropped it to the grass.

The area was silent, excluding the occasional sound of an owl or two. Despite it being horribly late Benimaru didn't feel tired at all as he repeated the motions of running his hands through Katsumi's hair. It seemed to work since her breathing was evening out, signalling that she was falling asleep. After another few minutes, her breathing had completely evened out and she was in deep sleep. Once he was sure she wasn't going to wake up, Benimaru leaned down and pressed his lips gently against her forehead.

"Sleep well, Katsumi."

~~~

Katsumi was back in the ogre village. An endless sea of orcs formed a ring around her, with the orc general standing directly across from her. Her parents were no where in sight, but she knew they would appear. This was the same dream she had every single night.

"Stop it," Katsumi said to herself as she stared up at the general. "You're dreaming, Katsumi. Wake up."

"Dreaming?" The Orc General let out a loud, ground-shaking bout of laughter. "Not dreaming, remembering. This is a memory, blue ogre."

As soon as the orc general called her an ogre, she realized that the her in the dream hadn't evolved. Her sword seemed shorter and she felt weaker than she was as a kijin. She stared down at her hand, seeing the pale blue tint that had disappeared after she became a named monster. An explosion brought her attention back to the situation at had. It was a ball of orange and blue fire across from the orc army. It was the young master. The orc general barely glanced behind him as he smirked at her.

"Don't you want to fight me to reunite with your friends?" he taunted, lifting up his large halberd. She growled in annoyance at him, her dual-colored eyes scanning to find a kink in his armor. Despite how many times she fought him in her nightmare, he never had any openings. If only she could beat him, perhaps it could change how her nightmare ended.

She raised her claymore, both of her hands gripped so tight on the handle that her knuckles turned white to the point it was visible on her pale blue skin. The orc general was the one to make the first move, raising his halberd high in the air and swinging it down at her. She dodged, not swinging her own claymore as she continued scanning for an opening, any opening. The general raised his blade again, swinging roughly at her as she leapt out of the way yet again before deciding she needed to attack.

She rushed towards the orc, feinting to the left before quickly following up on the right. It seemed to work as she managed to get close enough to stab him in one of the chinks in the armor, but to her dismay, didn't seem to faze him at all. She quickly withdrew her sword, jumping back to avoid the hand of the larger orc. Landing on her feet, she skidded back slightly.

As she jumped forward to attack him again, two figures came into view. One was a male with dark blue hair not unlike her cousin and a single, pure white horn. The second was a female with light blue hair that was almost identical to her own that had two white horns protruding outwards. The blue-haired girl felt her sunset eye flash and throb.

"No, not again," she pleaded, but it fell on deaf ears. Instead of her parents facing the orc general as they had been during the actual fight, they were facing her this time. They got paler and paler as blood seemed to pool at their feet before trickling towards her.

"Stop! I don't want this!" She shut her eyes, dropping her claymore to crouch down and cover her head. Perhaps if she didn't see them, it would stop. Maybe [Haemokinetics] would stop if she stopped looking. It was to no avail as she still heard the thud of their blood-less bodies falling to the ground.

"Look, little ogre. Look what you've done." She shook her head at the orc's words, squeezing her eyes shut as she curled into herself even more. She didn't want to look.

"Look!" the orc demanded. With tears in her eyes, she slowly glanced up. As she did so, her eyes met the blank, accusing eyes of her parents'. She felt her breathing hitch as she stared back at them. Recently, in her nightmares, her parents' dead bodies were whole. They weren't sliced in half by the orc's halberg, which could only mean that she had killed them.

"How does it feel to have killed the parents you wanted to see so badly?" the orc general asked, chuckling as she crawled over to them shakily.

"No, I didn't kill them. You did," she insisted through her tears. Yet, she couldn't believe her own words at the moment. She had felt their death the moment that the [Haemokinetics] insider her felt satisfied. The orc seemed to become more amused at her denial.

"If I killed them, why is [Haemokinetics] satisfied?" he asked her, knowing that she felt it.

"It isn't. It just gave up."

"You know it isn't true. You can feel it. You killed your parents."

"I didn't kill them," she stubbornly said again, glaring at him through her tears. Even if she didn't believe anything she was saying at the moment, she couldn't let the orc know that. At the very least, she couldn't let this pig know that he had won yet again.

She glanced back down, expecting to see her parent's dead bodies. Maybe their accusing eyes had been just a fluke. Perhaps, they meant to accuse the orc. However, they suddenly weren't there anymore. The blue-haired ogre frantically looked around, hoping to catch a glimpse of blue anywhere in the sea.

To her horror, she was able to find it just in time to witness a group of orcs rip the bodies limb from limb and devour it.

~~~

Benimaru had sat with Katsumi in the field for about half an hour until he decided that she was sleeping deeply enough for him to carry her to bed without waking her. Lifting her up, her head rested against his chest with her arms loosely laid across the sash of her kimono. Despite how strong she was, Katsumi was extremely light. That and Benimaru was considerably strong. With ease, he carried her in his arms, walking steadily to ensure that he didn't accidentally jostle her and wake her up.

