I Got Reincarnated! - Kitsune Chronicles

by Jack C. Trade IV

She was already 31 and never had a boyfriend or girlfriend, so many years of her life dedicated to her family and ill mother. only to be repaid with nothing, not even a first though when her mother passed away… so trading her life for her sister's gave her a second chance, as a Kitsune in another world! [OCXHarem]

32. Season's Greetings: Happy New Year!

I Got Reincarnated! - Kitsune Chronicles

~Extra Chapter~ Season's Greetings: Happy New Year!

"And... Finished! I can't wait to show these to Rimuru~! They came out fantastic!" Kayo gushed as she happily picked up the finished wooden disk in both of her small hands, having taken on her fairy from to get the finer details on the coin sized disks. Making use of the tools Captain Kaido had gotten for her, shrunk down of course, using them to carve the details instead of using a table sized piece of wood.

Carefully the small fairy took it over to a large(small) case that had the other mock designs that rested on some Rimuru blue cloth so she could admire her completed work. Small tan arms on her still wide hips, her slivery wings flapping, her pearlescent hair pulled back into a messy bun, a dark blue halter dress exposing her back and allowing the wings to move freely, despite the dress only covering less than half her thigh in the front, so she slipped on a white strip of cloth around her waist, tying the ends into a simple knot on her left hip, her bare feet padding across the small wooden table she kept near her office window.

The morning sunlight already melting most of the snow outside showed off the mockup of Tempest's future currency. There was of course a coin depicting Veldora, Rimuru's slime form, Rigurd, Ranga, Benimaru, Geld, and herself in her fox form with 3 tails.

"Not bad. I wonder how we can pick... or are we just going to have cute little slimes on our coins?" Kayo mussed bigheartedly, crossing her arms under her chest which were thankfully small but not flat, in this form.

"Why not foxes?" Souei questioned, suddenly appearing in Kayo's office, curious he walked over to see what his mate had done and observed her new form with interest. "It's still possible. We could have 3-4 different designs on the different types of coins, like with the dwarven coins. Ours won't be made out of wood; these are just mockups before we waste any other recourse. Then we add measures to prevent counterfeiting. The way they mint the coins in Dwargon is fascinating but time consuming when it comes to the gold and Steller coins." Kayo explained, only becoming confused when she was picked up, Souei easily scooping her up into one hand as he looked down at her, sitting nicely in the palm of his hand looking up at him in confusion with her golden eyes framed by curly pearlescent locks.

"You're light." he told her, frowning with a small, worried expression flashing across his face, Kayo smiled at him and fluttered up to his face to plant a kiss on his cheek, the kijin could still feel the warmth come from her small hands on his skin. Her wings glittering as she fluttered about, and her small clothes seemed to match with him, he gave a small smirk of amusement. "I'm a fairy, so of course I am. My sisters have been working on making some Farie clothes, this is one of them. Nice, right? The only problem is that- Souei!" Kayo twirled around to show the kijin the back, where her back was exposed thanks to her wings, only to feel one of his fingers slide up her delicate thigh, lifting up the white fabric she had covering her plump backside.

Quickly she flew away from him and held the back of her skirt down, blushing dark red as she glared at her blue mate. "Pervert." she accused but Souei remained cool. "I was just curious to see if you had any weapons, but it seems you don't even have-" he was saying before the doors to Kayo's office opened without even a knock.

"Hey, Kayo~! It's time for The Osoji! Huh? Souei? What are you doing here?" Rimuru questioned, looking around the office, he didn't see his kitsune sister anywhere. Kayo had quickly hidden in Souei's high collar, pressed to his neck, not wanting the slime to know of her cute little form just yet. "Making a security check of the admirative building. Kayo is... not here at the moment." Souei kneeled to the humanoid slime, making Kayo slip further into his shirt, but she was still able to land a rather sharp bite on his neck, before he could rat her out to the slime.

"Really? Okay then, if you see her tell her it's time, we start the New Year's deep cleaning. She just has to clean her office and we will do the rest since she works to much already." Rimuru told him, looking around the seemingly spotless office but Great Sage had told him that there was an illusion over the space for some reason.

"What is that?" Rimuru questioned as he saw the box with the wooden coins, wood shavings still all over the table and on the floor. The miniaturized tools still on the table but went unnoticed as Rimuru looked at the mock coins. "Are these supposed to be the designs for our currency?" He asked, a bit excited as he picked up the Benimaru design. "Has she made one of you yet, Souei?" Rimuru joked as he looked at the well done Benimaru coin. Not seeing the Ninja glance at a hidden Kayo who carefully popped her head out to see the slime's reaction, before she dunked under, hiding her face in her hands in embarrassment of her slime brother hitting the nail right on the head.

"No. If you will excuse me, Lord Rimuru." Souei bowed his head and slipped out one of the windows of the kitsune leader's office, instead of just shadow stepping. Rimuru found it a little odd but saw that the windows closed behind him like magic.

He was left alone in Kayo's office.

"Okay Great Sage, lets she what she's hiding." Rimuru smirked, curious why there would be an illusion spell in his sister's office.

Confirmed: Dispelling illusion around Kayo Tempest's office.

Rimuru just blinked and the site of the mess he found in the office shocked him...

"Holy cow... well... I'm just gonna go now." Rimuru nervously left the mess that was the kitsune's office. Wrapping paper all over the floor, books in piles instead of on the bear bookshelves that only had a few little trinkets, scraps of used paper on the floor, broken quills, empty ink wells, colorful ribbons, several dirty black coffee mugs, a few stuffed toys thrown about the room, and other things were thrown about her whole office like it had been threw a natural disaster.

"Shuna's gonna be so mad when she sees this." Rimuru sighed as he closed the doors behind him, relived that his office wasn't that messy. "What am I going to be mad about, Lord Rimuru?" Shuna asked, confused as she looked confused, holding a simple duster in her hand.

"S-shuna!? It's nothing! Are you done with my office? I appreciate you keeping it so clean for me." Rimuru gave a nervous laugh, blocking the doors to Kayo's office with his body. "It's no trouble at all Lord Rimuru. If you don't mind, I will just do a bit of dusting in Kayo's office now." The pink kijin reached out but Rimuru nervously blocked her way.

"No. No. It's okay. Kayo's a big girl and can clean her own office. I'm sure there are something's in there she doesn't want you to find." Rimuru tried to reason but Shuna only looked confused then stared at the slime with suspicion.

"Oh really?" Shuna questioned, unnerving the slime with her stare that scared him as much as Kayo's, so he let Shuna see the disaster that was the kitsune Leader's office.

~Tempest Research Hospital, Morge~

"Bodies #411-520: To be Destroyed. Heads #521 & 522: Ready to be sent to Falmuth. Jason & Chloe... to be cremated before service." Kayo ran through the list as she pasted the body of a teenaged boy with red messy hair and pale skin, and a very young girl with sloppily cut, short black hair and pail skin, laying naked on a slab along with the bodies of many adult male bodies that looked badly mangled under the white sheets that covered most of them from the neck down.

The children's bodies, however, were covered in bruises, cuts and a few things missing from their bodies. The boy was missing his left ear, two of his fingers, and his jr. While the girl... had the back half of her skull missing, several of her fingers and her eyes. Kayo's growl echoed in the cold dark morge, no one but her and a few of her trusted kitsune ever came down into this place. Mostly because it had many, many human bodies, a majority of them were experimented on, mangled beyond recognition and then destroyed, unless there was a nice bounty on their heads. A few others only had injuries that had gotten before their deaths, when it was too late to save them without one of Rimuru's healing potions.

Kayo just walked to one of the mangled adult bodies, and stabbed it threw the forehead with a kunai, hilt deep. "I detest humans." The kitsune spat out and left the weapon in the body, walking away to dispose of the bodies that were no longer needed. Carelessly throwing them into a large furnace to burn them to ash. After that was done, she grabbed the two simple boxes and giving them to the waiting Kitsune messenger that had been waiting outside, to deliver them to the human kingdom for their bounty. Once that was done Kayo looked down sadly at the little girl's body, gripping her clip board tightly until it broke.

"Ah~ I really shouldn't be surprised. Humans... Men are disgusting no matter what era or world they're from." Kayo muttered as she delt with the clip board remains before looking over the records of the few monsters' bodies she still had, as after a while, their bodies dissipated back into magicules, leaving a limited window of time to study them. They had to either be kept alive or their bodies kept preserved somehow, and necromancy didn't sit well with the kitsune leader. There wasn't much information about it in Dwargon's libraries, and Kuro seemed too eager to share his own personal library with her about the subject.

It was a long while before Kayo felt the need to eat, so she left the cold and dark place to enter the main hospital again. A small smile crept onto her face when she noticed a blue slime roll over to her excitedly. "Hey Trix. Miss me?" Kayo joked and picked up the common slime into her arms, petting it as it softly cooed at her touch and feed off her magicules. Kayo sighed as she stayed by the window that let in the sun light and kept out the cold winter air. Despite being dressed in her black scrubs and lab coat, along with her thick winter coat she still felt a little cold, like something was missing.

"Maybe I should go clean my office. You want to help me, Trix?" Kayo asked the slime who seemed to purr in response. Making the kitsune giggle as she went to her office she had in the hospital, that despite their healing potion production, there were quite a few monsters getting used to the idea of a hospital. It was mostly Kobolds and a few Orcs at first, then some goblins came in for more than just having their babies safely. A few humans would come in seeking aid, either genuinely or with the intent to steal the healing potions that they did not have. After word spread that the hospital had a strict No Healing Potions Policy, would be thieves never dared to walk through its doors least they earn the Kitsune Lord's wrath.

Never mind that it was a service Kayo provided at no cost to the citizens, of course the Docters, Nurses, Staff and some students who wanted to learn, all got a 'Paycheck' in the form of Tempest's weird Point System. It was only the few humans that came that paid with coins or signed a contract to be used as a volunteer for the students to learn from at no cost to them.

Along her short walk the kitsune leader picked up a few more slimes, before she got to her office. While not as messy as her main office there were still books and papers scattered about, with several dirty coffee mugs everywhere. "Okay boys, Clean Up!" Kayo commanded the slimes, half joking but was surprised went they hopped to work on cleaning her mess. With an amused smile, she picked up the papers and books herself, setting them back in some order and organizing the papers before slipping them into her tails to be put away by one of the many white foxes that lived in her mind. The she put away the now clean mugs and pet the slime that had made quick work of the grime, the slimes on the floor had made the white tiled floor sparkle and the carpet had a nice scent after they had cleaned it and the chairs.

