Disclaimer: Neither Zombie Loan nor any of the characters in it belong to me. They all belong to the wonderful duo that is Peach Pit.

: All Things Cold :

Chapter 1

Well, Chika thought hazily, this is new.

Not the agony lancing his body, no, he'd sort of done that bit before, in varying degrees of pain.

Not the fact that he was not fully aware, reality swimming in and out of focus; this was also an event that was becoming increasingly more common due to his line of work.

And not even the concept that he was dying, as this would be his second time doing even that.

Nope, none of that was particularly new to Akatsuki Chika; he had done it all before after all.

What was different however were the arms wrapped around him, holding his upper body from the cold cement. What was different was the warring concern and anger on Tachibana Shito's face. Anger in itself was not especially new, but concern, well Chika could count the number of times on one hand that he had seen concern on Shito's face.

Shito was shaking him. Again. Chika wanted to reach up and smack him across the head for it because his eyes were already open; the lack of movement was hardly his fault!

"Chika! Oy! Chika!"

That was also new.

Chika could have almost smiled. How messed up was it, he wondered, that the only times he had ever heard Shito call him by his given name, was when he was in a life or death situation? Otherwise, it was Akatsuki, or idiot, or heathen pig – he remembered that one because Shito didn't use it so often- or sometimes, just plain moron.

Chika however? Shito never called him Chika unless he thought Chika was going to die.

That… was not a very comforting realisation for Chika.

He sighed and closed his eyes as his world wobbled and wavered. Shito's shaking was not helping. In fact, it was making him feel sort of sick on top of almost-dead. The last thing Chika wanted to do was to throw up all over himself, and then die.

That would just… Just-

The last thing Chika wanted to do, was die.

Chika did not want to die.

Chika really did not want to die.

"… oy… dumbass-… s-stop tha'…"

It did not sound like him. It was weak and soft and it wavered like his whole world was doing and it sounded nothing like him, Chika knew.

"Akatsuki!"

Back to that crap again. Was that relief on Shito's face? … wait no, more anger. Those features twisted and Shito looked like he was going to shake him again…

" … idiot! Stay awake- Michiru is bringing Yuuta, you need to-"

Chika could only half hear him. He picked up on the Michiru though. Heh. He bet Shito did not even realise he was calling her that…

Sometimes, when he was feeling particularly morbid, and curious- he had to be both or it was just depressing- Chika would wonder how zombies worked. He understood that he was technically dead, but he was not corpse temperature. Chika was not completely cadaver cold. He was more… room temperature. And the thing was that Shito was a bit warmer than him, which he had never understood.

He wondered why zombies bled sometimes. And it was only sometimes that they did. His heart did not beat. That had freaked him out for the first month of his undead life. But it did not, so why did they bleed?

His blood was black, and it was pooling beneath him, and it was room temperature like the rest of him but rapidly cooling.

Chika did not want to die but his world was slowly dimming.

He would have jerked back at the hand to his face, if he could move. Shito was prying one eye open and Chika, once again, wanted to smack him for it. Insensitive bastard, poking at his goddamn eye when Chika was lying there bleeding everywhere and dying!

"Akatsuki- Chika! Open your eyes!" That hand was at his face again, tapping. Not quite slapping, at least, not yet…

"Listen to me- open your eyes – stupid-!"

Like a broken record, Chika thought, but forced them open because he had a feeling that if he did not, Shito would start shaking him again. And that damn tapping was annoying.

He really was going to throw up if that continued.

"… ow…" he announced hoarsely.

There was neither relief nor amusement in Shito's face at Chika's verybad joke. His eyes were narrowed and his grip on Chika was so tight it hurt. On top of other hurts it made Chika wince a little bit, which Shito seemed to notice because that grip relented, just the barest fraction. It was almost like a relief…

"Stay. Awake." Shito said, very slowly, pronouncing each word clearly and properly as one would to a very stupid child.

"… s-shut…. up…" Chika said right back, just as slowly and carefully, though his voice wavered just a little bit and that ruined the taunt completely. "…s'not l-like m'doin… this…. n'purpose…"

Still no relief in those eyes, in fact, Shito looked like he was going to start shouting at Chika. He did not however. He pressed his mouth into that tight line, the way he would when he wanted to say something and was determined to not say it-

Chika's world wavered again, going dark for a moment but Shito's voice at least managed to penetrate that darkness--

"… knowing you, I wouldn't be surprised if you were," he heard Shito say, and was struck with the insane urge to stick his tongue out at the other zombie. But the action would have required effort; just as opening his eyes again would have required effort. Both acts would have taken more than Chika was willing to expend, right at that moment.

