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Death and the Maiden - Zombie-Loan	By : OokamiKasumi Category: -Misc Anime > Het - Male/Female Views: 1281 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 0
Disclaimer: 'Zombie-Loan' characters, terms, and locations are property of Peach-Pit. This story was written for Personal enjoyment. No money was made from this work.

Chapter List
- 1-Death and the Maiden - Zombie-Loan
- 2-One
- 3-Two
- 4-Three
- 5-Four
- 6-Five
- 7-Six
- 8-Seven
- 9-Eight
- 10-Nine
- 11-Ten
- 12-Eleven
- 13-Twelve
- 14-Thirteen
- 15-Fourteen
- 16-Fifteen
- 17-Sixteen
- 18-Seventeen
- 19-Eighteen
- 20-Nineteen - END
- 9
- 10
- 11
Death and the Maiden
A Zombie-Loan Fan-fiction By Ookami Kasumi
~ Nine ~
For the rest of that day, Michiru prayed fervently at her desk that something would happen to prevent her from meeting the guys after class. Unfortunately, nothing did.
While the four o'clock bells rang, marking the end of the school day, Michiru set her books in her student locker, slid into her black, hooded coat then went to collect her sneakers from the shoe locker. With her red leather briefcase-styled book-bag full of homework in hand, she dragged her feet to the overgrown graveyard with an air of utter doom.
Under the leafless apple tree, burgundy-eyed Shito stood watching Chika with a sly smile. Shito's arms were folded across his chest, his burgundy school blazer immaculate, as usual. "Is that jealousy I hear?"
"What? No!" Scowling, golden-eyed Chika had his hands stuffed in his pants pockets. His barely buttoned white shirt was terminally wrinkled with the tails flapping loose in the November breeze. "I'm just saying, you're moving a little...fast, ya' know?"
Shito rolled his eyes and scraped a hand through his sleek black hair. "Actually, it's a little slow, for me."
Chika waved his hand, his spiked bleached-silver hair bouncing with his movements. "And when did you even get the chance to do...that? I was with you almost the whole friggen night!"
Shito snorted. "That is just a rumor. There's no truth in it-" Shito's gaze landed on Michiru. "-Yet."
Michiru tilted her head a little to the side. What the heck were they arguing about now?
Chika caught sight of Michiru and scowled fiercely. With a huff, he marched over to Michiru and leaned down.
Expecting a patented Chika-spaz-attack, she hunched down and closed her eyes.
Chika took a long deep sniff and abruptly straightened to glare at Shito. "You're full of shit. I don't smell nothin'."
What the...? Michiru opened one eye and looked up. "Huh?"
Shito strode over to Michiru's side. "That's because her body is human, ass-wipe."
Michiru's mouth fell open. "What?"
Chika snorted and grinned at Michiru. He jabbed a thumb over his shoulder, indicating Shito. "Dumb-ass over here says you're a reaper."
Michiru shook her head over and over. "I'm not! I'm not a reaper!"
Shito's eyes narrowed. "Not yet, anyway."
Michiru switched to nodding. "Yes, not yet!"
Chika flinched back, his hands going up. "Not yet?"
Michiru winced. Me and my big mouth.
Shito blew out a sigh. "I told you, shit-for-brains, it won't happen until she dies."
Michiru nodded hastily.
"Or from over-exposure to released zombies." With a soft rustle of the overgrown grass, a tall, lanky man wearing a battered gray overcoat, and an equally battered gray fedora hat stepped from the deep shadows of the apple tree. A stray beam of sunlight revealed the blond, and spectacled, Bekko, manager of Z-loan. He tucked his hands into his pockets. His faded blue gaze locked on Michiru.
Shito and Chika both stepped in front of Michiru, blocking Bekko's path.
Chika bared his teeth, flashing his blunted fangs. "What do you want, ferryman?"
Bekko reached up to push his glasses a bit higher on his nose. "We're going to have to make some adjustments in how you work with Miss Kita."
Chika leaned toward Bekko aggressively. "Ha...?"
Shito's eyes narrowed. "What do you mean by adjustments?"
Bekko eyed Michiru. "It seems that we're going to have to put a bit of...distance between you two and Miss Kita."
Shito's eyes narrowed to slits and his lips curled, baring his own over-long teeth. "What...?"
Chika tilted his head to the side. "Distance...?"