"Aww~ you guys did a great job!" Kayo gushed and cuddled one of the slimes before something interesting happened... the slimes divided right before her eyes. "Oh, I guess you guys had enough, huh? Should I name them too?" Kayo joked before there was a knock on her office door. "Come in." Kayo called out and set down the slimes, before sweeping them up into her tails, partly to hide the fact that she had used them selfishly. However, a cold chill came over her when Shuna entered her office with a tight but polite smile. "Shuna? Is something wrong? Are you okay? Which Idiot, did it?" Kayo asked, worried for the pink kijin and even pulled out her naginata, going through a mental list of suspects that would dare do wrong by her little sister.

"Kayo... why is your main office such a mess?" Shuna questioned, and Kayo felt her fur stand on end... realizing that Shuna was angry with HER!

~Later, Rimuru's Office~

"You're... not Kayo..." Rimuru voiced as he looked at this strange woman that looked like his sister but wasn't. The Kayo look alike was dressed in what looked like a familiar dark blue and white maid uniform, but the slime couldn't place where he had seen it before. Her pearlescent locks hidden under the white cap was done up into two small pigtails with a few wavy strands framing her face and a pair of rimless round glasses perched on her nose.

"Pardon me for late introductions then, Lord Rimuru. I am the one designated as Housekeeping. It is a pleasure to finally meet you." The woman politely voiced and gave the slime a very polite curtsy that freaked him out a little. "Please, just call me Rimuru. Are you going to be helping Shuna with the cleaning?" He questioned, confused as to why the kijin princess had brought the strange woman to him.

"Of course. Lord Kayo has given me this important mission. I will fulfill it to the best of my abilities." The woman smiled softly at him, but Rimuru didn't feel the usual warmth from Kayo's smile... like she was wearing a mask. "Okay but um... it seems kind of rude to just call you Housekeeping. Would you like a name?" Rimuru suggested... and the woman's dull yellow eyes looked at him with an unreadable expression before bowing to him in a proper 45 degee bow that shocked the slime who just excepted a head nod. "If that is your wish, Rimuru-sama." She responded after straiting up, giving him a polite smile. The slime felt uneasy with the woman, but Great Sage detected no hostility or malice.

"Okay then let me think... your uniform looks familiar... did Shuna make that?" Rimuru asked, curious why it looked familiar before Great Sage piped up.

Analisis Complete: The uniform is a replica worn by the Phantomhive maid Mey-Rin, from the popular, Kuroshitsuji(Black Butler) series.

'Of course, it is.' Rimuru mussed and was a little relived that it was not from a more adult series, but it made thinking of a name for her easy. "Your name will be, Mayrin!" Rimuru cheerfully announced, and the woman's eyes widen and started to shimmer with some excitement at her new name. "May...rin?" she said her name out loud, blinking as she recalled a child with blond hair clinging to her tightly, but she let it fade away before bowing gratefully to the slime for his gift.

"Thank you, Rimuru-sama. For this precious gift."

"Yeah, good luck then." Rimuru voiced uneasily, as the woman left his office, leaving him alone to question how different this woman was from Kayo, next thing he knew there was a ruckus from Kayo's office... curious he reluctantly used the little flap and peek into the kitsune's office. Started as he came across several transparent slimes rolling around the floor cleaning as Mayrin was putting away the books that shared a wall with the slime's office.

Rimuru noticed the plushies where set in a neat pile on one of her couches, amused to see a plush of her two lovers sitting on top of a life sized plush of him. A large pile of untouched Christmas gifts where still behind her desk. A normal slime spit out a clean black mug and gently placed it alongside the others. On the coffee table before gulping a dirty one and cleaning it.

"Whoa! Is this how you keep the hospital so clean!?" Rimuru asked, hopping up on the coffee table to get a good look at what was happing inside the rather transparent slime as it ate up the grime and residue from the cup. "Sanitation. Any slime can pick up small bits of trash, but these specialize in sanitation, as evidence by their lack of color." Mayrin explained as she finished putting away all the books, it was visually very appealing to look at. Along with some of the items Kayo kept, like the jar of paper stars, the wooden idol of Benimaru, her reluctantly named Maneki-Kayo, a communication orb and the box that held all the coin mockups.

"Wow~ so sparkly clean." Rimuru gushed before he hopped over to the maid as she grabbed the box and put them in front of the slime leader. "Rimuru-sama, which of these would you like on the Tempest currency?" Mayrin asked, showing the slime the wooden mockups. "Just call me Rimuru, or even just Satoru if it's just the two of us." Rimuru asked looking at the woman who seemed very confused by the request for a moment.

"Understood, Lord Satoru." she gave another bow and it started to annoy the slime to see his sister like this.

"There's not chance you will just call me Rimuru? Is there? Or even Slime ball?" he asked picking up the kitsune coin, seeing the attention put into the carvings, they were simple yet beautiful as most of the smaller details would be lost if they were to be casted like normal coins. "That would be distrustful, Lord Satoru." Mayrin explained simply before Rimuru held up the kitsune coin to her.

"Hey. Hold out your hand." he asked but the woman held out her left-hand palm up so the slime could drop the wooden coin into her hand, landing face down, but there was an 8-pointed star on the back of the mockup. "New Year money!" Rimuru joked happily but Mayrin looked at him in confusion.

"Lord Satoru, would you like this design on the currency?" she asked seriously and Rimuru deflated at her lack of reaction to his joke.

~Later, Jura Forest~

"W-who are you!?" Souka questioned, pulling out her weapons as she and her team responded to a destress call form some Kobold Merchants that where eager to sell their products, but had been ambushed by a group of rouge hobgoblins that didn't associate with Tempest. The site before the squad of dargonewts, was that of 10 hobgoblins bleeding out on the dirt road, with a strange Kitsune woman standing in the middle of them, in what looked like a maid uniform. The woman only turned to them with an emotionless face, her yellow eyes dull with a pair of glasses hanging from the front of her dress, only the skit was held up on one side up to the highest button on her apron, showing off her thick tan thigh that was barely covered by some black stockings, and a pair of black high heeled shoes on her feet with the soles painted a crimson red color that was noticeable from their distance.

"I am Mayrin, a servant of Rimuru-dono. It's a pleasure to meet you, Souka-hime." The woman told her and gave the dragonewt a polite bow that really confused her. "H-hime?" She questioned that strange word that had her blushing for some reason. "Why are you here?" Souei questioned, finally appearing as he glared at the woman before recognizing her despite the many changes to her appearance. "K-kayo?" he questioned but the woman didn't react to that name, which worried the kijin as he was ready to pull out his weapons on the imposter.

"Kayo-sama is currently unavailable right now. I was ordered not to clean in front of the animals. Will you please escort them while I clean up this mess." Mayrin asked, and she motioned a hand to the terrified and amazed Kobold merchants that were unharmed. "R-right. This way please." Souka and her team escorted the scared critters away safely as Souei approached the strange woman that looked at him with no emotion on her face or sparkle in her dull yellow eyes. "Do you require something of me, Souei-san?" she asked bluntly, he stared at her and then grabbed her breast, squishing it lightly as he looked at her face that had no reaction not even confusion... then his other hand trailed up over the stockings and to her soft tan skin of her thigh and then grabbing oner of her plump cheeks under her skirt.

He got a reaction... a small one but he could see the fur on her single tail spike up, along with the perking of her ears. "If you require intimacy, it will have to wait until the trash is taken care of." she bluntly told him, and Souei looked at her with worry. Finding her lack of reaction and emotions unsetting. Souei didn't pay attention to the hobgoblin that had gotten up, pick up a sword and rose it to strike at the kitsune while her back was turned... however Mayrin acted quickly and placed a hand on the kijin's shoulder before one of her legs came up into the air, her sharp heel slicing through the monster neck while the ball off her shoe kicked the attacking monster's head off as the red of his body feel to the ground, no blood splatter coming out as the served head had been sliced through with a very hot blade.

"Rimuru-sama has requested your attendance." Mayrin told the ninja, who was stunned at what he had just witnessed the woman do. Unsure if he should be excited or scared before she grabbed his face and planted a rather soft kiss on his lips. "From Kayo-sama. If you will excuse me." The maid said blandly, as she picked up several of the bodies and carried them away easily with strength Souei had never seen Kayo display before. Putting that off for the moment he went to report to Rimuru.

~Kayo's Void Space, Kuro's Room~

"Why are you giving this to me?" Kayo questioned as she showed Kuro the book, she had retrieved upon trusting the demon who gave her a quick tutoring session on dimensional magic to pull a book from his personal library. Having used her right hand just in case, with the pleasant surprise of retrieving a rather old looking book on the subject of preservation of monster bodies. "Because it will be of more use to you, then just sitting in my library." Kuro smoothly responded, his dark golden eyes glittering with amazement at the woman's uninjured arm. If it had been anyone else, their arm would have been mangled and ripped off I less than a second. "I can teach you many, many more... things if you are willing, Lady Kayo." he purred lowly, as he leaned forward slightly in his elegant black wooden chair, that he had been allowed along with a small matching table that had a few Manga and books he had been given to study or pass the time with.

The demon's prison had become nicer, having his own little space away from the chaos of the other fragments of her soul, mostly Agape who like to talk and play with the demon. The child was slowly growing on him, especially since she was more knowledgeable than one would assume. Kayo sat back in her chair outside his prison, opening the book curiously and recognizing the language quickly. "Can you read this?" she asked locking eyes with the smiling demon. "Of course, My lady. I can read it to you if you would like." he offered but Kayo shook her head and closed the book.

"No need. I can read it just fine... unless the true contents are hidden in some way." Kayo questioned and the demon couldn't help but let out a small giggle. "You are very correct. That book was written by an old... friend of mine eons ago. They had picked up the habit of journaling from some weak little human that managed to summon them." Kuro mentioned and Kayo looked at the demon worriedly. "You have friends?" she questioned, realized it sounded rude, but the demon only chuckled in amusement. "No, Rouge is much more of... an annoying pest then a friend. Should you ever come across them, do not hesitate to call for me, My Lady." Kuro advised as he got out of his chair to keel before the woman, his remaining gloved hand placed over the left side of his chest, were normally, a heart would be.

