Death Offer Chapter 3: Reaper's Power, a zombie-loan fanfic

Disclaimers: I do not own ZOMBIE-LOAN

A/N THANK YOU FOR YOUR REVIEWS! You guys are all amazing people and I do hope that you all enjoy this chapter! The beginning is basically like the 12th episode with a twist of some of the 13th episode in here. The rest is obviously done by me. I hope you guys enjoy it!

Death Offer

Chapter 3. Reaper's Power

"This meeting will now come to an order…" Began a serious voice, "Welcome seven Officer Ferrymen of the River Management Department, I'm your new president Hakka-chan! Nice to meet you allll!" He beamed with glee. No one spoke, though Bekko-san could not help but sigh lightly, pulling his white hood a little further down.

The room they were in had only a long mauve-ish table that held twelve seats, five of which were empty. It was a dark chamber and in it sat seven Ferrymen much like Bekko-san, cloaked in white uniforms with different coloured trims. They all had their hood on and all kept their faces bowed in a serious manner.

Hakka-san pouted slightly from everyone's silence, but then brushed his silver hair and continued, "We are now beginning the River Management Department Regulatory Committee meeting." He crossed his arms and glared at the seven Ferrymen, "Today's topic: a portion of the Akashic Record has been stolen."

The entire sitting Ferrymen flinched and turned to their leader, knowing the importance of the situation. "Of course we know the perpetrators are the Akashic Record Reform Committee, or otherwise known as ARRC." He continued earning some mild gasps from their existence.

"As far as we know, ARRC is an illegal organisation consisting of a few members of the WFO. There are rumours that they wish to reform the current fortune system, however we do not know who the traitors are and if any of them are currently in this room…"

Hakka-san smirked, "We do know that the Akashic Record is a record of the fate of the past, present and future of all things. To have this stolen and possibly altered could mean the disturbance of the natural circulation of souls. The power of this record goes as far as being able to create illegal zombies." He purred, "This poses as something bad for us since they are holding back souls that are meant to be sent to us by the Reaper. We're then expected to be guiding them across the River of the Dead to the shore. It's such a pain really, the disruption has already been occurring…"

One of the Ferrymen stood and pointed an accusing finger at Bekko-san, "He's been making zombies! He could—"

"I have permission from the higher ups to do so." He defended coolly.

"That is going beyond your abilities as a Ferryman!" Shouted another.

"Now now, we all know it is unsuitable for a Ferryman to be doing such a thing. Quite honestly though, it is ingenious. By forming these zombie hunters, he has been able to effectively slay the illegal zombies and transfer their souls to us. We can't possibly do such a thing due to lack of power and time, and neither can the Reaper since he is already far too busy sending others souls to the afterlife. This leaves the Zombie-Loan boys to clean up while earning money to pay their debt to live once again. They have been the most successful yet to combat the ARRC committee." Hakka-san explained to them patiently, smiling almost secretively at Bekko-san.

"Which is why I decided to form my own group!!" He shouted cheerfully earning gasps from all the other Ferrymen. Bekko-san had merely stared in disbelief at the new leader and frown slightly, "Yes! I decided to try a new way to combat against ARRC. However, instead of using souls of the dead, I'm using living humans. They carry an unusual amount of power and have great stamina. They're perfect for the job and since I'm basing it off of Zombie-Loan, I decided to call it A-Loan, as in Alive-Loan!" The happiness from the president was practically oozing off of him as he sparkled proudly from his idea.

'Alive-Loan? This does not seem to be good for us..' Bekko-san thought with a small frown, glancing away from the disgustingly happy president.

-X-

"What did you just say Ferryman?!" Chika howled in protest, slapping both his hands on the desk loudly.

"Lower your voice, Akatsuki." Shito hissed threateningly.

Bekko-san pushed up his glasses in annoyance, "You have to collect 10,000,000 Yen before A-Loan can within a months time if you don't want your contract to be broken and for you to die. The higher ups don't see any reasoning for keeping both organisations if one can do better than the other."

"Why those ungrateful son of a—" Chika began to rant.

Michiru placed a hand on Chika's shoulder, "Chika-kun, pl-please calm down! We don't have to worry. As long as we work together they won't be able to win. Besides, I can locate zom—"

The door to the office had bursted open, three teens walking in casually as if they owned the place. "Oi, anybody home?!" A green haired, short boy hollered out with a grin, his arms casually placed behind his head as he walked.

