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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
- 6
- 7
- 8
Death and the Maiden
A Zombie-Loan Fan-fiction By Ookami Kasumi
~ Six ~
Bekko's faded blue gaze rolled to Michiru and his brows lifted.
Michiru flinched under his stare. Although the manager of Z-Loan looked human, he wasn't, at all. He was a boatman or oarsman of the river Styx, the river of death. If anyone could see what her soul really was, it was him.
Bekko turned back to look up at Shito. "A living human. Was that all?"
Michiru almost melted in relief.
"No way in hell is she human!"
Both of Bekko's brows lifted. "Hmm?"
Shito pointed a long finger at Michiru. "I just saw her sprout wings and float!"
"Oh?" Bekko turned his watery blue gaze on Michiru. "Really?"
Michiru shook her head and waved her hands before her. "I don't know what he's talking about!"
Shito slammed both hands down on Bekko's desk, making several papers slide to the floor. "She just tried to suck the life out of me, and when I tried to stop her, she sprouted wings and fucking floated!"
"Suck the life out of you?" Bekko's brows lowered and his suddenly very bright blue eyes narrowed and focused on Shito. "How?"
Shito jerked back from the desk. "Err..." He looked away. "During a..." He swallowed. "A kiss."
Bekko blinked. "I didn't think you even liked girls."
Shito bared his teeth and growled. "Of course I like girls!" He looked away. "I'm merely...selective."
Somewhat flattered, Michiru's face warmed and she looked away.
"Hmm..." Bekko rubbed his nose. "Miss Kita?"
Michiru looked over at Bekko. "Yes?"
Bekko leaned back in his chair and folded his arms across his belly. "You've been taking lessons from that little reaper on how to use your eyes to find illegal zombies, right?"
Michiru nodded. "Yes."
"Who taught you how to access the spirit plane?"
"Umm..." Michiru pressed her forefingers together and stared at them. "Yomi."
Bekko nodded thoughtfully. "The ghost, hmm... Oh, and who was it that taught you to pull souls out of bodies?"
"I think..." Michiru frowned. "I think I figured that one out on my own."
Bekko nodded absently then straightened in his chair to pull out a drawer. He pulled out a small test tube plugged with a cork and held it up. "Do you know what this is?"
Michiru's gaze zeroed in on the blue-black smoke that swirled inside the tube. She had no clue what was inside it, but she could almost smell the gingery bubbly effervescence of it. Her mouth watered.
Shito frowned. "What is that?"
Bekko absently waved the tube back and forth. "It is dark matter, for lack of a better name."
Michiru's eyes followed the tube's path back and forth.
Bekko watched Michiru with a slight narrowing of his eyes. "It's what allows the dead to walk. Living bodies normally only have trace amounts of it, but if exposed to large quantities of it, a body gains the ability to rise upon its death."
Shito frowned. "What has that got to do with anything?"
Bekko smiled sourly. "Remember when she was very nearly killed by that zombie teacher?" He nodded toward Michiru.
Shito nodded.
"Do you remember me saying that I could arrange to save her life, but I couldn't bring her back if she died?"
Shito frowned. "Yeah."
Bekko's gaze followed Michiru's near obsessive focus on the moving vial. "I couldn't bring her back because her body contains no dark matter what so ever. She is incapable of rising as a zombie."
Shito blinked. "Can't you just...give her dark matter?"
"That's what I'd normally do with a contractor that doesn't have enough, but with Miss Kita that would not be a good idea."
Shito scowled. "I don't understand."
Bekko smiled sourly. "Do you know what a reaper eats?" He passed his hands together in an obvious magician's slight-of-hand maneuver. The tube disappeared.
Michiru blinked as though waking from sleep. "Huh?"
Shito frowned. "I've only ever seen the doll eat ordinary food."
Bekko smiled slyly. "As do you, but is that what you really want to eat?"
Shito scowled then looked away.