"I am your ever fateful, Black Butler~." he cooed and looked at her with a smirk that sent chills threw her body, and even made her blush a little, something the demon took great pleasure in. "How many Primordials are there? I-is Rouge like you? " Kayo questioned, changing the subject as she found it strange the demons' designations where in French, with Noir meaning black, and Rouge meaning red.

"Ouch! What the hell!?" Kayo bolted up in shock as there had been a sharp pain on her lower back, right above her tails. Rubbing the aera she didn't feel anything unusual but there had been a sharp pain to that sensitive aera. Kuro was confused by her sudden shout of pain, but felt a chill run threw his entire being as he saw what was hidden under his lady's skin. Having her back to him and her shirt raised up a little so he could see a familiar crimson emblem on her lower back.

"What is that? Shuna and I think Milim noticed it too, but I don't see anything." Kayo admitted, she could see it via her connection to the demon, who could also see the strange mark. However, she did not like the angary expression the black demon was making before he got to his feet and gave her a strained smile. "My Lady, that mark... is a Contract with a certain demon..." He told her, gritting his teeth and clenching his fist with contained rage that confused the woman. "A... a demon contract? Like a Faustian contract? That's impossible! You're the first actual demon I've meet!" Kayo reasoned confused even more by Kuro's reaction, suspecting he had wanted to 'mark' her at some point. Yet she had already been marked by another, she was tainted, the kitsune huffed at the irony.

"Perhaps in this life, my lady. You seem to have lived many others, even if you have forgotten them. The contract is still present but inactive, thus why only a special few can see it. It's a mark on your soul, and to activate it... all you need to do is call for the demon you contracted with..." Kuro told her and Kayo became uneasy as the black demon still seemed very pissed off.

"Do you know who will come if I call?" she asked carefully and the demon took a while before he responded, after much hesitation and personal displeasure.

~Days Later, Kayo Village~

"Is that all of it yet?" Kayo whined as she lay on down in a rather large fox form, the size of a small SUV, to let all 3 dryad sisters brush out her loose fur. Already the dryads had been brushing her for the past 3 hours and each of them had made their 4th rather sizable piles of pearlescent fur next to them. "Not yet Lord Kayo, there is still a lot of it loose on your belly~." Treyni happily mussed, partly enjoying the beautiful soft fur of the kitsune. The amount of fur that was coming off her however...

"That's enough! I have work piling up in Rimuru City. I can't just lay here and be brushed all day again!" Kayo voiced in frustration, Treyni pouted in disappointment. "Very well then, please let us know if you need any more brushing, Lord Kayo~." she giggled, waving around the grooming comb that had collected a lot of Kayo's winter fur. Her sister's looking at the piles with amazement before helping to get the fur woven into thread that made up some very special cloth that was a hidden jewel of the semisecret village.

The kitsune sighed and took on her humanoid form as she walked out of the weaving house where the kitsune's fur was made into special cloth and clothes. While it took most kitsunes less than an hour to have their white winter coats fully removed. The Kitsune Lord found herself leaving small piles of fur everywhere since her sheading had started and was still going. Using the Special Torii Gates to shorten the distance between her village and the city, she quickly made her way to the admirative building. While there was still some white snow around, it was becoming very obvious to the citizens that the white stuff on the ground... wasn't snow.

"Should I tell the slime ball? Maybe he can help with all... this." Kayo sighed and ran a hand threw her hair, having a mini heart attack as a clump of fur came with her hand. Motivating the kitsune make a run for the office in her fox form so no one called out to her, thinking it was urgent business.

~Rimuru's Office~

"They're all so well made. We could just use all of them." The slime pondered as he took a look at the coin mockups. "Yes, Lady Kayo has done a fine job, but of course we are going to use your image, Lord Rimuru." Shion gushed as she looked at the cute slime coin, a part of her wanting to keep it so no one else could have it. "Yeah, and the one of the Kitsune too of course... Veldora and... Hmm we could use one more pattern I think." the slime though, looking at the rest, or mostly the Benimaru coin that also had a persimmon carved with the Kijin's smirking face.

"RIMURU-NII-SAN!" Kayo yelled loudly, nearly shaking the whole building, startling the slime and Kijin woman before the Kitsune leader burst through the sliding doors... breaking them before she fell face first onto the floor, a puff of white fur being thrown up into the air. "Kayo... Don't imitate Milim please." Rimuru asked as he hopped off his desk to check on the fallen kitsune, while Shion was confused by all the white fluff that now coated the office and herself.

"Oow~, Sorry but this is an emergency." Kayo told him giving him large sad eyes. "I'm sheading." she told him bluntly even as she could see that Rimuru had a soft of white toupee on his head and a sort of bushy mustache on his face that he wiggled playfully. "Cha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha! T-this is serious slime ball! I spent all day at the groomers yesterday, 3 hours today and I'm still sheading a metric fuck ton!" Kayo busted out laughing at the slime's little gag, trying to be serious about her problem.

"Language." Rimuru scolded her as he shook off most of the fur that had landed on him. "What do you usually do with your fur? I know you and the dwarves spun the wolves' fur into cloth and thread. Is it that same for your village?" He asked, half amazed at the amount of fur that now covered his office and annoyed that Kayo had broken the doors to his office this time.

"Yes, the other Kitsune have all had their winter coats groomed out and it's being processed into thread and cloth as we speak." Kayo told him as she got up and kneeled on the floor, rubbing her lightly bruised forehead. "I'm the only one still sheading." Kayo explained as Rimuru hopped onto her lap. "Do you have to be in your kitsune form, or can you be in this one?" The slime questioned, confused as to how Kayo could be sheading even in her humanoid form. "It's easier in my fox form but... even I don't know how I'm sheading in this form." Kayo whined and lifted up her black tunic that was covered in white fur to show the slime... only for him to get covered in loose white fur again.

"I see. Say how big can you get in your fox form? I know you got as big as Charybdis when fighting it, could you get even bigger now with 7 tails?" Rimuru asked as Kayo had to think for a moment before blushing, her ears sinking low with shame. "Big enough to... wrap around the city..." she told him, and it took a while for the slime to process what she had said.

"WHAT!?" He questioned in shock as Shion had gathered up enough loose fur to make a life sized furry Rimuru.

Notice: Taking on their full fox size will be more effective in removing all loose fur.

Caution: It is advised to be in a large open space before taking on their largest form, which could be able to easily wrap around Rimuru City.

"At this rate, when you get 9 tails, you'll be the size of the Jura Forest!" Rimuru joked but looked a Kayo looked horrified by the careless comment.

~Later, Tempest Training Grounds~

"So now we're gonna be gloried hairdressers?" Youm questioned as he was handed a woven basket and a large grooming brush he needed to held with both hands. Confused why their training had been stopped but grateful for the break as Hakuro was being as strict as ever with training the humans as he was the goblins. "I know you are very disappointed to stop your training, but Lord Kayo requires our help." Hakuro mentioned as he gave the human a stern look, even he was holding a grooming brush. "Ah! On second thought, helping out the fox would be a really nice thing to do." Youm quickly mentioned as Rimuru took on his humanoid form and stood on top of some boxes to speak with the crowd of citizens that had come to help Kayo. While the kitsune herself was in her fox form, her head down in shame as more of her loose fur fluttered about.

"Now that everyone's here, let me tell you what we are going to be doing. In the spirit of bring in a new year, we must shed all the old. My Sister, The Kitsune Lord Kayo Tempest, here. Is having a bit of trouble with her winter coat if no one could tell by all the white fur floating around." Rimuru started off, making a few chuckles, Kayo shot him a glare, feeling humiliated for needing so much help with something that should be simple.

"Now this is going to be a big task as we will be collecting her fur to process, making into thread and that thread into some very nice cloth." He voiced as Kayo's sisters showed off the large box of thread and the bolt of fabric that had already been made with Kayo's fur, shimmering beautifully with colors in the sunlight. "This is just what was gathered from Kayo yesterday. It has the durability and weight of Hell Moth Silk but is far more abundant. So far, the only downside is that it's not as easy to dye. Still with the idea of helping Kayo, the fur can be made into thread and cloth that will only befit Tempest even further. So work hard and let's groom this Big Fat Kitsune!" Rimuru yelled before he got knocked off the box by Kayo's tail.

"I am not Fat! I'm fluffy!" She hissed at him before taking a deep breath. Rimuru having gotten covered in loose white fur, shocking the villagers until the sun was slowly being blocked...

"What the fuck!?" Youm yelled as he took a step back and looked up at the massive white kitsune who's paws alone towered over the trees. "T-that's really big." Rommel added, adjusting his glasses as everyone stared and took in the massive size of their kitsune leader. Kayo looked down at everyone, spotting a very shocked Benimaru and even Souei as they stared up at her massive from. 'Don't look at me. I'm Hideous!' She softly pleaded with them; her ears lowered as she lay on the ground carefully... everyone could clearly see just how massive the 7 tailed kitsune was.

"Okay! Let's get to work everyone!" Rimuru shouted as he raised his now puny looking brush, and everyone looked ready to help brush out Kayo's access fur.

~Lunch Time~

"We barely even made a dent. This is almost like fighting Charybdis all over again." Rimuru voiced as he took a bird's eye view of everyone's work. While the people of Rimuru city and Kayo village had come to help out, there were only a few spots of black fur visible after hours of brushing out the Kitsune Lord's fur. Kayo tried hard not to fidget, but laying down and doing nothing got boring fast, not even able to take a nap.

Milim had appeared at some point and was happily playing in the kitsune's white fur, before she had gotten too much of the loose fluff stuck to her within a few minutes.

"Lunch time!" Shuna announced loudly, looking a bit exhausted from helping de-shed the kitsune, having gotten covered in white fluff 7 times before she went to make lunch, or over seen it any way. Once all the monsters where safely off her Kayo carefully shrunk to a normal adult fox size. All around the training ground was massive piles of her white fur... and she still had a lot more to get rid of.

"Hey! Kayo, Come on! It's lunch time!" Rimuru called to her but the kitsune only looked away in depression as she was stuck in her head with negative thoughts running amuck. "S-stop it. S-shut Up." Kayo softly whined, biting her lip as she unintentionally took on her Kijin form. Her black tunic and dark gray shorts covered in her white fur as she sat curled up on the cold hard ground. "Kayo?" Rimuru called out to her worriedly as she didn't respond to her name. It seemed like everyone was more interested in the food then the woman fighting with the voice in her head, only it wasn't Ares voice nor Kuro's.

