Sorry it took so long. I'm a terrible person, I know... Please refrain from killing me until I end at least one of these fanfictions!


Taki had been helping his mother put his siblings to bed when the unwanted helper- Agi- charged off of one of the boys' beds to the door. Taki knew without looking who it was, as he'd grown accustomed to sensing him. Shikimi, of course. Though the demon that had once been with the priest now resided in Taki's body, a bit of its' presence still lingered, and Taki was still able to feel it. "I'll be done in a few minutes, sensei." He murmured, pulling a blanket over the child who lie beneath him.

"Now, Taki." There was a clear urgency in the former demon's voice that sent a shiver down the boy's spine.

He sighed and glanced up at his mother apologetically, "I'll be back in a bit," He said softly, backing away from the bed to where Shikimi stood. His mother, concerned and confused, nodded as if she understood. Of course there was no way of knowing that her son was going off to kill the undead.

"My mother's going to start to worry, you know," Taki warned when they were safely out of said woman's earshot. "You could have at least waited until-"

"It couldn't have waited." Shikimi stated, cutting Taki off, "It couldn't have waited. I was wondering why I was able to sense it so early in the day, but I understand now. I assumed that the undead could only rise at night... But I didn't think of those like Grey and Agi... I believe that whatever it is we're facing is already awake, and may have been for several hours."

Taki's heart nearly stopped, "Like Grey? You mean they're intelligent, too?"

Shikimi nodded, his expression unusually grim, "The longer we wait, the more time it has to re-gain it's strength."

"And we don't have the power of instant regeneration on our side anymore, either," Taki added quietly, resting a hand against his chest where he knew the demon lie dormant inside of him.

Shikimi's familiar forced smile returned as he rested a hand on Taki's shoulder. "We can handle it." He stated with utmost confidence, "We'll just have to be more careful than usual."

Taki returned the smile, though his was pure and true as always, "Yeah, we can take it." He agreed. Sometimes, ignorance truly is bliss.

They arrived at the cemetery in relatively good time, as they had been walking at a brisk pace, and they could already see that something was off. Well, several somethings. The most noticeable was the fact that there was a large gathering of people slowly approaching the place of mourning. This might not be unusual if a funeral had been taking place, but those rarely took place after sunset. The next anomaly was much smaller and much less noticeable. Leading the pack of people by several feet was a young boy who appeared to be no older than seven, though he was little more than a shadow in the night. "What're they doing?" Taki wondered aloud, glancing over at Shikimi.

The priest replied, "Perhaps they think they can meet us at the cemetery and ambush. They already know what we do there. Whatever the case, be on your guard, Taki."

"Yeah, I know," Taki agreed, and, with this, they continued walking towards the mob of people. It didn't take long to catch up with them, and soon enough they were close enough to hear that the boy was humming rather loudly, his voice smooth and rhythmic. "What's he doing?" Taki wondered aloud, glancing over his shoulder at Shikimi. When he received no response, he stopped walking and called out softly, "Sensei? Are you feeling okay?" Shikimi, however, did not stop walking, and it wasn't long before he disappeared amongst the mass of other followers. Naturally worried, Taki shoved his way into the crowd, searching for the silver hair that he knew would stand out against the black of night... But he could see nothing. "Sensei?" He called, his voice soft. He would have spoken more loudly had the older man not suggested that they were being hunted by the people that now surrounded him. Drawing attention to himself could only cause problems. Suddenly, Taki found himself standing alone in front of the young boy he'd noticed earlier. Apparently, without him realizing, the mob had stopped moving, though he, in his search to find Shikimi, had not. He stopped moving, and his eyes met the child's. Now, with the full moon high above them, Taki could see that the boy had blonde hair and blue eyes... Just like Grey. His hand automatically went to rest on the blade he had concealed in his jacket.

"There's no need for that," The boy's velvety voice stated as he snapped his fingers. Taki soon found himself being held in place by two strong, older men. "I was almost afraid this wouldn't work, but, alas, you really are gullible."

"What are you talking about?" Taki asked, still not quite able to put all of the pieces of this puzzle together. There was onepart that he was certain of, however. The reason that this child had stood out in his mind before was not the fact that he was just a little bit ahead of the gang, but because of his blood. This boy was the one that Shikimi had sensed. He was the risen dead.

"I noticed that there were several graves that were missing caskets. A missing casket means a missing body... I knew that if there were still living villagers, someone must have been taking care of the undead bodies... So I asked around town and found out about you. I may be young, but I've done my research. My father was a Demon Slayer, and he wanted me to do the same. He would his research material aloud so that I would be well-informed. I know all about you nightlings." Taki's body tensed at the word. He was still hesitant to accept the fact that he was, in fact, half zombie. "But my father was a fool. He tried to create a nightling himself, using my mother. He made a test-tube baby using the sperm of an undead man and an egg of my mother... And it killed her. She died while giving birth to my younger half-brother. Foolishly, my father tried to raise the child, but it was hardly able to breathe on its own. I saw all of this happening, so I killed him." Smirking, he added, "I killed my little brother, drowned him in a bath of his own blood-"

"Did you drink any of it?" Taki prodded, though he already knew the answer. It was already clear to him what had happened.

"No, I didn't. My father, insane with grief for once in his life decided that I should die of the same fate and drowned me, too. I guess it's possible that some of the blood got in my mouth when he did, but I don't know. It doesn't matter, anyway. What matters now is that I am going to get my revenge, starting with you. I won't allow any more nightlings to interfere with death!" He pointed an accusing finger at Taki, who was now glancing around nervously.

"What did you do to these people?"

"They're under my command. I discovered a neat little trick a few hours ago. My voice is able to control the actions of normal humans. Obviously, nightling, you're not normal." For a brief moment, Taki wondered why Shikimi had been affected, but it didn't take long to remember. Shikimi no longer had the demon inside of him. He opened his mouth to speak, but was cut off by the child, "No more questions, nightling! It's time for you to die!" Taki closed his eyes as his knife was torn from his clenched fist and stabbed into his chest. With a bloodcurdling scream, he fell to the ground and everything went black.


Notice how I didn't say "the end." The story's not over yet, don't worry. There hasn't even been any fluff yet! I don't know if it's possible for zombies to control the living like I did, but I don't really care. Looking at everything Grey can do, I figured I might as well. I'll hopefully update this soon... Soon meaning soon, not almost a year later.