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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
- 16
- 17
- 18
Death and the Maiden
A Zombie-Loan Fan-fiction By Ookami Kasumi
~ Sixteen ~
The tiny doll sized reaper tugged at Michiru's scarf. "Quick! On top of the car! Fake zombies will only attack those directly in their path."
Michiru stepped up onto the rusty bumper of the battered Toyota and scrambled onto the hood. "But some of them are real!"
The tiny reaper continued to tug at her scarf. "On the roof. Those real zombies are the only ones that will pursue you."
Michiru climbed up on the little car's roof. The aluminum roof dipped and swayed precariously under her feet. To keep from toppling off, she sat down and tucked her feet under her.
The first wave of paper zombies split to shamble around the car to either side. She glanced over at the doll-like reaper. "Are you really going to show me how to make a scythe?"
"I'm going to show you how to call your scythe. Now, stand up."
Michiru set her palms on the car's sloped roof and wobbled uneasily to her feet. "I'll fall off!"
"You won't. Once you bring your scythe into being, your sense of balance will improve - considerably."
"Improve?" Michiru blinked. "Won't a big heavy scythe knock me more off balance?"
"No. It will bring your body into balance."
Michiru frowned in concentration, trying to wrap her mind around what Kurou was saying. "That...doesn't make sense."
The doll flew up to stare her in the eye. "You were born a reaper. You were born with a scythe already a part of you. Your body expects it to be in your hands, so your balance is off as long as it's not in your hands."
"But, I've never even held a scythe."
The doll-sized reaper sighed. "You will see once you call it."
Something thumped hard against the rear of the car, shaking it hard.
Michiru yelped in alarm, and fell to her knees.
At the rear of the battered Toyota was what appeared to be a common businessman. His mouth opened on a low hoarse moan revealing a rotting blue interior. The breeze carried the stomach-churning scent of decay. The man had clearly been dead for more than a week.
Michiru scrambled back onto her feet. "Ah... A real one!"
The tiny reaper landed lightly on Michiru's shoulder and with barely existent hands gripped the hood of her coat. Against her cheek, he whispered, "Place your palm over your heart."
Unable to look away from the dead businessman clumsily attempting to climb onto the back of the Toyota, Michiru nodded and placed her palm over her heart.
Kurou's voice deepened, resonating in her skull. "Do not look away from your prey, but feel for the handle with your fingers. Do not worry, it will rise to meet your palm."
Michiru spread her fingers, feeling across the surface of her coat. She felt a mild, sinking sensation, as though her fingers had encountered...Jell-o, for lack of a better description. It wasn't exactly pleasant, in fact, it made her heart ache as though bruised.
Kurou sighed. "That's it. Yes... Now, reach deeper and feel for the hard handle. It will feel like a bar."
She pressed deeper, and the ache in her heart increased. A small sound of discomfort escaped her lips. Something hard met Michiru's fingertips.
The dead man succeeded in stepping up on the bumper of the car, but was too clumsy to go further.
Michiru closed her fingers around the hardness. It fit against her palm perfectly, but it wasn't perfectly straight like a bar at all. It was gently curved, like the wooden handle of a hammer, only smoother. A strong feeling of longing welled up, of having missed something, or someone, important. A single tear slipped down her cheek.
"Good. Now, pull with all your strength, as fast as you can!"
Michiru pulled hard and fast. From her body burst a long deep violet pole that was gently curved yet lumpy, as though made from the branch of a tree. At the very end emerged a long, bow curved, viciously sharp and pointed blade that gleamed bright silver along the inner edge. The outer, flat edge was decorated with a profusion of vines and blooming flowers in violet and plum.
The dead man finally succeeded in clambering onto the trunk of the car. It lifted a hand, reaching for her.
At her ear, Kurou shouted, "Strike!"
Without thought, her hands took their proper places on the long handle. She raised the weighted blade and swung, smoothly, evenly, and perfectly across the black ring around the neck of the dead man. It felt so natural; so right that it didn't take any effort at all.
The weight of the heavy blade carried her all the way around on the toe of her right foot in a perfect pirouette. She stopped, poised and perfectly balanced in the exact same place she had begun her swing, and for the first time in her life she didn't feel like she was going to topple over for no reason at all. A wave of euphoria sailed through Michiru, and she smiled.