Michiru bit down on her bottom lip. A zombie's natural food was raw flesh, preferably while still kicking and screaming. Even so, both Shito and Chika ate normal human food; cooked meat, grains, and vegetables in the dining hall with everyone else. However, she'd caught both Shito and Chika more than once eating raw hamburger and occasionally raw steak for a late-night snack.
Bekko nodded to Michiru. "Has Zarame told you anything about what he really eats?"
Michiru shook her head. "No."
Bekko leaned back in his chair. "Shinigami eat dark matter, specifically the dark matter contained in the undead. That is what they actually reap." His gaze slid to Shito. "Your ectoplasmic weapons, your gun and Chika's sword, do the same thing as a reaper's scythe; they cut loose the dark matter which sets the soul free to pass on, and keeps the corpse from rising again." He waved a negligent hand toward Shito. "However, the dark matter itself isn't gone, it merely floats free." His gaze shifted to Michiru. "Where a reaper would absorb it and consume it."
"Fine, whatever." Shito curled his lip in open annoyance. "What does that have to do with Kita?"
Bekko leaned forward to set both elbows on his desk then folded his hands together. "It wasn't your soul Miss Kita was sucking out of you, but your dark matter."
Shito just stared at Bekko for several very long seconds. "Are you saying she's a reaper?"
"I'm not!" Michiru waved her hands in open panic. "I'm not one yet!"
Shito turned to stare at her wide-eyed. "Yet...?"
Bekko lifted a blond brow. "Oh, so he did tell you about that?"
Tears formed in Michiru's eyes and slid down her cheeks. Her friendship with the guys was about to undergo a drastic change, and most likely not for the better. Even so, she hoped they wouldn't completely write her off. "He said it won't happen until I die."
All expression bled from Shito's face. "Die...?"
Bekko smiled sourly. "You might want to warn Akatsuki not to try kissing her. He has far less dark matter to spare than you do."
Shito turned sharply to Bekko. "Wait a sec... You just said she was human!"
Bekko shrugged. "She is human."
Shito shook his head. "Then how...?"
Bekko picked up a stray paper and gazed at it. "Her body is completely human. It's her soul that's not."
"What?" Shito scowled in open confusion. "How the hell did that happen?"
"It didn't happen." Bekko lifted his gaze and gave Shito a bland stare. "Miss Kita was born that way. All reapers are born mortal." He tilted his head to the side. "More or less. However, they don't fully manifest until after their mortal life ends."
"Wait..." Shito bared his teeth in a snarl. "Then, you knew what she was from the beginning?"
Bekko shrugged. "I'm a ferryman. Seeing souls is part of the job." His gaze slid to Michiru and he rubbed a finger along his nose. "However, that Miss Kita is manifesting her reaper aspect while she's still living is a bit...troubling."
Michiru waved her hands. "I didn't do it on purpose!"
Bekko smiled sourly. "I'm sure you didn't, which is why it's so troubling." He abruptly frowned. "Speaking of the little reaper, he's not with you?"
Michiru shook her head. "I haven't seen him all day."
Shito stiffened then abruptly turned and walked out of the office.
Michiru sighed and picked up her coat from the floor. She slid into it and headed out of the little office. It was far too late to go back to school, so she dragged her heels toward the dorm. After the way Shito had handled the news of her...future, she was not looking forward to the explosive fit Chika was bound to have.
~ ZL ~
Ten steps from the decrepit dormitory's front doors, Michiru spotted Kurou, the tiny reaper, flying out the front doors. Apparently, he was not watching where he was going because he slammed into her chest and bounced back. Michiru caught him in her cupped hands. "There you are!"
Kurou shook his head sharply then zipped out of her palms. His tiny barely existent hands grabbed onto her black hood. "Come with me, now!" He flew over her shoulder, yanking on her hood.
"What?" She turned to keep from being throttled. Why is everyone always grabbing my hood? "Where are we going?"
An explosive shout vibrated the cracked windows. "She's a WHAT?!" There was no mistaking Chika's voice.
