Kizuna

(Natsume Yuujinchou x Tensei Shitara Slime datta ken)

Author's Note: This fanfiction was inspired by harunekoya's "Worthy of A Name" and "The Human Mask" featuring a human-turned-god Natsume, as well as reading Tensei Shitara Slime datta ken manga chapters. Please be warned that this fic will involve slash sometime later in the story so don't read this if you don't like slash stories. But, it will be mostly gen...probably...with hints of romance (or its the other way around?). This is a crack fic after all so no real deep planning was made in this story.

Hope you enjoy!

Warnings: OOCness (it is inevitable), may have failure in writing the game-like parts in this story, future slash pairing

A/N: Btw there's a short timeskip so don't be too confused why the scene is suddenly different from the previous chapter.

XI: Guts

A portion of the Forest of Jura was silent.

It was like there was a bubble enveloping that certain area, nothing else could be heard but the rustling of leaves as well as the soft breaths coming from a small group of hunters. Their bodies were tense like a spring, ready to jump into action as soon as their prey was within their sight.

The four shadows hidden up in the trees stared intently at the area below them while simultaneously trying to mask their killing intent.

And then a familiar figure jumped out of the bushes, causing the bubble of silence to burst.

His body had grown slightly but it did not deter others from recognizing him. With his short dark blue hair and the single white horn protruding from his forehead, as well as his signature blue scarf wrapped around his neck, Blue Scarf Scout Ogre had returned.

He took a huge leap forwards, turning around mid-air and taking out a pair of ninjato from his lower back, as he landed a few meters away from where he first appeared. Seconds later, the gigantified form of a black ant came into sight. It chittered and squeaked as it menacingly tried to attack the lone ogre with its large mandibles.

Blue Scarf Scout Ogre dodged its first strike with another jump and took a swipe at its antenna with his short sword. As he was busy getting its attention, three of the four shadows hidden above jumped down from their perches. The first shadow revealed itself to be a young female ogre with purple tinted skin. The large black horn protruding from the middle of her forehead gleamed and her short light purple ponytail fluttered as she landed on the ant's thorax, the large spiked ball mace in her hands slamming down onto its exoskeleton. She then jumped away to avoid falling down with it.

The ant lost its balance and collapsed onto the ground, chittering loudly in agony at the sudden attack.

Meanwhile, the second and third shadows landed on the ground, revealing themselves to be two pubescent teen ogres, the young master and the little blacksmith of the ogre tribe. The former took out his wakizashi and proceeded to bisect the giant insect in half while the latter raised his hand and summoned a hound-shaped fire to devour its corpse.

The dark blue-haired and light purple-haired ogres joined the two as they watched the fire burn the black ant into ashes.

And then the last shadow landed behind them while rubbing its long white beard. It turned out to be the ogre tribe's weapon instructor, Sword Ogre. On his shoulder was a pudgy tri-colored maneki neko staring at them with boredom filling its black eyes.

"Good job, you've been getting better with these extermination missions." He smiled as he congratulated them.

"Pah! It was just a small fry." The lucky cat huffed in annoyance before turning to stare at its "master". "Oi, gaki! Carry me!" He commanded to the grey-haired ogre.

Little Blacksmith chuckled softly at the cat's antics, subconsciously hiding his mouth behind his long sleeve as he did so. "Oh Nyanko-sensei." He said fondly before he started to walk towards Sword Ogre and take the cat in his arms. Their instructor light-heartedly cooperated with the sudden command and bent down a little so he could take the talking cat. Once it was finally in his arms, it suddenly jumped in its spot and its ears twitched as if it heard something.

Nyanko-sensei clicked his tongue and narrowed his eyes as he turned to stare at the scout ogre. "It seems you've led more than a single of those small fries to our spot. You brats better get ready." He said, annoyance evident in his tone.

Sword Ogre hummed, still rubbing his beard with his fingers as he stared at them with one eye open. "I'll handle the rest to prevent yourselves from getting too overwhelmed. For now, you will be aided and instructed by Madara-san." He then disappeared from their sights.

"Tch. That old coot." Nyanko-sensei, aka Madara grumbled as he leapt down from the pubescent teen's arms to transform in a cloud of white smoke. The smoke soon disappeared to unveil a large, furry white canine. He growled and glanced momentarily at the small group of ogres behind him. His narrow slanted golden eyes bore on them for a moment before he turned away. "He left his job to me." His sudden deep voice left no effect on them as it had not been his first time transforming in front of them.

"Nyanko-sensei." Takashi murmured in warning.

"Whatever. I'll pin them down, you guys attack. If another comes before we finish off the first one, adapt." He instructed with not much effort.

"Osu!" They answered loudly as they prepared for battle.

.

.

.

Upon entering the village, the group were in utter dismay at the state of their bodies and clothes. The only one left without any trace from the massacre they had caused on the blacks ants was their weapon instructor, Sword Ogre. He looked rather pleased with himself as he walked a good distance away from them. While the rest of the villagers were watching them from afar with wrinkled noses and fanning hands.

"Ugh!" The only female ogre amongst them, also known as Wild Purple, groaned as she wrinkled her nose in disgust. "Ant guts. The battle was awesome but I want to get rid of this smell quickly."

"I'm going to go home and take a bath." Takashi declared while pinching his nose to prevent himself from smelling any more of the horrid scent emanating from their clothes.

"I'm of the same idea," the young master said in agreement, "let's disperse. The smell will only get worse the longer we're covered in the black ants' innards."

"Oi, brats. The blue-haired one and the old coot already left while you were busy complaining about the smell." Nyanko-sensei suddenly interrupted.

"Wait," The three shouted angrily, "what?!"

TBC