"Who the hell are you!" Chika barked murderously, fangs virtually forming in his mouth in anger.

"If it weren't for the fact that we came to introduce ourselves, then I wouldn't tell you.. Heh, my name's Inubashiri Zen." The green haired boy continued to smirk, "My partners are Touma Toko, and Tsugumi Shuji. We're members of A-Loan, here to replace you old geezers."

"Why you stupid little brat.. I'm going to—"

"Akatsuki, calm yourself." Shito ordered smoothly, glaring at the newcomers.

The tall boy with headphones around his neck had strayed from the group to give Shito something, "Here, we brought moving in noodles for everyone as a gift." He said coolly, his blue hair reminding Michiru slightly of Shito.

"Thank you for the gift, it was really kind of you all." Michiru smiled, catching the green haired boy's attention almost instantly with her brightness.

"Well, we thought it would be nice since we know you guys aren't going to be here for very long. We plan on taking over your jobs. You know, out with the old in with the new. We're just naturally better at zombie hunting." Toko, the pink haired girl, replied to Michiru.

"Wh-what? Who're you calling old!" Chika growled in protest, his amber orbs glaring daggers at the pig-tailed girl. Seriously, who were these rookies? The looked like a bunch of brats from elementary school, especially the green haired kid.

"Well, your weapons and tactics are beyond old. Ours are new and more advanced. Of course we know this because we know everything about you and how your contracts were made. That's what makes you weak and us better." Zen spoke dully.

"You know everything about us?" Michiru tilted her head in question.

"Yes! For example, your first kiss was with a fellow female co-worker—" Toko began, Michiru sputtering as she blushed, "And you have the Grim Reapers Eyes. But that won't do you any good. You can hardly use them."

Although she appeared embarrassed and surprised, mentally was a different story. 'Sugoi, they only know part of my life but not all of it. I guess Zara-kun's meddling was never accounted for as something that happened in my life. It was just four blank days here in the human world.' She thought to herself, smiling sweetly at the green haired boy. He seemed nice and he was a little handsome.

"Finally! I have it! It's a rare Betty!" Shito exclaimed, revealing a small toy from the noodles. He appeared to have missed the exchanging of words while he searched through the toys to find the one he was missing.

"Cheh, damn it Shito, would you concentrate! Do you even know what's going on?!" Chika turned and shook Shito violently.

The blue haired boy had dropped his rare Betty and glared at his partner, "Let go of me, you're wrinkling my—"

…Crack…

He glanced over and noticed a foot had broken his doll, "O-oh Betty—!" He cried dramatically staring up at the murderer accusingly, "Y-you broke the rare Betty—!!" He gasped in horror.

"Ngh? Eh, sorry senpai, here I'll reimburse you for it." He dropped 350 Yen in Shito's hand. "I was just going to separate you two. I guess the plan backfired." He shrugged.

"350 Yen?! Do you know how long I've been waiting to get that one?! How much it cost me..?" Shito began to seethe.

"Oh, so you're a fanatic.. Ew.." He muttered.

"What. Was. That..?" Shito snapped, his red orbs glaring at the bored darkened ones, "Do you want to die, bastard?" He was seriously beginning to get pissed at this one, especially since he just knew exactly what to do to make Shito angry. This boy seemed almost exactly like his opposite, and he really didn't like it. For the most part, it was because it seemed like his Akatsuki-being-the-most-irritating-person-on-the-face-of-the-earth theory was just proven wrong now that this new idiot was in town.

"My name is not bastard, but Tsugumi Shuji.." He chewed his bubble gum and blew a bubble until it deflated across his lips messily.

"That's it! We're leaving now! Oi Yuuta, where's the nearest Zombie!" Chika shouted with a hint of challenge left in his voice.

"Ano…" He flicked his fingers over the keyboard and scrolled down, "Just a few blocks away.."

"We're off!" Chika said smugly.

"So are we." Zen smirked, silently accepting the challenge.

Both groups left in different directions.

"I say we kill them off," Chika offered as they jogged towards the Zombie sighting.

"N-next left," Michiru directed. "No Chika-kun, we can't just kill them, it wouldn't be very nice.. Besides, all we need to do is make enough money to run them out of business." She instructed.