"Kayo? Kayo!? Is something wrong?" Rimuru called out worriedly and reached for his sister with how she was acting. Touching her shoulder sent a strange and painful shock threw his body as a voice shouted at him.

'DON'T TOUCH US!'

"Lord Rimuru!?" Shion called out worriedly, dropping her 'delicious food' grabbing her sword and running over to the two as she had heard Rimuru scream and saw his body revert back to that of a puddle of slime. 'What was that!?' Rimuru questioned as he looked at Kayo, who seemed back to normal as she looked at him worriedly. "Are you okay Satoru?" she questioned quietly, using his human name, looking worried even as her eyes were a dull yellow. "Yeah. I'm fine, but are you?" Rimuru asked her before he got picked up and was hugged tightly to Shion's chest. "Oh! Lord Rimuru you had me so worried! What was it that made you call out to me so?" The Kijin woman asked while she squished the slime, looking all around for something but never at Kayo, who would never seriously hurt Rimuru.

"Sorry Shion, I just scared him a little bit. I got bored just lying down so much." Kayo explained, putting on a smile to hide her darker feelings inside.

'Not without taking something inside you any way~.'

Came a voice, only this time Kayo recognized it. 'Shut it, Lust! I don't need this right now!' Kayo hissed at her other self and looked at Rimuru who was staring at her strangely... "I... heard that..." Rimuru voiced out loud and it took Kayo a little bit before she realized what he meant.

'FUCK! You can hear them now too!?' she questioned, getting the attention of her other selves.

'Rimuru-nii-san can hear us!? Hi! Nii-san!'

'Oh~! This will be soooo~ much fun~.'

'This will be chaotic.'

'Welcome to the Madness Slime ball! Cha ha ha ha ha ha!'

"Heard what? Lord Rimuru?" Shion questioned, looking down at the slime as she brought him closer to her face, and her warm cleavage. 'You know~ I bet she wouldn't mind if you... slipped down inside her jacket... just a little~.' Lust mussed as Rimuru turned pink at the suggestion. 'Shut it, Lust!' The slime responded as Kayo rubbed her head, her stomach choosing that time to demand food. "Let's get some lunch. I skipped breakfast this morning because of all the fur." Kayo suggested as Shion beamed and the two women joined everyone. Shuna looking worriedly at Rimuru, as Benimaru and Souei looked at Kayo worriedly as she tried to avoid them... and delt with Rimuru being able to hear her other selves.

'Yay! Shuna-chan's cooking!'

'Hmm~ I rather have some thick cream. We didn't get to fully enjoy Christmas.'

'We will have to eat 7 helpings of this.'

'Let the migraines begin!'

Rimuru turned into his humanoid form and sat with Kayo as Shuna served them both, the slime trying to block out the many voices, giving Kayo a sympatric look before she glared at the chopsticks.

'Why do we have to eat with sticks?'

'Let's see if Beni will feed us again~!'

'We will have to learn to use them at some point.'

'Just guzzle all that down, it's like a mouthful to us anyway.'

"Is it always like this?" Rimuru questioned as he was a little amused as Kayo struggled with her chopsticks. "No, I just ignore them. Saves on sanity and stay away from Shion, if you don't want any more of her 'advice'." Kayo warned, as she managed to get a good hold of the annoying sticks. Rimuru found it cute that she was learning new things, watching her make mistakes was oddly adorable, even as she tried to eat and ended up with food on her face in the process.

"Shuna, can we get a fork for Kayo. She's being really messy." The slime called out as the pink kijin realized her mistake. "Oh! I'm so sorry, Kayo." Shuna quickly got a fork for Kayo who glared at Rimuru, who just wiped the food off her face. The Kijin staring at the two of them as Shuna and Shion got a little jealous. "Make sure you eat 7 helpings with your black hole of a stomach." Rimuru joked, and Kayo huffed. "You would know, with that a bottomless pit for a stomach." She shot back and thanks Shuna for the familiar utensil, eagerly eating every last bite.

Kayo ignored the looks she got from Benimaru and Souei and talked with Shuna between bites.

"Your fur is really easy to work with Kayo. I guess daily grooming helps a lot." The kijin mussed as she had admired the cloth and thread the kitsune sisters had shared with her. "Of course, the biggest problem will be dyeing and cutting it. Kaijin had to make special Magisteal shears just to cut my hair." Kayo explained, now working on her 3rd helping. Her pearlescent hair now having dark roots as the woman had Kuro pulled it into a simple ponytail. Keeping up her Kijin form but she was still in the black tunic and shorts, her feet bear despite how chilly it still was.

"Maybe I should make something special for you with it. It seems only fitting, maybe a kimono? I'm sure there will be plenty of cloth made from all this fur!" Shuna suggested and Kayo's eyes glittered with excitement. "Yeah, that would be great. Shame there won't really be any special occasion to show it off any time soon." she mussed before Rimuru looked at her in confusion.

"What do you mean? New Years is not that far away. New Clothes sounds perfect for a new year, it's like a chance to become a whole new you! Not wear the same tunic and slacks all the time." Rimurur looked at her clothes as she glared at him. "It's simple and comfortable, it's not like I wear these EVERYDAY I do change it up a little." Kayo reasoned, ignoring the other voices.

'I wanna wear a pretty dress like Shuna!'

'Well, we do like to wear Souei's and Benimaru's clothes sometimes~. Maybe less~.'

'Clothes made from our fur would be easier with transformations.'

'Meh. So long as I can move in it and not look like a jester.'

'Someone called~?'

Rimuru's eyebrow twitched as he heard the voices along with a new one, he didn't recognize the male voice that had just spoke up. "Do you really wear their clothes?" Rimuru asked Kayo quietly, as she was taking a drink. Making her choak and gag in surprise as her face turned bright red. "¡Cállate! (Shut up!)" Kayo yelled, embarrassed at what Lust had just said about wearing the two kijin's clothes.

"Huh!? What are you guys talking about?" Gobita asked looking at his friend, eyeing her kijin horns as he thought of something. "It's nothing, what where you saying Gobta?" Kayo asked her goblin friend, wanting to change the subject.

"If you could be reincarnated, what would you want to be?" Gobtia asked as both Kayo and Rimuru looked at him with identical, wide shocked eyes and a mild panic that the slacker had somehow learned what they were.

"I, for one, would want to be a beautiful girl. Then I get to admire every scrap of my body~." Gobtia explained excitedly, the two reincarnated leaders relaxed, knowing that their secret was still safe. "Look at you, not even an ounce of shame!" Rimuru yelled, annoyed with the pervy goblin as Kayo let the other's share their thoughts as she was a bit amused with Gobtia's choice.

'Gobtan!'

'You think Gobtia likes guys?'

'There would hardly be much of a change.'

'What? Haven't you done lewed things to Shizu-chan's body when no one is around?' the male voice asked and Rimuru glared at the silent kitsune, who tried to hide her amusement. Listening to what the other's wanted to be, if given a second chance at life. Hakuro wanted to be a bird... like an Eagle, Shion a waitress, Shuna a Dyad, Milim a bee after being told she couldn't be herself.

"I would want to be... a kitsune." Souei voiced his choice and Kayo and the kitsune present stared at him in shock. "Why?" she blurted out before she could stop herself, tilting her head in genuine confusion. "Kitsunes are naturally stealthy, durable, intelligent, able to shift between various forms, and speak with other animals of the forest. Your kind make the perfect spies with being able to hide in small places and climb buildings with ease. It would make my work a lot easier, though... the sheading does seem rather troublesome." Souei listed, pulling off some of her white fur he had found in his clothes. Kayo was unsure how-to feel about how he viewed her kitsune kin.

"Hey! We can welcome you to the family any time, Blue. What about you Red? You want to be a Kitsune too?" Bruno asked as he tried to throw an arm around Souei but failed as the ninja dogged. "My name is Souei." The ninja corrected the kitsune who only smirked and looked at Kayo who glared at her brother with suspicion, not knowing what he was up to.

Making a mental note to visit their father in the beast kingdom as soon as she was able.

"Yeah, what about you Benimaru? What would you want to come back as?" Rimuru asked, curious if the proud kijin would also want to be a Kitsune like his sister. "A kitsune sounds nice. Being able to transform and walk among flames, the stamina, the strength, having multiple tails... being a fluffy and cute fox..." Benimaru looked away, but Kayo noticed that his ears had turned pink, something that would happen when he got really embarrassed. She couldn't help but smile a little before they continued with trying to remove her access fur... it took 2 more days and a lot more help before ALL the loose pearlescent fur was taken off, and a new silky soft void black coat and paper white fur took its place.

There had been more than enough material to make new clothes for everyone in Rimuru city, after the Kitsunes shared their special patterns and weaves they had adopted from the elves working with their fur. It was a very desired product that became a common luxury and a point of pride in Tempest. Much to Kayo's humiliation, she did send some new robes to the dwarf king, just leaving out what it was made of.

~New Year's Day, Rimuru's Office~

"All together now." Rigurd commanded as Kayo had arrived just in time to receive the new year's greeting, sitting next to Rimuru on his desk in her 3 tailed fox form. While Rimuru had the strange red and white ribbon and fruit on top his head as he was set on top of a strange stand. The kitsune having a little red bib tied around her neck by Shuna when she had laughed at Rimuru's clothes.

"A very happy new year to you, Lord Rimuru and Lord Kayo."

Rigurd, along with Shuna and Shion happily greeted the two Tempest leaders with bright smiles. Shuna and Shion in new Kimono's made form the kitsunes fur, Rigurd was also in a very nice dark green jacket over his black and gray stripped kimono that was partly tied closed with a gray sash, exposing the goblin King's white tank top under neath.

"Thanks! We're looking forward to another great year. Now, since this is a day of celebration. There's something I like to give each of you. I think you will like this too, fur ball." Rimuru mussed as he saw the annoyed twitch of the kitsune's tails before she took on her humanoid form.

Shuna having gotten her into a white kimino that shimmered with faint color, a red and gold sash tied around her middle under her large breasts, a pink rope keeping it together as a little golden star dangled from it. A dark blue skirt a white ribbon decorating the hem, a cute little bow with a mini Rimuru button at the center on her right thigh. The skirt allowing the kitsune's tails to slip out comfortably. The rest of her legs covered by black thigh high stockings and some white sandals on her feet. Rimuru was extra amused as he saw the hair stick Benimaru had given her at the summer festival, carefully nested into her hair with only a few white tipped strands framing her face.