Normally Benimaru always thought she was colder than the average monster, but what was interesting to him was that she was seemingly getting colder and colder with each minute that passed. Simply thinking it was the cold air chilling the both of them, Benimaru quickened his pace toward her resting quarters.

When the red-haired male entered into the dark empty hut, the first thing he did was lay her down on the bed and tuck her in under the warm blankets. He couldn't always tell what was a normal temperature for her since the two of them would always feel extremely hot or cold to one another, respectively. As he turned around to place down her weapon, which he had strapped to his back before he left, a slight whimper sound came from her. Benimaru spun around, glancing down at the sleeping girl a bit worried, but she didn't look disturbed at all at the moment. So, Benimaru turned back around, laying her sword against the wall.

The sound of shifting blankets and another whimper caused Benimaru to turn back towards Katsumi, worry flooding his features. Was she having another nightmare?

Benimaru pulled up a chair, setting it next to her bed and quietly sitting down. At first, as he sat there observing, he couldn't help but admire how beautiful she was. Her silky, light blue hair complimented her pale, smooth skin. Reaching a hand out, Benimaru gently brushed her hair from her face and detaching the blue flower clip he had given her. It was clearly a bit worn out from use, but it was well taken care of so there was barely any damage. He twirled it in his hand for a bit, smiling to himself at the memory. When had he fallen in love with her? Was it after he gave her this flower? Before? Was it when they started playing togeter? His musing was broken when he glanced over to the sleeping kijin, only to notice that her face was contorted in what appeared to be pain and that she was sweating, despite feeling cold to the touch.

"Not again," she mumbled, tossing and turning her head. She was getting colder and colder to the touch, yet for some reason she was sweating. Benimaru worriedly leaned over from his seat and tried to shake her a bit.

"Hey, you're having a nightmare, Little Blue," he called. It fell on deaf ears. Her brows scrunched closer and she violently turned her head to the side. Benimaru tried to shake her again, though this time a big harder.

"Little Blue, wake up," he called again, but to no avail. She continued turning left and right, stuck in her nightmare. Benimaru started to worry even more when tears began streaking down the side of her face. She was crying in her sleep.

"I didn't kill them..." she muttered, turning to her side so that she was facing Benimaru and slightly curling up into a fetal position. Benimaru stood from the chair and tried to force her to sit up. He could guess what she was dreaming about, but he was hoping for her sake that he was wrong.

"Katsumi, wake up!" Benimaru lightly hitting the side of her face, trying to wake her up without startling her too badly. Again, she seemed to just be stuck in her nightmare, crying out that she was innocent.

"Katsumi!" Benimaru tried again. He was sitting on the bed, holding her so that she was partially in his lap leaning against his chest while he supported her upper body with his arm. He tried to shake her, a bit rougher than he did before though he was still careful not to hurt her. Finally, after a few more minutes, her eyes snapped open,

When Katsumi awoke, she was breathing heavily and she felt like she wanted to throw up. The image of the orcs tearing through her parents was almost worse than seeing those kids get torn apart. She barely registered Benimaru calling for her name as she tried to get a good grip of her surroundings.

"...sumi. Katsumi!" Her eyes focused on Benimaru's worried face. Seeing her stuck in the nightmare and crying out had worried him more than he could've imagined. Of all the things she could've had nightmares about, it had to be able the death of her parents. Truly, it couldn't be any worse for her, could it.

"Benimaru?" she called faintly. He quickly leaned over and hugged her tightly to him, worry flooding through him seeing the tear tracks on her cheeks and at her temples. It took a second, but she returned the hug, albeit her arms were extremely weak since she had just woken up from one of the worse nightmares she has had since the demise of her parents.

"Why couldn't you wake up?" Benimaru asked, his worry clear in his tone as he nuzzled his face into her shoulder. He was careful not to accidentally stab her with his horns.

"Were you trying to wake me?" Katsumi asked, confused. Benimaru nodded, which she felt against her shoulder.

"What kind of nightmare where you having to be crying in your sleep?" he asked, gently and reluctantly prying himself off of her to look her in the eyes. She avoided his gaze slightly and tried to slip out of his hold, which didn't happen since he tightened his grip.

"It's the same nightmare I always have," she brushed off with a forced smile at him. "It's not that bad." Benimaru stared at her, clearly not believing it.

"You have nightmares about you killing your parents, don't you?" Katsumi flinched.

"It's not nightmares," she said with a sigh. "It's a memory."

"You didn't kill them, Katsumi. The Orc General did."

"Can you say that with one hundred percent confidence, Benimaru?" she asked. When he remained silent, she nudged herself out of his arms and got off the bed.

"Wait, where are you going?" he asked, watching her make her way around the chair he was sitting in and to her claymore.

"Training," she answered simply, as if it was the most obvious thing to do at this moment. Benimaru's eyes widened.

"You can't. You barely even slept an hour, not to mention you trained for five hours already before this." She glanced back, noticing how worried he looked sitting on her bed before sighing again and turning to face him.