The dead man froze in position, hand upraised. His head did not fall from his shoulders. He merely crumpled where he was and dropped to roll from the trunk of the car to the ground. Bubbles of blue light began to rise from it; the soul, finally released from the decaying body.
A passing paper zombie stepped on the inert corpse and continued onward toward the warehouse.
At her ear, Kurou shouted. "Pay attention! There's another one, and this one is more awake than the last one."
A dead vagrant wearing far too many coats suddenly launched itself from the ground to land hard on the trunk of the car in a crouch.
The car under Michiru bounced. However instead of toppling to the ground, she used the car's bounce as propulsion and sprang upward. With a perfectly executed mid-air flip and twirl, her scythe took the throat of the dead vagrant.
She dropped neatly back onto the car's hood, knees bent and one hand down, her fingertips touching to steady her, but with barely a bounce.
The dead man froze then fell over, and off the car. Bubbles of pale blue light began to rise from it.
At her ear, Kurou nodded. "Good, but keep alert, there are more! Remember, take only what attacks you directly! If its paper, let it go."
To Michiru, it was like a dream; twirling in the night air, free and graceful for the first time in her life. Although the night was bitterly cold, she didn't feel it. Although it was pitch-dark she could see clearly and sharply. Although she had been clumsy on her feet her entire life, her body flowed easily around the scythe that was the center of her balance; the center of her world.
She hopped secure in her steps from the roof of the car to the trunk, then leaped to the car's hood as though suspended by strings that wouldn't let her fall. It was like dancing with a trusted and long familiar partner.
And she never missed. One strike across the throat and a zombie fell, its blue soul rising in bubbles of light to disappear into the sky above.
It was exhilarating.
She dropped lightly onto the roof of the car facing the Toyota's trunk and the warehouse's gate, eagerly watching for the next attack.
The zombies were gone.
Still perched on her shoulder, Kurou sighed deeply. "That was the last one. Return your scythe to its place."
It sounded like a death knell.
Return it? In her hands, Michiru's scythe, the other half of herself, trembled. Return to being a clumsy fool that tripped over her own toes for no apparent reason? She clutched the deep violet scythe to her chest. "I... I don't want to."
Kurou leaned close to her cheek and spoke softly. "Do you wish to become a reaper this night?"
A reaper...? Tonight? Michiru closed her eyes and leaned over her scythe. She didn't want to let it go, but... Did she really want to end her time as a human - without even saying goodbye to the boys, or Koyomi, or Yuuta at Z-loan? What about her friends at school? Slowly she shook her head. No, not yet! She wasn't ready to let go of her life just yet.
Kurou whispered against her ear in his deep husky voice. "Michiru, you can call it again, should you need it. It's not leaving you because it's a part of you. It is a literal extension of your core."
She nodded. He was right after all. It's not like anyone was taking it from her.
Kurou nodded. "Press the handle against your heart and let it sink into you."
The scythe began to sink into Michiru, sliding directly into her heart, and with it came the pressing weight of wrongness that literally tipped her off balance. She flopped clumsily onto her butt. Utter disappointment and an overwhelming feeling of helplessness brought tears to Michiru's eyes. She closed her eyes tight, and bit her lip to keep from sobbing out loud.
With a burst of black lightning, the reaper assumed his full form and knelt behind her on the car's roof. His massive black wings opened partway and mantled around them both, the long flight feathers nearly brushing the ground on either side of the tiny Toyota. At her ear he spoke softly. "This feeling will pass fledgling. It's merely the weight of your own mortality. When you finally become the reaper you are meant to be, you will never feel it again."
"How terrible... Making little girls cry, Reaper?" The intruding voice was sly, vaguely amused, and far too familiar.
Michiru hastily wiped her eyes and looked to her right.
Wearing a pale gray overcoat, and equally pale gray Fedora hat, Bekko, manager of Z-Loan and immortal Ferryman, looked up at them with his hands deep in his pockets. His lips were curved in a smile, but his watery blue gaze was narrowed.
Michiru waved her hands before her. "No, no...! Mr Kurou, didn't make me cry!"