"You have something for us, Lord Rimuru?" Shion asked, confused, as Rimuru's attention was jolted away from his Kitsune sister, who seemed a bit different. "Of course, just hold out your hands." Rimuru tried to demonstrate with two little stubs that mimicked hands, but Kayo was the one to show them. Cupping her hands out in front of her, curious what the slime would give them before something slipped out of the little nub he had created and into the kitsune's hands and then into the goblin and Kijin women.

"The dropping of the ball! You guys get it?" Rimuru laughed at his joke, and was glad he got an amused giggle out of Kayo, but to the other three...

"I cannot be more grateful for this beautiful, generous gift!" The Goblin king sobbed a waterfall of tears, holding his 'ball' gently in his hands.

"Lord Rimuru gave me his ball; he gave me his ball." Shion strutted as her hand shook from holding the small smooth marble rock between two of her fingers.

"I'll treasure it for the rest of my life." Shuna gently cupped her stone gently, and was the most elegant of the 3 reactions, before they started crying.

'There literally just rocks I picked up.' Rimuru questioned in confusion, pulling out another near identical rock out from his body. 'It's not the item that is important, it's who they received it from, slime ball. It's why we have that annoying point system instead of using coins.' Kayo explained with a bit of annoyance while she used some sticky steel string to make the little stone hang off of an improvised bracelet around her right wrist as on her left was the simple bracelet Shuna had gifted her for Christmas, with 6 colorful beads to represent each kijin.

"Do you guys want me to make yours into necklaces? That way you can keep them close to your heart." Kayo offered and all three looked at her with wide wet eyes. "Yes, please!" They all agreed, and Kayo quickly made them necklaces from the stones the slime had given them.

"Thank you for the gift, Rimuru-nii-san, would you mind if I give something to you now? It's a bit late, but I'm sure it still counts." Kayo asked, trying to look innocent and not have her tails give away her intentions. Rimuru looked at her in a bit of confusion but trusted his kitsune sister any way as she picked him up. He felt a pair of soft warm lips on his body, a strange sensation came over him, making the slime visibly wiggle from the sensation, he even turned pink in embarrassment of the rather intimate form of affection being given to him so casually.

"The first kiss of the New Year. Hopefully that won't be your only one, Nii-san~." Kayo teased with a smirk, before looking over at Shion and Shuna who stared intently at their slime leader. "Lord Kayo! Please allow me the honor of giving Lord Rimuru the Second kiss of the new year!" The purple kijin woman asked stepping closer to the two siblings. Kayo holding her slime brother close to her chest, as Shuna didn't look very happy with the kitsune. "Kayo, please leave the kissing of Lord Rimuru to me. If you will hand him over now." Shuna asked as she and Shion both advanced on the two. Kayo stepping back carefully. 'Now you've done it, fur ball. How are you getting me out of this one?' Rimuru asked as Kayo's back hit the wall. 'Simple, slime ball~.' Kayo smirked, looking at Shuna, her pink eyes glittering strangely.

"Tactical retreat!" Kayo yelled before shifting into her kitsune form, her 3 tails holding Rimuru before she dashed away from the two kijin and into the little flap that led to her office. "LORD KAYO!" Shion yelled and tried to chase the kitsune, while Shuna smiled and calmly left threw the repaired sliding doors of the slime's office.

Rigurd was left behind, very amused with the energy of the two leaders, looking down fondly at the ball the slime had given him hanging from the thread produced by the kitsune. "This truly, represents the strength and heart of Tempest." he mused softly, still mystified at how much things had changed in just a little more than a year, all thanks to the two odd siblings.

~Rimuru City, Unnamed Shrine~

"Wow! This all looks really good Geld! You would have never known this was only done in 3 days." Kayo praised as she carefully inspected the newly finished Shrine grounds for durability and safety. Rimuru having made a comment about wanting to visit a shrine, but being in a new world, those traditions didn't exist, let alone in a budding monster nation.

Kayo had gone to Myrd, Geld, and Atlis, the Earth fox leader, for their help in recreating a Japanese Shinto shrine, only to have to ask Rimuru for his help and the slime was all too eager to educate his kitsune sister about Japanese shrines. The torii gates, guardian statues, and building style the kitsune already had down pat, and it was just a matter of placement and how many buildings a proper shrine needed. Looking around Kayo would almost believe she was in Japan, back in her old world, her tails happily swishing with excitement as she tried not to bounce with giddiness.

"It was an honor to be entrusted with this task, Lord Kayo. However, there is one thing me and the others have not agreed upon." Geld mentioned, bowing to the excited kitsune, the orc couldn't help but smile as he saw the kitsune's golden eyes sparkle when she laid her eyes upon their hard work.

"What is it?" Kayo asked, trying to be serious and lower her giddiness over seeing a Japanese shrine.

"We cannot agree upon who this shrine should be for. You or Lord Rimuru." the orc informed her, glancing at the goblins that had also helped with the shrine, watching carefully as Kayo looked shocked at this detail. "Oh!?" The kitsune tilted her head, frowning as she gave the idea some thought. 'No way would the slime ball want a shrine dedicated to himself... why wasn't Veldora an option though? Or maybe...' Kayo's golden eyes glittered at her idea.

"Geld, why not have this shrine dedicated to My Lord Vel-" Kayo choaked, not able to get the second syllable out. "Lord Vel-" once again she choaked. "Vel-da-." Kayo was choking again which worried the orc as the kitsune was struggling to breath. "Lord Kayo? Is everything alright? Have some water." Geld offered her his water sack that she took and took a small drink from. Confused and very worried what this meant, her ears pined to her skill. 'Why can I not say my lord's name out loud!? What's happening!?' she questions in a panic that the Orc misunderstood.

"Lord Kayo, please forgive me for asking such a question. I believe we have a good idea already who this shrine should be for." Geld voiced, not wanting to trouble the kitsune more. "N-no. It's okay. I guess it's the one thing that got overlooked. I doubt my brother would really want a shrine dedicated to him, it would feel more like just another office with work that needs to be done. The shrine is meant for one to pray to a deity like My Lord... like Lady Inari Ōkami." Kayo managed to get out, much to her confusion as she thought of the Rice deity, she had taken her dwarven name from.

"Lady Inari Ōkami?" Geld repeated the name in confusion as the kitsune sighed dejectedly, rubbing her neck in confusion. "Yes, she was an ancient goddess of foxes, rice, sake, agriculture and industry just to name a few. She's also said to have been the patron of swordsmiths and a protector of warriors." Kayo explained, having studied the Shinto goddess a little out of curiosity and found her fascinating along with many other folk tales of Japan.

"A... goddess of foxes? Like you, Lord Kayo?" the orc asked, curious if this goddess was the one their Lord Kayo looked up to herself. "In a way, it's more of a fable really. There's no real Inari goddess, and I wouldn't want to serve, let alone pray, to someone I've never even met before. Sorry, I guess I wasn't of much help then." Kayo sighed and looked sad, startling the orc who took it as her being displeased with him rather than herself having a distaste for religion. "P-please my lord. Forgive me for asking, I'm sure I have come up with a solution." He admitted, thinking of the goddess she had mentioned.

"What would that be?" the kitsune questioned, before her ears caught onto a commotion at the front gates to the shrine. "Well sounds like Rimuru is here, so do what you think is best Geld. I trust you on this." Kayo advised and left to meet up with her brother, excited to share her idea about picking their new currency. Leaving the Orc a bit startled and blushing to be told by the kitsune leader that she trusted him.

~Shrine Gates~

"What cha think slime ball? Great idea, right?" Kayo asked as she beamed excitedly as there were several cute goblinas and Kitsune dressed as Miko's handing out little bags that held copies of the wooden coin mockups she had carved. Handing them out to the villagers as the coins were set on display.

"It's not bad, we get to narrow down the designs and the shrine gets offerings. Oh! There're even more designs?" Rimuru questioned as he looked at the display that had a few more mockups, Rimuru looked up at the excited kitsune. "When did you have time for this? It must had taken you hours to carve all of these!" Rimuru voiced, a few goblins over hearing how much work their kitsune leader had put into the small wooden disks. "A few, once I got the mockups done, making copies of them was easy. This way we can narrow down designs for our currency and everyone can give offerings to the shrine." Kayo told him proudly, her tails happily waging behind her. "Glad your excited, but you work too much. Relax a little, how about I let you decide the next event and I'll take care of it?" Rimuru offered and Kayo had to think for a bit before responding.

"Sure! Sounds fun. Maybe... a Lover's Day~?" Kayo teased with a knowing smirk, Shuna and Shion however looked excited by the idea, even if they were not sure how such a day would go.

"Accept that!" Rimuru quickly snapped at her making the kitsune giggle, sounding like soft bells but she seemed a bit disappointed but the rejection, making the slime give the idea a bit more though, he felt a little guilty for rejecting it so quickly. "Okay, but only because it's for you, fur ball." he mused, walking with his kitsune sister up to the shrine once the finishing touches where done. Shuna and Shion were giving their leaders soft smiles, Kayo informing the slime excitedly about Rommel's story of their nation, or rather, The Monster Princess, Rimuru.

Once at the top, Rimuru admired the work and detail put into the shrine, amused to see three tailed kitsune statues flanking the pathway with oval slimes under their paws, other than that detail it seemed like a normal shrine as the two leaders walked up to the alter and pulled out the wooden coin mockups as offerings.

'I pray for my sister's happiness.' Rimuru mussed as he had noticed there was a coin with Souei carved on it with a shuriken. Picking that coin, along with the Benimaru and kitsune one he dropped them into the offering box and Kayo copied throwing in three coins herself, giving the bells a careful ring. He bowed his head and clapped his hands to pray to the shrine's deity. Kayo copied him and made a soft plea to her lord. 'Lord Veldanava, forgive me. I have failed you again. This servant will not stop, even when you return to your beloved world properly.' Kayo thought, feeling something strange come over her, as a blurry pink haired woman flashed into her mind for a second.

"By the way, who's the deity? Veldora?" Rimuru asked as he looked up from his praying and Kayo answered without thinking. "I don't think so. I left that up to Geld. Originally, they wanted one of use to be the deity, but I talked him out of it." Kayo told the slime as she looked up at where the name of the shrine would be... only having a little trouble translating the unfamiliar kajin.

