Finally getting this story started! 0_0 I got inspired by AnbaLen's fandub Gravekeeper as well as recently completing an LP of The Walking Dead, and almost instantly got ideas for a Shugo Chara fanfiction, so I decided to put "String of Melodies" (Shugo Chara) and "Destructive Paths" (Final Fantasy VII, sequel to "More Than A Hero") on hold for a while.

"Destructive Paths" I put on hold because I haven't had the time to write or even plan out how to rewrite it from chapter 2, and "String of Melodies" is on slight hiatus in terms of writing in my notebook.

Anyways, now this is one that is born from one song and its Romanji lyrics. I recommend hearing the song.

^_^ I bring you the prologue of Gravekeepers.

Don't mind that it's fairly short, I'll try to update soon enough since chapter 1 is in progress.

"Hurry up already, or we're going to leave you behind. We have work to do." A boy with blonde hair looked up from the headstone of a grave. On the headstone was the name Rima Mashiro.

"…I've lost a close friend in the midst of all of the chaos brought on by the spirits… She shouldn't have been involved in this…"

"Get to the point."

"Can't I at least have the time to pay my respects to her family?"

"Tadase, listen carefully to what I say… we are Gravekeepers. We are people that are cursed and condemned into a life of battling and protecting the lost spirits of the country. We don't get to interact with others at night, let alone those who are related to victims of the Nightwalkers. People die all the time. That's just it. All that we can do in response is try to protect their souls."

Tadase's eyes darted to the ground. "That's so heartless… How can you say that?! She was… Rima was my…! She was my best friend! You can't sit here and tell me that you haven't felt grief when you lost someone important to you!"

Slowly, he removed the hood from over his head, keeping the black cloak he wore secure over his shoulders. Midnight blue hair fell just past his neck, some hair covering his cold, emotionless azure eyes. "...Losing someone important to me got me here in the first place."

"Ikuto-"

"Never mind it. We still have Nightwalkers to take down. We can't keep the others waiting because of one person's death." The young man known as Ikuto then held out an arm, and a long bladed scythe seeped out from the palm of his hand from the hilt of the weapon downward. Black feathers spewed from the tip of the weapon as Ikuto focused his energy a bit into it.

Tadase looked away from him again. "…I don't trust your intentions any more than I would trust the judgments of our enemies."

"That's a wise choice indeed." He spun the scythe once, and instantly a Nightwalker fell to the ground, its deteriorated body sliced in half. "I'm not exactly the nicest person in the guild." Ikuto charged forward, scythe drawn.

I wasn't always a Gravekeeper. Far from it, in fact.

I never wanted to put down restless spirits, or have to protect the pure souls of those that had not yet been corrupted by the dark souls of Nightwalkers. I'm relatively a veteran of the Gravekeepers because I happened to have the right qualifications to join this guild. Not many of us are scythe wielders, so we're considered rare breeds.

One by one, decapitated bodies fell to the ground and then disintegrated. Ikuto's eyes were void of emotions as he cut them down with his scythe.

It was a curse. Why was it a curse, you ask?

Because we are alive through our soul energy, but we are no longer able to walk among the living. It is almost as if we are deceased ourselves.

Tadase watched briefly before biting his bottom lip, stifling a cry. He looked back in the direction of his superior, an expression of anger in his light crimson eyes. Then he motioned his hands, reaching out and running his fingers along his back. A large amber staff with dark blue rosary charms along the handle formed from his thoracic vertebrae, and Tadase sighed a bit, a tear dropping down his face.

"…I'm going to avenge you, Rima… For Nagihiko's sake… I promise you that I will."

We could not interact with our families, or friends that were not among our rankings. The very moment we wanted to disobey our orders and try to meet with, say, our family members, just in the hopes of telling them that we're alive and well and everything… we get hunted down and executed by our own kind.

Blood splattered all about the rotting grasses and tombstones. Tadase continued to fight off the Nightwalkers even as the sunlight dimmed over the Midorizuma Cemetery—their place of work. The sun was finally beginning to rise, and once it had, they would be gone for the time being, eaten away by the sun's rays. And then the guild's top protégés and novices would return to another day of the general reconnaissance, recovery, and then more work.

We can never see them again for as long as we remain here.

Ikuto glanced back as soon as he heard someone spawn in from behind, and he froze when he caught sight of the silhouette of the person before him. His mouth went dry, and he lost most of the grip he had on the scythe.

I was fifteen when I first was scouted by force… and I was only scouted in the first place… because of one girl.

Eyes of hazel blankly stared at him from afar, face hidden by the hood over the silhouette's head.

"You…?"

One that meant the world to me.

And so ends the prologue! ^_^

Review, please, I'd appreciate it a lot!