Michiru stared at Bekko sadly. Apparently, Kurou was right. Bekko really was trying to prevent her from becoming a reaper. Not that she wanted to be a reaper anytime soon, but she'd hoped that Bekko had at least wanted to keep her working with the guys. If he was going to separate them just to keep her from turning…?
Stinging with disappointment, Michiru stepped forward with her hand raised. "Mr. Bekko, you don't need to worry about that."
Bekko lifted one blond brow. "Oh?"
Michiru let her hand drop by her side and nodded. "Mr. Kurou- err... Mr. Zarame figured out how to...deal with...that."
Bekko smiled slyly. "Ah... So I see."
Michiru frowned. What the heck is that smile for?
Shito turned his narrowed gaze on Michiru. "That?"
Michiru shrugged and looked up at Shito from under her long bangs. "Mr. Zarame figured out a way to um, cut down the...effects of the uh, dark matter."
Chika set his hands on his lanky hips. "Dark matter…?"
Shito shot a sideways glare at his partner. "Nothing you need to worry your pea-brain over."
Chika glared at Shito. "Asshole…" He turned to frown at Michiru. "Wait, what effects?" He looked at Bekko. "What the fuck is she talking about?"
Bekko looked at Chika with a bored smile. "Over-exposure to released zombies is causing her to manifest her reaper soul."
Chika's head whipped around to stare at Michiru in wide-eyed horror. "You really are a reaper?!"
"No!" Michiru waved her hands. "I'm not! I'm not one yet!"
Shito rolled his eyes. "I told you so, moron."
Chika rounded on Shito to grab the front of slender Chinese prince's blazer. He raised a fist. "Shut-up, you bastard...!"
Shito raised a hand to casually flick Chika in the forehead - hard.
Chika released Shito to grab his face. "Ow!"
Bekko folded his arms across his chest. "Should Miss Kita fully manifest, it will kill her."
Chika froze. He turned sharply to stare at Michiru, then screamed. "WHAT...?!"
Michiru shot a narrow-eyed glare at Bekko. He was making this out to be way worse than it was. She turned back to the boys waved her hands. "That's not true! I won't actually die! I'll just be-" Her voice dropped to a murmur and she shrugged. "-a reaper."
Chika's jaw fell. He closed his mouth firmly and turned to face Bekko. "How do we stop it?"
Bekko shook his head. "You can't. She was born with a reaper's soul. It's what she is, or rather, what she will be when she dies."
Chika snarled. "Then what the hell can we do?"
Bekko shrugged. "If you stop releasing zombies near Kita, it should slow the process and extend her life. Keep in mind, your weapons release dark matter every time you use them on a zombie. If Kita is anywhere near you, she will absorb what's released."
Chika tilted his head. "Huh? What's this dark matter stuff?"
Shito huffed out a breath. "It's what makes zombies rise and what reapers eat."
Bekko nodded once. "When you wound a zombie with your ectoplasmic weapons, what you're really doing is cutting away their dark matter, which floats free. If Miss Kita absorbs too much of it, her reaper soul will take over - killing her in the process."
Kita rolled her eyes. Was Bekko trying to panic the guys? "Please, I'm not really going to-"
"Shit!" Chika scrubbed a hand through his bleached white hair, exposing the black roots. "Can we even do that?" He looked over at Shito. "I mean, she's there when we're fighting them."
Shito scowled, his burgundy eyes narrowed. "We'll just have to put her somewhere else first, I guess."
"What?!" Michiru rushed forward, but couldn't quite gather the courage to grab onto Chika's sleeve. "I'll be fine! I told you, Mr. Zarame figured out a way to take out some of the um...excess!"
Shito's gaze narrowed. "When?"
"Huh?" Michiru blinked. "When?" Her face began to warm. She looked away. "Err... Last night."
Bekko's smile turned decidedly sly. "Oh, so it has gone that far, has it?"
Michiru frowned. What did Bekko mean by that? Chilly suspicion began to bloom. He couldn't possibly know...!
Chika frowned in confusion. "What's gone what far?"
Shito grabbed onto Michiru's shoulder, forcibly turning her to face him. "How?"
She blinked up at Shito in confusion. "How...?"
Shito's upper lip curled, exposing a long tooth. "How is that little shit taking your...excess?"
Every last drop of blood in Michiru's face left. There was no way on God's green earth she could tell Shito...that. She jerked her shoulder out from under Shito's hand. "I-it doesn't matter h-how! It w-works, s-so you don't have to worry about me. Okay?"