Michiru winced. "Um, never mind." She turned back down the sidewalk and started trotting. "Lead the way!"
~ ZL ~
The tiny reaper led Michiru all the way across town. It was a long and tiring walk. When the setting sun began to stain the sky orange and red, Michiru considered buying a convenience store lunch box for dinner, but oddly enough, even though she had missed lunch, and was currently missing dinner, she wasn't hungry. "You know, if you had told me we were coming out here, we could have taken the bus."
The little doll-like lifted his nose and folded his hypothetical arms across his miniscule chest. "Even if I had told you, it would not have made sense to you."
Michiru's brows lifted. "What do you mean?"
The little reaper blew out a breath. "You measure distance and locations in human terms." He looked over his shoulder briefly. "I am not, nor have I ever been, human."
Michiru wilted. "Oh." Apparently, he'd meant what he'd said literally, not figuratively.
The sky darkened to a deep blue and the stars came out. Road lights switched on with a soft buzz and fewer cars began to pass by. The road began to climb, steeply. Michiru stopped to set her hands on her knees and huffed for breath. "Are we there yet?"
"Almost." The little reaper pointed ahead of them. "It's at the top of this hill."
"Top of this hill." Michiru straightened and continued trudging. "Okay."
At the top of the hill was an abandoned corporate building. Inside, it was dirty, creepy, and dark, but there didn't seem to be any zombies about. The reaper urged her up a decrepit and crumbling staircase.
Emerging on the roof, Michiru kicked a few loose tiles away from her feet and huffed for breath. "Can I sit down now?"
The little reaper zipped to the low wall on edge of the roof. "Sit here."
"Finally!" Michiru tripped across the refuse and scrap littered roof and sat down on the low wall with her feet dangling over the edge.
The view was spectacular. The whole city glowed with thousands of colored lights.
The reaper settled on her shoulder. "You're not bothered by being this high up?"
Michiru looked down. There were at least ten stories between her dangling feet and the distant trash-littered ground. Not even a flutter of unease went through her. The view didn't bother her in the least. She frowned. "Huh, I thought I was. I guess I'm not anymore."
The little reaper sighed heavily. "Is it true, what the Chinese brat said, that you...manifested; you shifted into your reaper form?"
Michiru winced. Damn... Apparently, Shito had gotten back before her long enough to tell that to more than just Chika. She plucked at her maroon skirt and kicked her feet. "I... I don't know. I think I remember floating for a little bit, but I wasn't really paying attention at the time."
"Che-!" The little reaper rubbed at his head with a barely existent hand. "I knew being around those two zombie brats was a bad idea!"
Michiru looked over at him. "Huh? Kurou?"
The little reaper blew out a breath. "You have a reaper's soul, that why you have those eyes."
Michiru nodded. "You told me that last night."
"A zombie rises because their corpse is saturated with a substance that traps the soul. That substance is what we reapers take."
Michiru's brows lifted. "Dark matter, right?"
The reaper turned to look at her. "Bekko finally opened his mouth, did he?"
Michiru hunched down and wrung her hand together. "I spoke to him today. He said that dark matter was what made a zombie rise, and that it was what reapers...eat."
The little reaper nodded. "It is, and apparently you've absorbed so much dark matter from being around so many released zombies that you're actually manifesting your reaper soul before your death."
Michiru nibbled on the bottom of her lip. "Is that bad?"
He looked over at her with sad eyes. "It means your reaper soul is trying to break free before its time. Once that happens, your mortal body will cease to exist."
Cease to exist...? Michiru could only stare at him.
The little reaper fluttered off her shoulder to float before her. "If you plan to make it to the next winter in your mortal form, you must stop zombie-hunting, especially in the company of those two brats."
Michiru's eyes widened. "Stop...? But I can't!"
He narrowed his gaze on her. "You must. Every time they slay a zombie in your presence, your reaper soul absorbs and consumes the free-floating dark matter they cut loose."
Michiru shook her head. She didn't remember any such thing. "I don't...!"