"Who else could it be? Take a look." Shion and Shuna giggled, having easily read the name and when the slime looked up, he couldn't help but smile. "Looks like you half succeeded, but they got the kanji for your name wrong." Rimuru corrected and Kayo looked confused.

"What?" The kitsune questioned but the two kijin's were also confused by the slime's words.

"Is that not how you write Lady Kayo's name?" Shion questioned as Shuna looked worried, they might have in salted their leaders. "What are you talking about?" Kayo asked, still confused as they looked at her. "Wait... you can't read that?" The slime questioned in a bit of shock, pointing to the shrine's name. "Only party. What was that about my name?" The kitsune admitted, wondering if the kanji she couldn't understand was her name, or how it was usually written out.

"Yeah, Geld used the wrong characters, your name is supposed to look like this." Rimuru quickly pulled out a tablet and a charcoal pencil to write out the kitsune's name, Shuna and Shion watching him with interest before he showed it to the kitsune. "This is how it's supposed to be written, with the kanji for Beautiful and Night, together make Kayo!" He explained to her proudly, thinking back, he remembered that the sky was beautiful with lots of stars. She was just a very small kit that could blend into the night and save herself by running away at any time... only she stayed and watched over the goblins for him.

He had named her partly to give her a better chance in her new life... and giving her the name Tempest in hopes he could meet her again if she decided to leave.

The three females look on at the two characters that made up the kitsune's name. "I-is that why you call Lady Kayo beautiful!? B-because it's in her name?" Shion asked, realizing how blessed the kitsune woman was by Rimuru and feeling jealous of the attention she had been given. "That is very fitting. Lord Kayo, if you would please step up here." Shuna mussed as she directed the kitsune woman into the shrine were a plush white pillow awaited her. "What!? No no no no no! I am no deity. I can't possibly do... this!" Kayo panicked and backed away quickly, shaking her head before she bumped into someone.

"Lord Kayo? Is it not to your liking?" Geld asked, looking at the kitsune woman with worry.

"No! It's not that Geld it's just that... Why did you pick me to dedicate the shrine to?" she asked, confused as the orc looked surprised. "Because you are a great blessing, Lord Kayo. Aside from Lord Rimuru who freed us and took on our sins. You are the one who made sure we were fed, that we were healthy, that we had homes and we had work to busy our bodies. You continue to look after us and ask for nothing in return. This is just a small way to thank you and if it is alright with Lord Rimuru, to enjoy his shrine visit." Geld reasoned, keeling before Kayo who didn't know what to do as she looked at Rimuru who smirked at his sister.

"I have no issue with it, but Kayo's name is meant to be written as Beautiful Night." Rimuru responded, showing Geld the kajin, the orc quickly going to correct it as Kayo glared at her slime brother. 'Better you then me~.' Rimuru mussed and shrugged his shoulders as he gave her an innocent smile. 'You better take care of the Hanami too, Slime ball.' Kayo thought as she gave in and took her place of honor nervously before the villagers came to pray to her.

It got boring after a while and she started to chat with a few villagers who sought her advice on many things and even had other offerings besides the coin mockups, mostly food of course, Sake, some fruits, flowers, a few pretty rocks, some beautiful pictures, and a few small toys that she could mess with to help pass the time.

"I'm almost jealous of her now." Rimuru muttered as he saw all the offerings Kayo was being given, a small smile on his face as he realized Kayo was using everyone's given names, having pleasant chats and giving advice to nearly everyone that had come to visit. "You would never be able to tell she isn't one for lots of attention." Shuna mussed, watching Kayo as she seemed to sit like a proper young noble woman, yet gave off a comforting warmth. A few children did run up and hugged her before their parents scolded them for doing so before praying to her. The kitsune woman held up that composure for a few hours before Rimuru went to finally save her.

Her near consent pleading in his head wearing out his resolve.

~Hours Later~

"I can baredly feel my legs any more~." Kayo softly whined as she carefully moved her legs after they had gone numb from sitting on them for hours. Rigurd having picked her up and taken her to where the Omikuji (sacred lots) where being offered as she sat at a familiar bench draped in a red and gold cloth. "Well, I guess you earned a break. You should be able to enjoy the first shrine visit too." Rimuru smiled and held out a box full of small, folded papers to her.

"Want to see your fortune for the new year?" he teased, and Kayo rolled her eyes, but humored the slime by reaching it and grabbing the first one she could. "What did you get?" Rimuru asked, smiling eagerly to see what his sister had gotten, and she unfolded it carefully. "Hold on. Let me read it first okay." Kayo mussed as she got the little paper unfolded and tried to translate some of the kanji.

"Huh? Looks like I got an excellent fortune. The sailing ship is in favorable winds where everything will turn out smoothly this year. I would hope so." Kayo mussed and handed the paper to Rimuru, who took it eagerly and read the rest with great interest as he recognized it. "Hey, there's more to it: Fulfillment of work will shift upwards and will also enhance your spirits. Many of your heart's desires will become a reality. The opposite sex will not be able to resist your appeal." Rimuru started to read the paper with an amused grin, confusing the Kitsune as he kept reading her fortune. "With every move you make, you will gain the attention of many and build up a great power of charisma. Your hard work will be rewarded, bring you great joy for the rest of your days, filled with endless happiness and love." Rimuru told her but Kayo didn't look amused as she glared at him.

"You wrote this as a joke... didn't you?" She asked and Rimuru looked at her in surprised shock. "H-how do you know I wrote this?" he questioned, not having expected Kayo to pull out this one lone fortune, among all the hundreds of thousands of other fortunes she could have gotten. "Your penmanship and 'The opposite sex will not be able to resist your appeal' gave it away as a bad joke of yours." Kayo pointed out and took the paper from him, burring it with her blue fox fire without much thought.

"Despite the name you gave me, Slime ball. I'm not much of a beauty." Kayo explained with a sad smile, it made the slime's mimic heart feel strange, his golden eyes widening in shock at what she had just said. His sister didn't believe she was beautiful despite all the people that loved her.

~Later, Assembly Building~

"I finally have feeling in my legs again." Kayo sighed as she walked to the meeting room to meet up with the others, having finished her 'shrine deity' duties as her Kitsune had made a beautiful statue of their lord in her humanoid form to stand in. Wanting her to enjoy the new year with them instead of being prayed to. After all that attention the kitsune needed a power nap so Rimuru had let her get some much-deserved rest. "I wonder what the slime ball has them up to now." Kayo questioned as she reached the meeting room and pushed open the doors before Rimuru already came up to her looking relived. "Kayo! Great timing! You're the last one who needs to do the Year's first Calligraphy!" The slime happily chirped, and Kayo looked confused before Vesta spoke up.

"Lord Rimuru, with all due respect. Lady Kayo's penmanship is rather-" The man tried to find the right words, but Kayo rolled her eyes. "I can just do it with one of my tails, but what's this all about?" The kitsune asked as she looked at the display of calligraphy, only able to read a few of them as the other's looked very proud of their convictions, only Benimaru looked nervous as she tried to read his but didn't recognize the kanji. "It's everyone's visions for the new year. Can you really write with your tails?" Rimuru asked as he grabbed one of the fluffy appendages since she had 3 of them out with one already having its tip dipped in ink, she didn't mind that he was petting the furry appendage. Handing the banner over to Vesta to hold, the researcher was curious to see how the kitsune wrote with her tail and was a little amazed at the dexterity of the appendage.

"Okay, how's that?" Kayo asked, smiling proudly at the neatly painted characters, Rimuru stopped playing with her tail and read what she had written, only for his face to turn bright red and his jaw to drop open in horror. "Agh! Not that! Do you not know the right kaijin!?" Rimuru asked as he quickly took the banner from Vesta who tried to see what was written before the slime turned it to ash with fire quickly. "Hmmm... not really. What did I write?" Kayo asked, curious as she really did not know what she had written, a few found it amusing watching the kitsune's tail just swish across the paper but none of them had gotten a good look at what had been written. Rimuru blushed before telling her threw their connected minds.

'Sex, liquor, and money.' Rimuru informed the kitsune who held back a chuckle of amusement. 'I wouldn't mind that for the new year either.' she jokingly mussed.

"What did you want to write? I'll do it for you since you don't know kanji that well." He suggested with a tired sigh, but it felt nice he could do something she couldn't for once. "How about... Harmony and Prosperity?" Kayo suggested as she cleaned the ink off her tail tip before it could get ink anywhere else as her tails swayed with clam excitement. The other's felt proud and excited by Kayo's view of the new year.

"Oh, that's easy." Rimuru beamed proudly as wrote the Kanji out for his kitsune sister, with a small mental note to help her learn more kanji, even if she wouldn't really use it in this world. 'Maybe I'll add one more thing.' Rimuru thought before adding to Kayo's banner and showed it to the kitsune. "Okay, here you go. Think you can sign your name now?" he joked as Kayo looked at the kanji carefully before she recognized the last one he added to it. Benimaru a bit nervous as he read it, glancing at the two blacksmiths that were close to the kitsune as they looked amused.

"Hey. Why did you add that last one?" she pointed out, tilting her head as she tried to recall how Rimuru had written her name back at the shrine. "What does it say then?" He asked, with an amused smile, Kayo shot him a look and tried to hide her blush.

"Harmony, Prosperity... and Love." Kayo voiced softly as Rimuru grinned.

"Yup! All for our Beautiful Goddess~!" he teased, and Kayo gave a rather cute cat like hiss, her tail dipped in the ink and not only wrote her name on the banner, but also wrote the kanji Fool on Rimuru's forehead. "Hey!" The slime objected and tried to get the ink brush on the kitsune's face to write something to get back at her. The kitsune was a bit little too swift to catch and the ink just blended in with her black fur.

~Later~

"That's 5 and my win, slime ball~!" Kayo yelled, excited as she was having fun playing a rather mundane but familiar game with Rimuru, who looked at his wooden bat in shocked fear, since it had been ripped to splinters from making contact with Kayo's powerful serve. "H-how did you do that? This is supposed to be some of the strongest wood in the Jura Forest." Rimuru asked as he nervously looked at the birdy now embedded deep into a tree that had been a few feet behind him. "I may have gotten a little carried away. I play a similar game with dad in place of training sometimes. We always leave craters on the walls after a game too~." Kayo admitted, beaming brightly as Rimuru felt slightly scared of the kitsune's strength.