Bekko blew out a sigh. "Gentlemen, you may want to step up your pace a bit. I have a feeling that Mr. Zarame may be returning to-" He looked at Michiru from the corner of his eye and smiled sourly. "-Work, sometime soon."
Michiru's eyes widened in horror. Bekko knew she was sharing her soul with Kurou. She winced. Of course Bekko knew. He was a ferryman, he worked for the same people the reapers did, so he would know. However, that didn't mean he knew how a reaper shared their soul with another reaper. Or rather, she hoped not.
Distracted, Shito and Chika turned to Bekko with a sharp gasp and yelled in unison. "What...?"
Shito openly snarled. "Ferryman, what in hell are you talking about?"
"Yeah!" Chika threw out his hands. "Shiba has its core and that bastard isn't anywhere around here. If he was, I would know!"
Michiru shuddered. Yes, Chika would know before anyone else if Reiichirou Shiba was anywhere nearby because the crazy psychopathic zombie-turned-reaper always targeted Chika first. Once upon a time, Shiba and Chika had been best friends, but that friendship had since gone very bad.
However, with the way Shiba always focused on Chika, it looked more like a crush, or infatuation gone bad - murderously bad.
Bekko turned away, the glare on his glasses hiding his eyes. "There are...other ways for a reaper to gain back their core, and it seems that our Mr. Sugar Candy has found one of them." He took a step away. "Right, Miss Kita?" With a half-hearted wave, the ferryman disappeared back into the shadows.
Michiru firmly believed in kindness and giving people the benefit of the doubt, but at that moment, Michiru absolutely hated Bekko. Apparently, the ferryman did know what she and Kurou were doing - and he found it amusing. "Bastard..." The word leapt off her tongue before she could stop it.
Both Shito and Chika turned to her in utter surprise.
Chika blinked. "Michiru, was that you?"
Unfortunately, Shito recovered from the shock much faster. "Kita, what are you giving that reaper? How is it recovering its core?"
"Wait a second..." Chika's mouth fell open. "You're the reason that little shit is coming back?"
Shito rolled his eyes. "Didn't you hear what Bekko just said? Just how much bleach do you use on your head? It's clearly soaking into your brain."
Shito rounded on Shito and grabbed the front of the Chinese prince's blazer. "My hair is natural, you bastard!"
Shito smirked. "Sure it is - which is why your hair has black roots, right?"
Chika raised his free fist. "Hey! It just does that by itself!"
Shito slapped Chika's hands from his blazer. "Sure it does. Right." He straightened his lapels and turned a narrowed burgundy glare on Michiru. "Kita, I'm waiting for an answer. What exactly are you giving that reaper? How is it getting its core back?"
Chika turned to Michiru with a frown.
Michiru winced. She had to tell them something, and unfortunately she couldn't lie. Shito was way too good at spotting them. However, that didn't mean she had to tell them everything. She took a breath and grabbed onto her courage. "Mr. Kurou is taking out some of the reaper part of me that's getting too big. That's what's rebuilding his core."
Chika turned away. "Son of a bitch..."
Shito frowned. "Can you just...let it out yourself?"
Chika snorted. "You said 'let it out'."
Shito shot a glare at Chika and growled. "Shut up with the masturbation jokes, ass-wipe. This is serious! Or do you not care that Kita is single-handedly bringing back our worse enemy?"
Chika curled his lip, showing his overlong teeth. "Of course I care!"
"Then shut the hell up!" Shito turned back to Michiru. "Kita, do you really need that reaper's help to do this?"
Michiru nodded. "I can't do it by myself."
"Piss, piss, piss...!" Chika began to pace. "If you don't get that out of you, you turn into a reaper, and if you do get it out that bastard comes back." He stopped and scraped his fingers through his already messy hair. "Mwah...! No matter what we do, we still get a reaper on our asses!"
Michiru shrugged and tried to lighten the mood. "Actually, if I don't get it out, you end up with two reapers because once I become a reaper, I can go find Shiba, and just take Mr. Kurou's core out of him and give it back." She smiled. "Two reapers not one, see?"
Chika's face went stark white.
Shito scowled. "That wasn't funny Michiru."
She blinked at the guys. "I-it wasn't?"
Chika lunged forward to grab onto both of her shoulders and shouted in her face. "You are not dying! I won't allow it! You hear me? You are not dying and turning into a reaper until you're a wrinkly old grandma with a dozen grand kids! You got that?"