He zipped right into her face and shouted. "You do! I watched you do it! You absorb it right through your skin. Haven't you notice how light and err...happy you feel after a zombie is released?"
She looked away. She did feel a bit euphoric after a soul was released, but she'd thought that was merely happiness that the soul could finally move on.
"I should have put a stop to that sooner." The little reaper turned away. "I knew that it was strengthening your reaper soul, but I didn't realize how much."
Michiru shook her head. "But Shito and Chika need me!"
Kurou waved a tiny scythe in her direction. "They don't. They did fine before they knew you. They'll do fine without you."
She wasn't needed. Not a pleasant thought. "But I owe Bekko...!"
The reaper shook his head. "You owe him nothing. You can't be indebted to him because you can't be contracted. In point of fact, that ferrymen contracts only the undead because he is forbidden to endanger living mortals."
She frowned. "Then why did Bekko let me go zombie hunting?"
The reaper narrowed his gaze on her. "Did he specifically order you to go?"
Michiru frowned. "Err... No, I did it to help Shito and Chika."
The reaper nodded. "Free choice. You decided to do that on your own. If you got yourself killed, his hands were clean."
"What about my debt to Bekko?"
"I just told you..."
"Shito and Chika are carrying it for me because Bekko did save my life!"
Kurou's gaze narrowed. "Yes, he did. He extended your life even though he's forbidden to interfere with a mortal's life span, and fully aware that you would become a reaper once your mortal life ended. In other words, he deliberately prevented the birth of a new reaper."
Michiru blinked, not quite sure what to think about that.
Kurou looked away. "However, what's done is done, and if you wish to keep what little mortal life you have left, you will stay the hell away from Zombie Loan, and in particular, those two brats."
Michiru hung her head. "I... I don't think I can do that."
The little reaper snorted. "I don't think you'll get much choice in the matter. If I understand Bekko's motives right, once he knows that your lifespan is being shortened by overexposure simply by being in the presence of his pet zombies, my guess is that he'll order you to stay away."
Michiru looked over at the tiny reaper in wide-eyed horror. "What? Why?"
"To keep you alive for as long as possible." He smiled sourly. "After all, it is in his best interests to avoid your transformation into a reaper."
Michiru frowned in confusion "I don't understand. Why would Bekko not want me to be a reaper?"
Kurou rolled his one visible eye. "Bekko is a business man, fledgling. Undead released by reapers cut into his profits."
Michiru shook her head. "That sounds really...petty."
Kurou waved both hypothetical arms. "Think about who you're talking about! He makes use of a tea-bag twice, sleeps in his office so he doesn't have to rent an apartment, and won't throw away a sheet of paper that hasn't been used on both sides. Tell me that isn't petty?"
Michiru winced. Kurou had a point.
The tiny reaper hovered close to Michiru's face. "Because the one reaper that operates in this area is out of commission - me, that man has been making astronomical profits. You'll notice that he has done absolutely nothing to assist me in the return of my core."
Michiru fisted both hands. "I'm doing my best!"
Kurou smiled sourly. "Kind of hard to do anything if the bastard that has my core isn't anywhere near here, or even on this plane, ne?"
Michiru covered her face with her hands. "I'm sorry..."
Kurou sighed and patted her shoulder. "It's fine, really. Once you become a shinigami, a reaper, it won't take you but ten seconds to locate that bastard, no matter what plane he's hiding on, and less than that to get it out of him. Then you can just hand it to me."
Michiru nodded, but she didn't feel any better. "I'm sorry it's taking so long."
The tiny reaper shrugged. "Shinigami exist for eons; that's centuries of centuries. A handful of years like this, while annoying, is actually barely a drop in the bucket." He snorted. "It's not that difficult to wait while you finish out your mortal life span."
Michiru looked away. What Kurou had said was obviously meant to comfort her, but all it did was make her feel even more useless.

~ ZL ~
- 6
- 7
- 8
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Death and the Maiden - Zombie-Loan