"… oy…"

This time he did not get tapped, or shaken. The hand at his face- Shito had never moved it away it seemed- pressed lightly once, before slipping elsewhere. Chika thought for a moment he felt fingers in his hair, but when finally managed to force his eyes open, both of Shito's hands were around him once more and he was being moved.

At least it felt like he was being moved. The sky was shifting and so was the wall to his left and there was nothing under his legs suddenly but air and one warm hand. Lifted. He was being lifted.

"… why're you w-warmer... n'me…?" Chika managed, with the hint of a frown and the vague suggestion of irritation stirring in his dazed mind. It sucked that they were not the same. Somehow it was important that they be the same. And work together. And fix all this bad shit.

And live…

"… s'not fair..." he whispered.

He felt Shito falter, that much at least, somewhat starkly. The world was moving, and then it was not, and then it was again and all Shito told him was, "I know."

He knew what? That still had not answered Chika's question!

"Kita-san left this way, she should return this way," Shito was saying. It sounded like he was talking to more to himself than to Chika, and Chika wanted to ask him who he was trying to kid here.

It was probably already too late. There was only so much Yuuta could do.

"Hey…" he managed.

Shito glanced down at him.

"Hm."

It was a typical Shito opening and Chika knew it.

It kinda made him want to smile a bit. He did not. He closed his eyes instead. His head was resting against Shito's shoulder. He knew the other zombie was covered in his blood but there was nothing he could do about that. He would move his head if he could too, there was something distinctly embarrassing being stuck like this. Moreso that despite everything else it did not feel as bad as it probably should have.

Chika had thought that dying would be harder.

But once the pain started to fade, there was just drowsiness, a sense of surrealism and of being not-quite-there.

And Shito was sort of warm but not too warm, so Chika knew he was there. It seemed important someone be there.

"… Akatsuki…"

"Mmmyea…"

Wait. Oh, right he had something to ask. Chika grasped that some time had past since he had last addressed Shito, and it took him a moment or two to remember what it was he had been thinking.

Shito was no longer moving. He seemed to be sitting down- at least from what Chika could feel. Opening his eyes was too much of a task, but there was a lap under him. That much he could make out. Strong legs, warmer than he was.

Shito had not put him down. Chika had half expected to be dropped on his ass, all things considered. He imaged Shito must have been pissed as all hell about the state of his clothes. Blood stains were a bitch to get out after all.

"… oh… yeah…" That was it. He could not move his hand, but he managed to flex his fingers and at the subtle shift above him, knew Shito was looking at them.

… What was he going to say-

Oh.

"… mi'wanna t-take back your…hand..."

While you can.

…

Silence.

Shito made this strange noise and then took a breath. A long, slow, deep breath. And it seemed he took several more, and they all sounded as harsh as that weird noise.

"… idiot," was all he said finally.

Just that. Nothing more.

Chika felt like arguing the point, but it did not seem as important anymore. Shito was warm; his own meagre heat had seemed to add to that and this was almost cosy. This could almost be-…

At least he wasn't alone.

But damn, it sucked. It really did.

He wanted to tell Shito, you can have my savings for the loan, but he thought, it's Shito, he'll know what to do anyway. The bastard would not need anyone to tell him that. He wanted to tell Shito not to work Gopher too hard, that was Chika's job and no one else was allowed to do that, not even Shito.

Shit.

It wasn't supposed to be so easy.

It wasn't supposed to be so soft or so warm or so damn welcoming.

He had always fought it. He had always strained against the stupid trappings people called fate and destiny and death. But this was warm. This was different. And Chika could almost- almost- swear he could feel Shito's heart, beat against his own.

It was not possible of course. Zombie hearts did not beat. But for a second or two, it almost felt like it.

"Don't die."

It was whispered. It took Chika almost a full minute to come to the conclusion that it was not the wind, not his imagination, but the person holding him that had said that, whispered that.

He snorted, very softly.

Stupid Shito. He wasn't going to die. Really. Still had a loan to pay off and he'd purposefully not-die just to avoid Shito getting his paws on everything Chika had managed to save so far!

"… mmmm… m'not goin'… anywhere…" he breathed.

Shito was gripping him too tightly again.

But it didn't hurt anymore.

He couldn't feel it anymore.

And it was okay because, dying, Chika realised, wasn't so hard after all.

: End of Chapter 1 :

… I'll admit to having not finished a multi-chapter fic in years but am working madly on this one… so. Fingers crossed. Chapter 2 is already done, posting it next week

Feedback for this will be treasured.