"Hmmm...? Is that so?" His smiled broadened to show teeth. "So you can assume your true form, Reaper."
The reaper stood, his wings folding tightly under his tattered leather cape. He faced the manager of Z-Loan, his one visible eye narrowed. "For short periods of time, yes. I was under the impression that the Tachibana brat told you this."
Bekko sighed. "Miss Kita, if you would be so kind as to translate?"
Michiru took a deep breath to steady her nerves. "He says, he can for short periods of time, and he thought Chika already told you."
Bekko tilted his head to one side, still smiling, but his gaze narrowed further. "Ah... No, apparently, he forgot to mention it." He lifted a hand to tug at the brim of his hat, shadowing his eyes. "And I had absolutely no idea that you, Miss Kita, could manifest a scythe."
Michiru shrugged, a trifle self-conscious. "Mr. Kurou just showed me how, tonight." She looked up at the reaper who had started to growl. "We kind of, didn't have a choice."
"Ah... So." Bekko nodded. "However, I would like to request that you use that as little as possible. You see, zombies taken by a reaper's scythe do not show up on our accounts, so I'm afraid that all your efforts will not count toward your debt."
Michiru blinked. "Oh, but I only took out seven. A good twenty more passed me by."
Kurou snorted. "He doesn't want you using your scythe because he knows that the scythe collects dark matter. The more you use it, the closer you will be to becoming a reaper. Selfish bastard..."
Michiru looked up at him. "Oh, but you can stop that from happening, right?"
Kurou nodded. "Of course."
Bekko pushed the brim of his hat up revealing wide eyes. "Wait, wait, wait a minute! Did you say that over twenty zombies passed you by?"
Michiru blinked at Bekko. "Oh, yes, but that's because-"
Kurou abruptly knelt to cover her mouth with his broad hand. "Say no more. He does not need to know what is not his business."
Michiru nodded and gently pushed Kurou's hand away. "They all went into the warehouse where Chika, and Shito, and Koyomi..." Her eyes widened. "Oh! I can't believe I forgot! Shiba is turning into a reaper!"
Kurou sighed. "That one has most likely already manifested."
Michiru turned sharply to look up at Kurou. "Already? He's turned already?"
"Shit!" Bekko grabbed his hat and took off running for the warehouse.
Michiru slid across the car's roof and set her feet on the hood. "We should go too!"
Kurou grabbed onto the back of her coat, halting her on the edge of the roof. "No, we should not."
Michiru tugged at Kurou's imprisoning hand. "But, I want to help!"
"You have already absorbed your limit of dark matter. Any more, and that brat won't be the only new reaper."
Michiru stared up at the warehouse's dark rooftop. "But Shito, and Chika, and Koyomi...!"
"Are not so helpless as to need your assistance. Also, that ferryman will soon join them. That one has a vested interest in keeping them in one piece." Kurou turned her around to face him. "We have a more important task at hand."
Michiru blinked up at the towering reaper. "We do?"
Kurou set his hand under her chin and pushed gently to angle her head upward. "Yes, we do. Reducing the size of your core."
Heat filled Michiru's cheeks. "N-now? Here?"
"Yes, now, but not here." The bandages covering his face dissolved to show his smile. He ducked his head and pressed his lips to hers.
Michiru closed her eyes and parted her lips without thought, reaching out with her tongue to caress his.
He returned the caress then inhaled sharply.
Something inside her abruptly released, unwinding like a skein of silk. The pressure around her heart eased, and a mild wave of euphoria washed through her. A soft moan escaped her.
Kurou broke the kiss to swallow, and straightened. "That should do to get us elsewhere."
More than a little lightheaded, and not only from having part of her soul drawn out, Michiru grabbed onto Kurou's sleeves. "Um... Elsewhere?"
He leaned down to lift her into her arms and held her like a child. "Are you quite sure you want to do that out here, where the others can see?"
That? The meaning of that abruptly surfaced: Sex. The light-headedness fled. "No, no! Elsewhere is fine!"
"Good. Hold on, I'm going to fly us there." His wings spread. He leaped upward and carried her into the night sky.
~ ZL ~
- 16
- 17
- 18
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Death and the Maiden - Zombie-Loan