Shito frowned, "We better do that sooner rather than later. I don't doubt their words that they are strong." They all turned the corner and ran straight down, having already spotted the Zombie limping towards a river. "Akatsuki." Shito had ordered, nodding to the white haired boy as they tossed each other's hands in the air for the exchange.

"Alright, incoming pay!" Chika cheered with a grin, forming his katana in his right hand. He leapt up and went in for the kill, until he was cut off by a green blur. Chika had stopped immediately, observing the two slashes that were made in the zombie.

"Too slow old man!" Zen mused from a few feet away, brandishing his twin swords with pride, "I'd move if I were you.."

A vein pulsed angrily on Chika's head as he cursed and shouted at the boy to mind his own business. Soon the sounds of a machine gun were heard, and the zombie was all too soon on the ground, leaving Chika and Shito flabbergasted. Michiru on the other hand observed the team as they destroyed the zombie, noting that Toko was just arriving out of breath much like how she used too.

Zen had guided the zombie to the afterlife and soon dematerialized his weapon, still sporting the same grin. "You loose." He stuck out his tongue childishly.

"How is it you arrived here sooner? You clearly left in another direction." Shito questioned, never tearing his eyes away from Shuji, the strange blue haired boy.

"We had another guidance in that direction, but it wasn't anything Shuji couldn't handle so he finished up while Zen left a little bit ahead to come here." Toko said smugly, smirking darkly. 'Out with the old, in with the new..'

"Oh, Zen-kun you're bleeding." Michiru gasped suddenly, running across the grassy plains to take a look at him. The poor boy had hardly noticed the injury until he could feel the oozing blood pour down his pale face. To this, he turned and shot glares at his team mate, "You! You shot me you inconsiderate prick!" He pointed an accusing finger at him.

Chika blinked and turned to Shito, "Mou Shito-kun, remind you of anyone?" He challenged.

"I don't know what you're talking about. My aim is perfect compared to this inexperienced fool." He countered, snorting at the thought of missing his target.

"Yea right! You shot me back at the monastery ya jerk!" He fumed.

Meanwhile, Michiru sighed as the boys fought with each other and merely ignored them. It wasn't like it was abnormal for them to fight, but it was strange that this new team seemed to be so much like them. She dabbed Zen head wound carefully with her handkerchief, cleaning the wound nicely before planting a band-aid on the cut.

"It's alright, your head was only grazed by the bullet." She announced cheerfully, catching his attention once more.

The boy merely blushed and turned away, "Keh! I didn't need your help! … But thanks anyways glasses-chan."

On the other side of the field, Toko winced and sent death glares at Michiru. Anyone could see that she didn't like how close Michiru was getting to her team mate, and with that reason in mind she had concentrated her power to locate a new zombie.

"E-eh? M-my name is—"

"Oi! Gofer! What are you doing helping them. Let's go already!" Chika snapped in a pout.

"Zombie located north-west from here." Toko announced, her head bowed and her fingers glowing.

Zen turned towards her regrettably and then back to Michiru, smiling kindly, "See ya around glasses-chan." He said, leaving with Toko and Shuji to the next location.

As soon as they were out of sight, Michiru had turned to the boys and taken off her glasses, "I say, we continue hunting." She offered optimistically.

Chika was about to comment when Shito had beaten him to it, having dematerialized his gun already he had stared at the girl seriously, "Did you notice their speed? I doubt we can match that. However we do have something they don't."

"Yes, they may have speed, but we're more intelligent than they give us credit for." She glanced up at the sky, "Without knowing it, they've been clearing a good path for me to locate the larger priced zombies. I think, we should go for them." The wind blew her pinkish hair gently, and she closed her eyes enjoying the sensation as she transformed into her battle form. Her short, white, wispy cape also blew with the wind, her smile broadening.

"Let's go, I can sense a strong zombie south from here."

Chika blinked in amazement and stared at her, "So, these guys are actually helping? Does this mean we still have a chance?" He question aloud.

Shito gave him an are-you-stupid look and sighed, "Move Akatsuki, we're going to have to run fast to be able to keep up with Kita-san."

Michiru pulled white fur hood over her face, her cloak lengthening in the process as she began to run towards their destination. The only visible part of her face was a small smirk as the boys followed her figure bounding off building tops. Yes, her clothing that she had first returned in from Zarame-sama's dimension does rematerialize on her body whenever she awakens her power to battle. Much like the boys can form weapons from ectoplasm, she can form her clothes and her weapons just as easily with a glow of pink-ish white light.