Staring up into Chika's livid and scowling face, Michiru felt the seal she'd wrapped around her heart crack. "A grandma...? Me...?" A shard fell away, releasing the terror and anger she'd been keeping at bay. "Are you stupid?" She slapped Chika's hands off of her. "What makes you think I'll make it to graduation?" She turned to shout at both boys. "I hunt zombies, for Christ's sake! Things that eat people!" Her breath stuttered in her chest. "I could die tomorrow, or even tonight at the hands of one of those things!" She ignored the tears streaking down her cheeks and turned to glare at Shito. "You heard Mr. Bekko, he can't revive me as a zombie. Once I die, I'm done!"
That she would become a reaper on her death was suddenly, painfully irrelevant.
Chika turned sharply to look at Shito with wide eyes. "She can't be raised...?"
Shito looked away from Chika and shook his head.
Chika looked back at Michiru. "I... I didn't know." He took a step closer to Michiru. "Gopher, we..."
"Shut up!" She glared with eyes that had gone watery and out of focus. "You have weapons you can use!" She pointed at Shito. "You have a gun!" She pointed at Chika. "You have a sword!" She waved her hand in a broad sweep. "I don't have anything! I only have these eyes!" She pointed a finger at her glasses. "That's all I have! So what if I can see them! I can't stop them! And if you get hurt, you're a zombie. You heal a million times faster than I do. If you get practically cut in half, you won't die - but I will!"
Her legs abruptly gave out and she dropped onto the overgrown grass on her butt. "I can see them, but can't do anything at all!" She hunched over and folded her arms across her aching heart.
Chika knelt at her side. "Gopher-Michiru, we'll protect you." He turned to look over at Shito. "Won't we Shito?"
Shito moved in close and knelt at her other side. "Of course we will. You just need to point us in the right direction. We'll take care of the rest."
Chika put on a smile. "Nothing will even get close to you, we won't let it!"
Michiru let out a long sigh in an effort to calm herself. She was being selfish and upsetting the guys, but they just didn't get it! "I-I know you mean well, and you try your best, but..." She slid her jacket sleeve and shirt sleeve up her arm to expose a large crescent shaped scar that took up almost her entire forearm. There was a matching one on the underside. They had been made from human teeth, or rather, zombie teeth. She looked up at Chika. "Things...h-happen, you know?"
Chika's smile fell, and his golden eyes widened.
Shito winced and bit down on his bottom lip, but he didn't look away.
Chika sucked in a sharp breath and his voice came out tight. "I- I'm sorry."
"I know." Michiru tugged down her sleeves and forced her lips into a small smile. "It's okay. I'm okay. Just..." She gave them a serious and level look. "I know exactly how dangerous doing this is, okay? I'm not going to stop helping you, just..." She put her smile back on her lips and patted Chika's shoulder. "You can only do as much as you can. Accidents happen, right? And, sooner or later, you're both going to be busy, and I'm-" She shrugged helplessly.
Chika's hand flew up to cover her lips. "Don't say it. Please." He closed his eyes. "I-I'll do better, I swear it. I'll work harder to make sure you're protected." He looked up at Shito with a determined glare. "We both will. Won't we?"
Shito nodded firmly. "Yes, we will." He set his hand on Michiru's shoulder. "We'll make sure you're protected."
"After all...!" Chika abruptly smiled, though his golden eyes were a touch misty. "You're our most valuable asset!"
Shito rolled his eyes.
Her fear and anger safely sealed away once again, Michiru was able to smile just a bit wider and turned it on both guys. "Ah, it's time to go to work, yes?"
The guys exchanged a narrow-eyed glance then both of them reached down to grab her hands and pulled her up onto her feet.
Michiru dusted the grass off the back of her black coat and collected her book-bag. "Well, at least I'm useful."
Chika grinned. "Best navigational device we have!"
Shito reached out to smack the back of Chika's head, hard. "Moron."
Chika yelped and shot a glare at Shito. "What the hell was that for, bastard?" He rubbed the back of his head.
Shito tugged at his coat and straightened his tie. "Figure it out for yourself, idiot."
Chika bared his teeth in a snarl. "You need a belt to the mouth, ass-hole?"
Shito narrowed his burgundy gaze on Chika. "Do you need to die, shit-for-brains?"
With a strained smile, Michiru stepped between the two bickering boys. Not that it stopped their verbal jabs at each other. Even so, side by side, they walked out of the graveyard, heading for the heart of the city and the zombies that needed to be laid to rest.
~ ZL ~
- 9
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- 11
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Death and the Maiden - Zombie-Loan