"What should I do then? I can't fall asleep again. Not unless I want to relive the whole thing again." Benimaru stood up from her bed, walking toward her before gently guiding her back. He sat her down on the side of the bed before sitting next to her and pulling her head to rest on his shoulder.

For all those years, she cooled him down to prevent him from overheating; now, it was his turn to warm her up before she froze. He gently grasped her hand in his, feeling the warmth slowly spreading and flowing into her. Katsumi closed her eyes, taking it in knowing that if she didn't, she would be shivering to death, even if she had cold resistance.

"Do you want to talk about it?" Benimaru asked as he warmed her up. She hesitated before starting to speak.

"I have the same nightmare every night where the orc general and I are fighting. Each time, my parents step in half way through and die. At first, they died with their back facing me, getting cut by the orc. Then, they started dying before the orc could cut them. After that, they died facing me and the orc would just laugh and taunt me that I killed my parents. Even worse today, I watched as the rest of the orcs tore them limb from limb and consumed them." Benimaru listened quietly, each word making his heart ache for how much pain she went through a night.

"Stop letting the pig's words get to you, Katsumi. You didn't kill your parents," Benimaru said softly, trying to console her as best he could. There wasn't much he could say to make her feel better, especially since there was no way for him to prove to her that she hadn't killed them even if he fully believed it himself.

She smiled bit sadly, pulling her cold hand out of his warm grasp and brought her hand up to her sharp canine. With a quick bite and a visible wince, she drew blood, which began to flow abnormally right away. Instead of dripping down to the ground or down her hand, the blood formed a long, growing strand, almost like a string, that floated in the air. It seemed to be endless, almost to the point where Benimaru was worried she was going to faint from blood loss.

"What is this?" Benimaru asked in shock as the bloody line continued to flow from her wounded hand.

"This is the completed [Haemokinetics] skill," she said briefly. It took him a second but recognition and shock passed through his eyes as he remembered that [Haemokinetics] was the skill he heard about for the first time on the day that Little Blue's parents had disappeared. She nodded when she saw the shock. "I learned that [Haemokinetics] is an incomplete skill, and to complete it with it's counter part [Haemokinetic Constructs], it requires the sacrifice of the user's parents. There's no way that I would have this power if I didn't kill them, Benimaru."

He didn't know what to say at the moment. True, what she was saying did have a sense of truth to it, but wasn't there some kind of explanation? Would [Haemokinetics] accept the blood of the parents after they've already died? Perhaps it offered them a painless death instead of one being cut in half by the pig general? Despite all the questions flooding his head, he couldn't voice a single one. Katsumi noticed this and smiled sadly, tears building up slightly in her eyes.

"Hard to refute, isn't it?" she asked rhetorically. She tried to stand up again, only to have Benimaru pull her back down to the bed, though this time both of them were laying down facing each other, their legs dangling off the side. His arm was tossed over her stomach, keeping her from getting up as she glanced slightly upward at him in confusion.

"I know you said you can't sleep, but I think you're just too scared to try to sleep again," he concluded as she tried to stifle a yawn. She said nothing, which only confirmed his statement. He pulled her over slightly so that her head was tucked under his chin and against his chest, trying to ignore the warm feeling in his cheeks. He was doing this to comfort her, not for an ulterior motive. Katsumi blushed a bit, but otherwise didn't ponder on their position too much.

"I'll protect you from your nightmares, Katsumi, so try to go back to sleep."

"What're you going to do, fight them off?" she asked with a light laugh. He smiled and nodded, causing her to giggle again. "I'd love to see a snowfinch fight off a nightmare. It must be so scared at the thought of a tiny little bird coming after it."

Benimaru, who just so happened to have an arm wrapped around her waist, poked her side lightly, causing her to yelp and squirm a bit in his embrace.

"Better than a flopping pleco," he retorted with a scoff. Rather than continuing the argument, she smiled and snuggled toward him. Benimaru rolled slightly so that he was on his back with Katsumi tucked at his side. The two of them lazily just remained laying at the edge with their legs danging off the bed.

"I'll be relying on you then, Benimaru," Katsumi said as she yawned again. Of course, she was scared of seeing the nightmares again, but for some reason, she had a feeling that she would be able to rest well for the first time as long as Benimaru stayed by her side. Slightly turning his head down, Benimaru smiled and pressed his lips against the crown of her head.

"I'll protect you for as long as you need me to," Benimaru muttered against her head. She blushed and nuzzled her head slightly into his chest. At this moment, she wasn't sure if Benimaru was just her childhood friend, or if he meant something more to her.

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Hey everyone!

I should be sleeping but I was too excited.  <3 <3 I tried to reply to everyone's comments from last chapter but it kept giving me a message saying that the users couldn't be reached, so I'm not sure if it went through or if I sent 7 of the same replies to the comments.

By the way, I have an important question to ask hopefully when I finish this book, but maybe sooner because I'm too impatient to wait <3. As always, let me know what y'all think of this chapter.

Stay safe and healthy,
ThePurpleDragon