"Wow! Lord Kayo is stronger than Lord Rimuru!" a little goblin child voiced as a small group of children had been watching the two leaders with great interest, it was also noticeable when the two made thunder like booms when they batted away the birdy. Rimuru was unsure how to feel about the idea of his sister being stronger, but it almost felt like she had gotten a recent power boost.

"Sorry to keep you waiting little ones. How about we go see how the mochi team is doing?" Kayo suggested, handing Rimuru her still intact bat, her ears twitching as she could hear thunderous noises and yelling get closer. "Your gonna need this." She told him and started to walk away with the young children eagerly wanting to go with her to see the mochi team, a few getting the honor of holding the kitsune leader's hands as they walked.

"She really would make a good mom." Rimuru mussed as he watched how Kayo interacted with all the children that crowded around her, before something flew past his head at breakneck speed...

"What!?" The slime shouted in shock before he realized why Kayo had given him the bat and took away the children.

"Where should I write on you next? Can you even beat the greatest of the ten great demon lords in badminton?" Milim asked, excited as she had been playing with Shion, the two having taken to painting the losers face with ink. So far... Milim was winning. "The next one! I'll win the next one! The Jura forests badminton kijin's reputation is at risk!" Shion yelled as Rimuru watched the two females bat the especially sturdy birdies between them. Each hit sounding like canons going off and where just as dangerous as a stray birdy obliterated the trunk of a tree.

"Agh! Kayo! Wait for me!" he called after his sister, taking on his slime form quickly to avoid being hit but eventually a stray birdy did strike his slime body.

~Mochi Team~

"How's the mochi going everyone!?" Kayo called out, looking excited and trying not to stare to much at the half naked men making the rice cakes, 4 of which where her own brothers who joined in on the fun. However, Kurobe and Rigurd made a very nice site before she watched the mochi being made with the children that had come with her. Sharing in their innocent excitement and wonder as the rice was pounded by the wooden mallets and turned over quickly.

"Lord Kayo! Right on time! We are finishing up the first batch, would you like to bless them for good luck?" Kurobe joked, greeting Kayo with a smile, seeing her fluffy tails waging with obvious excitement. "I... i don't think that's necessary, Kurobe." The kitsune tried to reject it, before Bruno spoke up, having finished his batch with Felipe taking out the pounded rice cake.

"Come on sis! The new year goddess has to bless the new year mochi! You don't want us getting bad luck, do ya?" He teased, smirking as his sister sent him a sharp look. "Lord Kayo, If you would please?" Geld presented a small plate with some mochi shaped like a cute little fox.

"Aww that's so cute~." Kayo gushed over it before she looked down at the excited children that crowded around her. Mostly little Goblins, but there were orclings, kitsune kits, even a few human and elven children that had somehow gotten into the group that had followed the kitsune woman. "Will you bless it, Lord Kayo?" asked a small kitsune child, and Kayo was helpless to stop the adorableness from one of her own and the small sea of little ones what looked at her pleadingly.

"A-alright. I'll bless the mochi." she gave in, and the children cheered excitedly as the kitsune walked over to where it was being prepared into small round shapes. Her heart hammering in her chest as she tried to think of what to do, or say, before it came out of her mouth. The kitsune woman held out her hands to the mochi and closed her eyes before speaking in a clam and even tone:

May these sweet offerings bring delight into a new year.

For the seeds of new life be nourished and for filled.

Let the bright stars and powerful storms, guide and protect those who wonder without malice.

To bless harmony, prosperity, and love upon Tempest.

Kayo recited and opened her eyes, just in time to see that the mochi had a strange faint glow to them now. Everyone stared at her as they had seen the round rice cakes glow with some strange magic as she blessed them. "W-what... was that?" Youm asked as he and Rommel stared at the kitsune woman in shock. "I-is she really?" The human mage wondered, his mind racing with new ideas after witnessing the kitsune's blessing, he had never seen a blessing himself, but he was sure that the strange glow meant something very special had just happened. Kayo was ignorant to it all, just enjoying the fun shaped mochi with the excited children. The site warming Geld's heart to see the kitsune goddess at work, even when she was just enjoying herself. It amazed him to see so many children of different races around her, slightly worried if the parents of the children knew where their young had gone, or if they really trusted the kitsune woman to take care of them all. Of course, he would help the kitsune, that many children had to be too much for one woman alone.

"Kurobe you still planning on coming over to have dinner with us?" Antony asked the blacksmith kijin who he had become good friends with, as they both enjoyed smithing work and the kitsune would often visit the kijin's forge if Kayo hadn't, or couldn't, check on him usually. "Of course, is it really alright for me to come? I'm not really family to the young master." the kijin asked, a little nervous to be given an invitation to the Kitsune's New Year's dinner. "Of course, it is. Our little sisters want all of us to celebrate together, Kijin and kitsune." Felipe spoke up, assuring the kijin who became confused.

"Sisters? Are you also talking about princess Shuna? Did the young master?" the black smith wanted to ask, feeling a little hurt he had not been asked. "Nope, not yet. That's if our sis doesn't give some lame excuse not to marry, red." Bruno assured the kijin as Kurobe chuckled with how the kitsune's already saw Beniamru and Shuna as their siblings.

"Wiil you attending as well, Master Harkuo?" Anthony asked the elder kjin who smiled at the kitsune. "Of course. I still have a score to settle with one of your elders." the sword master admitted with an amused grin, having become friends/rivals with the star fox elder, Orion after a few game nights that Kayo couldn't attend, despite being blind, the kitsune was able to give the old kijin a challenge in mahjong.

~Later, Kayo Village~

"Do I... look alright? It's not too casual right?" Benimaru asked, feeling nervous as he and Souei took a short walk to Kayo village. "It's fine." the ninja assured him as he was dressed casually himself and hiding his worry and his heart pound in his chest. "But this will be the first time we are officially visiting her village... you think the elders will have an issue with us?" Benimaru asked, unsure of how the kitsune village worked other then there being clan leaders and elders that took care of things while Kayo was away. "No." Souei responded quickly as they reached the Torii gate, two kitsune guards greeting them with respectful bows.

"Welcome Master Benimaru. Master Souei. We have been expecting you. Lady Shuna is already with Lord Kayo helping with preparations." one kitsune informed as the two kijins gave each other a look before looking past the Torii gate that was a statue of Rimuru with kitsune ears and a tail. It didn't seem like there was a village anywhere if not for the torii gate that bore the kitsune leader's name. "Please go right in. Everyone is excited to have you join us." The other guard happily chipped before they walked through the gate without issue and found themselves in a lively village in the mist of celebrating the new year.

"This... this is amazing." Benimaru voiced, shocked still as he instantly felt warmed and welcomed as the kitsune and elves where all dressed nicely in kimonos with intricate designs on them. The Kijin spotting a few elves and fairies fluttering around excitedly as they had their own tiny food and houses. "You would never know this was here... it's very protected." Souei voiced, a bit overwhelmed by the sudden burst of sounds and smells of the lively village.

"Hey you guys made it!" the two kijin jumped as massive arms draped over their shoulders. Both kijins suspired before they recognized the voice. "B-bruno-san? Yeah, but I think we are a bit under dressed for the occasion." Benimaru admitted as he was in his casual clothes that where comfortable as Kayo had suggested when she invited them. "Don't worry about it, hermano. Sis is gonna take it off of both of you tonight away way." Bruno teased, smirking as Benimaru's face turned red as he looked at the massive kitsune in shock, while Souei gave him a mild glare.

"Relax, you guys are more than welcome in our village, oh! Let me show you something. But don't tell sis okay." the kitsune mussed and before the kijin could protest the kitsune pulled them over to a little shop that had a large window displaying some stuffed toys. A large black kitsune with 7 tails at the center with several plush toy versions of the kijin around it, a plush slime carefully placed on top between the ears with the plushies of Benimaru and Souei set between the front paws.

"What? Are those... Plushes?" Benimaru questioned as he looked at the display with childlike excitement, a part of him was jealous of his sister having a fox plush but he was not going to ask Kayo or be caught buying one himself. "What ya think? The shop keeper thought it would be cute, and they even sold out of your plushies." Bruno told them as he pulled out a plush Shuna from his tails. "I just managed to get one of little Sis myself before-" Bruno was saying before Benimaru glared at him. "Why do you have a plush of my sister?" he asked the kitsune who looked amused before the elven shop keeper came out with two bags in hand.

"Master Benimaru. Master Souei. It's an honor to have you admiring my work. Many of us are so excited to have you join us." the elf woman gushed and held out the bags that the Kijin took unsurely. "Please accept these humble offerings. They are a limited edition but still very cuddly." the elf giggled and gave them a wink before going back to her shop where children were still picking out a plush, the red and blue Kijin plushies sold out with the last of the pink one's being sold with the purple and white kijin plushes about to run out next. There were still plenty of black kijin plushies but a few elven girls did take delight in buying several of them.

"Should... we be worried?" Benimaru questioned, as he witnessed how popular the soft toys that looked like his kin where. Souei looked in his bag curious and pulled out a cute plush white fox from the bag, a small smirk on his lips as he pets its soft fur that only lacked Kayo's warmth. "Hmm... I don't think so. No one wants to really piss of Kayo, but you guys might get the Kitsune Lord Experience from just walking around." Bruno mentioned, amused as Souei seemed excited to be given the soft pearlescent fox plush.

"What do you mean?" Benimaru asked, but soon found out that when they took a few steps there was another villager was offering them something, so it took them a while to reach the kitsune's castle.

~Later~

"Is this what it's like for Kayo?" Benimaru asked, shocked at how many gifts he and Souei had been given, while the village was small, they still had a lot of things that their village could offer. "Kinda. She tends to get more flowers and pretty rocks from kids though." Bruno mussed as he had helped the two kijins with their 'offerings' stuffed into special bags the Kitusne's used to transport mass number of items.

"That would explain her bad eating habits." Souei mentioned as even he was tempted by the treats the villagers had offered them, Benimaru of course accepting the sweets offered to him. "Ya eat when you can. That's how it was like for us as kits. Of course, now with food available all the time it's hard to break out of old habits. We all train hard though, that really helps us stay in shape. Speaking of which, when are we going to have a joint training session, Hermano~?" Bruno asked as Benimaru got curious. "I'm still talking it over with Kayo but what does Her ma no mean? You've been calling me that this whole time." the kijin asked and Bruno grinned widely, and his tail swished behind him.

