When Benimaru reached Katsumi, she was a shaking mess. Somehow, her state at that moment seemed worse than ever. He though that it had been bad when she had scratched her eye last time, but her cries were inconsolable at the moment and she was curled up into herself.
"Katsumi. Katsumi!" Benimaru quickly pulled her to him, tucking her head at his neck while being careful to not let her horns stab him. She was freezing. "It's okay, Katsumi. Just breathe. Tell me what you saw, Little Blue."
Katsumi continued to cry, her breaths short and panicked, so Benimaru continued to talk quietly to try to get her to calm down. He repeatedly called her name, trying to get her back to her sense while at the same time trying not to alert the two nearby groups of monsters of their situation. It would be harder for Benimaru to come up with an excuse about Katsumi's state right now since her situation was very personal. It took a few long minutes before her wails turned into small hiccups.
"Katsumi, breathe," Benimaru commanded gently, reassuringly running a hand through her light blue hair. She took labored breaths, pressing her ear to Benimaru's chest to hear the steady rhythm of his heart. He could only hope that his heart wasn't racing too fast from being so close to Katsumi.
"Benimaru?" she called, her voice hoarse from her cries. He nodded and continued to pat her head and soothe her.
"What happened, Katsumi?" Benimaru tried again without pulling her up from her position pressed against him. She felt his chest rumble slightly as he talked, making her close her eyes and press herself even closer if possible. His warmth kept her now shivering form form dropping in temperature even further, so she snuggled in.
"I don't want this power anymore..." she whispered, the pained tone in her voice showing just how much she was suffering. Benimaru frowned but stayed silent to let her continue. "I wish I was never born with this curse. I'd rather not have been born at all."
"Don't say that, Katsumi," he quickly intervened. He hated hearing her talk so negatively, especially when it concerned her life. As monsters who had to regularly fight for survival, that mindset was the most dangerous because the ones who thought that way were the most likely to stop fighting. "Your parents would hate to see you like this. Souei and I hate to see you do this to yourself too." At the mention of her cousin, she began to cry again, causing Benimaru to panic and tighten his embrace around her.
"None of you should worry about me, not when I might kill you all."
"What do you mean, Little Blue? You're not making sense. You won't kill any of us." She pushed herself out of his embrace and it hurt his heart to see the streaks of tears down her cheeks. Her eyes were red and slightly swollen and her gaze was fearful like a trapped animal.
"I might! I might kill all of you like how I killed my parents. Starting with Souei and then to anyone else I care about!" Benimaru didn't know what to say to console her. Her words had a hard edge to them and he couldn't refute because the truth was that no one knew what [Haemokinetics] was going to do, if it was going to do anything at all. Every ogre who had this ability were Katsumi's ancestors and all records of this in their village were burned the night of the orc attack, so there was no way to confirm whether anything would happen from this point forward.
The only thing Benimaru could do at this moment was let Katsumi cry herself to sleep for the night while praying that there would be an end to her anguish.
~~~
The day after the defeat of the Demon Lord Geld, representatives of each race gathered together to discuss what would happen after the battle. The meeting was held in the Lizardmen's throne room. Rimuru sat on Shion's lap in his slime form on a bench with Souei and Hakurou to his right and Benimaru and Katsumi to his left. Since Shuna and Kurobe hadn't joined the fight, Rimuru didn't find it necessary to call them all the way over, much to Shuna's dismay. Rimuru would've given in to her pleads to join, but with Benimaru nearby and clearly having her placed on house-arrest, he didn't dare to go against his order. Once the kijin had settled into the room, Treyni, the Lizardmen and the goblins filed in and sat to Rimuru's left. Across from them, the orcs filed in, some with their heads hung, and arranged themselves in rows.
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Through Thick and Thin | Benimaru
Fanfiction(Benimaru x OC) Benimaru was born as the young master to the ogre village. Born with powerful abilities and the pressure of being the young master, he has to fight the heat and stress. Thankfully, he isn't alone. His best first since her birth, Kats...