"It means brother. We consider you part of the family, Benimaru. You to Souei. Although... sorry to say but you both will have to get our dad's permission to be with Kayo if you really want to get serious." the kitsune told them with deathly seriousness, his normally goofy smile replaced by a stern older brother persona. Benimaru felt a nervous and even if Souei didn't show it, he was unsure about meeting with the True Kitsune Lord, Kayo's sire.

"They don't need his permission. He has no say in who I'm with." Kayo corrected as she appeared behind her brother who only smiled as he turned to her. The kitsune already dressed in a simple crimson kimono top that had golden flames ling the edges, a black tank top covering her chest from under the top and some black shorts. Most of her hair pulled back into a neat bun with some shorter strands framing her face

"Kayo!" Benimaru called to her happily, and she gave him a warm smile before quickly embracing the crimson kijin. "I was getting worried Bruno did something to you. Everyone has been waiting for you two." Kayo gave him a worried look before planting a small kiss on his lips, making Benimaru blush from the small gesture as he wrapped his arms around her. "Someone's already gotten 2 barrels into the liquor~." Bruno mussed and Kayo tossed him a glare, but the kitsune wasn't wrong, Benimaru could tase the sake on his mate's lips and smell it coming off her, along with her alluring natural scent. "Did this idiot give either of you trouble? You should have come through the castle gate from the entrance." Kayo explained and Benimaru and Souei looked to the grinning kitsune who looked away innocently, he was the one put in charge of managing the gates and their connections.

"I'll deal with you later." Kayo pointedly told her brother who only laughed and left the 3 alone in the empty front courtyard, the sounds of a party could faintly be heard. "Did you enjoy the gifts they gave you?" Kayo asked, pulling away from Benimaru slowly before walking over to Souei and giving him a sweet kiss on the lips. The ninja wrapping his arms around her now that no one but the three of them was around, the kitsune happily nuzzled into the ninja's exposed neck.

"It was quite a lot for such a small village. I can only imagen what it's like for you in the capital on a daily basis." Benimaru mussed as Kayo giggled and purred as she cuddled Souei who tried to not blush as her hands happily grabbed his 'beautiful' backside, giving them a firm squeeze. "Stop it, why have you been drinking?" Souei asked, gently pulling on one of her ears, making her give a soft mew before she let go off his beautiful cheeks. "I have to give a speech and you guys were late. I almost thought you wouldn't come or something horrible happened." Kayo explained without much restraint, looking at the two Kijins with sparkling golden eyes as she smiled at them, her cheeks dimpled cutely.

"I'm so glad you guys came. I know you probably would have preferred it if it was just you Kijins but... I wanted to celebrate with all of us together." Kayo admitted, blushing with her golden eyes sparking with happiness and adoration, it struck at the hearts of both kijins. "Of course, Kayo. It's no problem, I just feel sorry for Kurobe having to eat Shion's cooking though." Benimaru told her, worried for the kijin blacksmith but Kayo giggled with a knowing smile. "Nope~, Antony is on Shion duty. Carmen and I where with Shuna in the kitchen preparing food. Kurobe is arm wrestling some of my cousins and Master Hakuro is playing Mahjong with Orion." She listed as both kijin blinked and looked at her in shock.

"Wait... everyone is... here?" Benimaru asked as Souei smirked, having already known, but it was still a surprise all the kijin had gathered in the kitsune village.

"Of course, we were just waiting on you guys. Come on, Milim was ready to go find you two herself you were taking so long." Kayo told them and easily pulled bother kijins along with her threw the beautiful castle to the back courtyard into the massive meeting hall where many kitsune where drinking, eating, chatting, and playing games. Like she had said, the other kijins were also there, Hakuro in a one-way staring match with the crafty old star kitsune as they played with the mahjong tiles. Kurobe was testing his strength against some other kitsunes and holding his own against some strong earth foxes. Shion was getting her face cleaned by Antony, some ink still on her face from playing with Milim but Antony was being gentle in cleaning it off for her. Shuna was with Carmen as they brought out mass amounts of food for everyone, or mostly for Milim as she was happily eating the specially made chicken with Rimuru who was enjoying watching all the kitsune interact as he sipped some warm sake that Shuna poured for him.

"Hey, you two finally made it!" Rimuru greeted the two who were both shocked an amazed at the number of kitsune present and how familiar it all felt. "Take a seat, I still need to make a speech." Kayo sighed before Estella handed her a sake flask, the kitsune leader drank it all quickly before going to stand before everyone. Souei and Benimaru gave each other worried looks before sitting with Rimuru who handed them their sake cups.

"Once Kayo gives a speech, we can go up to their private dining room. These guys... can be a lot to take in at once." Rimuru pointed to the other kitsunes who were being loud and enjoying themselves. "It's alright, Lord Rimuru. It's almost like being back home, only furrier." Benimaru admitted with a chuckle, he couldn't help but feel like he was back home in the oni village with everyone. Never mind that the oni's never had a castle fortress with a garden, or such an abundance of delicious food and drinks that littered the tables. Something about the company of the kitsunes made it feel like home, several eyes looked up at Kayo as she clapped her hands to get everyone's attention.

"First of all, I would like to wish everyone a happy new year. I know this past year has been tough for many of us. Having lost homes and loved ones, adjusting to new and strange things, but we are still here together. With new a home and families to come back to and protect." Kayo started as the kitsune cheered happily.

"While all this is well a good, there is still more that we can improve or change. Being yourselves is fine but times still passes even if you're idle. I hope y'all will take every chance you have to ensure happier, fuller lives for yourselves and others. As a reminder that family isn't just about blood. Loyalty and Love connects us all to one another. I selfishly ask that you treat the Kijin and Lady Milim as family, welcome them with open arms and hearts." Kayo added, smiling happily before she had to stop a large sake pot from hitting her. Everyone was quiet in shock, staring at the growling water kitsune who had thrown it.

Benimaru and Souei where ready to get up to defend their mate, only to be pushed down by Rimuru and Antony. "Watch." was all the slime leader told them, and they watched worriedly as Kayo handled the rude kitsune.

"This is supposed to be OUR home! First you let in those slutty elves and those annoying fairies, then you bring in those filthy little humans but now this! You wish for us to welcome these brainless brutes and scaleless brat as family!?" he was growling before Kayo tossed the sake pot back at him, with greater force as it shatters on his head, making the kitsune stumble back more form shock. Milim looking pissed at the kitsune's words. "Did he just call me a scaleless brat?" she asked, and the little Demon Lord's aura leaked out before Rimuru could clam her down. The kijin all glared at the kitsune with distaste, they did not know why this one kitsune was being so defiant against Kayo.

"If you don't like it... leave. I will not tolerate you insulting my chosen family." Kayo voiced, monotone as she stared at the kitsune with sharp, deadly focus. "Then you choose wrong, Runt. We will always be your blood that you will cry back to when those you have chosen to stab you in the back." the kitsune scoffed and smirked as he saw Kayo flinch at his words. "I will not accept such a pathetic little runt like you as our leader. Know your place, is only as a fat-AGH!" the kitsune was saying before Kayo suddenly appeared in front of him and delivered a powerful left hook to his face. The impact making him fly out of the meeting hall that thankfully had its doors open to the garden, and then crash into the well enforced wall that surrounded the castle grounds, his body leaving a huge impression in it.

'Note to self... Never call Kayo, Fat.' Rimuru thought as it took a while before Kayo turned to everyone with a beaming smile that held a bit of irritation still.

"With that sour puss out of the way, please enjoy the feast my little sister, Shuna and myself have lovingly prepared for everyone. To a new and fruitful new year!" Kayo voiced, a maid kitsune handing her a sake cup. Kayo raised it in celebration with the remaining kitsune who raised their cups as well, not fearing their kitsune leader who defended her family.

"To a New Year!"

The kitsune, Kijin, Rimuru and Milim all happily raise a cup and drink with Kayo, as two dark clothed kitsune took away the troublesome kitsune without a sound.

~Kitsune Siblings' Private Dining Room~

"Why does Neptune always have to be such a jerk?" Kayo asked, pouting with irritation. Opening her mouth to happily accept the edible offering Souei had brought up to her lips, and slipped into her mouth with a small fond smile. The blue Kijin having been the lucky one to get the kitsune leader plopped into his lap. After the toast with the kitsunes, Kayo and her family had retreated upstairs to the private quarters where the siblings could relax. A table set and waiting for everyone to feast on and barrels of sake ready to be consumed. "He's just jealous of you, my lady! You're the Kitsune Lord and have us Brainless brutes at your command too!" Shion assured; her face already flushed from a few sips of the Kitsune sake, that she was happily drinking more of alongside with the kitsune leader.

"Oh~ this is gonna be fun." Bruno mussed before Anthony bopped him on the head. "Don't even think about it." he warned his brother. "What? You know sis is an honest drunk. The worse that can happen is if she starts molesting her boyfriends." the kitsune pointed out as Kayo was now saddling Benimaru's lap while offering him one of the strange new treats she had made.

"Say aww~." Kayo giggled as she smiled at a flush Benimaru who open his mouth to allow the kitsune to slip in the strange square that mimicked the color of her skin. Once the smooth treat touched his taste buds he was innately hooked on the creamy sweet treat as his eyes sparkled in delight.

"Should I... stop her?" Rimuru asked, worried with Milim next to him ignoring that Kayo was doing to her mates in favor of the yummy food. "Could you, would be the proper question." Diego pointed out, smiling softly as Shuna had refilled his sake cup, the pink Kijin feeling at home with the kitsunes. Having enjoyed cooking with the kitsune sisters, learning a few new recipes from Kayo, Antony being a sweetheart in taking care of Shion and the quiet Felipe bringing them exotic ingredients that the Jura Forest didn't provide. It made her really happy and excited for what was to come when they officially became family. Hakuro smiled fondly at the warmth the kitsunes provided to the kijins. Antony making sure Shion didn't drink too much or pour Kayo to much sake as the Kitsune leader herself already seemed pretty drunk and relaxed. He smiled at Carmen who refilled his tea without him having to say anything, besides Kayo, she was his favorite kitsune. Kurobe was talking with Felipe about something, showing the kijin a sketch book, whatever the kijin saw had him chuckling in amusement before petting the kitsune's head as thanks for his information.

"I want your baby!"

The loud declaration made everyone freeze and slowly look over at Kayo happily beaming up at a very shocked and crimson red faced Benimaru.