Kita Michiru is not a cruel person, but when life gives you lemons, well, she can't help but use them to make herself some tasty lemonade. Those A-Loan teens seemed very nice, and were doing a great job at clearing the way for them. So of course she wouldn't fight with them, she would treat them kindly and let them keep doing their jobs. In the end, Z-Loan would end up not only taking down the big guys, but also some minor ones on the side leaving them in the lead.

The three teens had grudgingly returned back to the dorms that night. The new high priced zombie was taken care of leaving Chika in an almost permanent good mood, while Shito was indifferent. Michiru couldn't help but notice the boy's behaviours returning to their usual ones, unlike when she first arrived back. They were constantly glued to her side and on top of that, Chika-kun was flirting with her. Her. Kita Michiru. She honestly couldn't tell if he was just plain insane to be flirting with the Grim Reapers girlfriend, or if he was being really sweet. But one thing was certain, he had tried to kiss her just yesterday. Well, more like last night before bed.

He was being sweet to her, and saying how much he had missed her. All of this had happened while she was standing at her doorway about to go to sleep. Eventually he had started to dip down to kiss her, and she panicked. If it weren't for Koyomi's interruption, she probably would have made the hugest mistake of all. What kind of girlfriend would go around kissing someone other than her boyfriend? Even though it was so very tempting.. She had wanted to kiss him.. Though she couldn't figure out for the life of her why she would want to.

Curiosity?

Maybe. She had had a crush on Chika-kun in the past before Zara-kun had come into the picture. Though she had wanted to kiss Chika-kun, she knew that even if it had happened, it wouldn't have felt anything like how Zara-kun kissed her. He swept her completely off her feet with each kiss he gave her. Made her feel tingly right down to her toes and her heart skip a beat. He made her feel like the best woman in the world. And most of all, he made her happy.

Strange.. His aura seemed so close to her. And yet she knew that he was most likely on the other side of the world right now. No, she could feel him, and he was close by. Except that, it felt wrong. It felt so wrong this aura. It was like him, but not at the same time.

Michiru stood from her spot on her bed and closed her eyes. Yes, she could see it now. The form of the person who held his aura and intermingled it with his own… That's why it felt so wrong. It was a dark aura, one that was very similar to that of an.. an.. Illegal zombie. One she knew..

Alarm bells were ringing in her mind warning her not to move any further. Too bad she always tended to ignore those bells. With one final mental push, she was able to focus on the person's power just in time to see what was making him so strong.

'Bright, green, light.'

Then, everything went black.

-X-

"Michiru! Oi, Michiru-chan!" Chika shook her again. He growled and had cursed loudly before picking her up from her floor and placing her gently on her bed. He had heard a pretty loud thump noise from her room and guessed the clumsy girl had hurt herself. He didn't think she would have passed out like she did! "Damn it, you stupid gofer." He cursed, tucking her into bed.

"Akatsuki!" Shito entered the girl's room quickly, "What the hell is wrong? I could hear your shouting from miles away!" He scowled at the silver haired boy, crossing his arms in disapproval.

"Cheh! I ain't that loud shit-Shito! You're imagining things! I bet you were the only one who heard me!" Chika countered in a fiery manner.

"What's with all the yell—ing over here?" A very sleepy Sotetsu yawned from the doorway, scratching his very naked chest tiredly. No, he wasn't completely nude, but had a set of red boxers on.

"I do not imagine things Akatsuki." Shito glared, staring past his idiotic partner to the bed. His ruby eyes had shifted to Chika's before he went in and snatched his partner by the throat, "Did you harm Kita-san in anyway or were you trying to take advantage of her in her sleep you filthy pile of trash?"

Sotetsu whistled lowly, "Whoa boys, calm down. There's no need to fight about anything. How about we just get out of here and go get some—" He froze in mid sentence, taking in the glares that were being sent to him by both Z-Loan boys. "Eheh, I'll just go back to my room now." He chuckled nervously, backing away from the angry pair.

"Well? Which of them is it? What happened to Kita-san..?" Shito continued, grasping his partner's throat even more tightly.

"Ch-cheh, let go of me you crazy doll collecting lunatic!" He wheezed, his amber eyes never ceasing their glares in the bright red ones. "I found her passed out! Now lemme go!" He struggled.

Shito frowned and dropped Chika, contemplating how long it would take for him to steal his right hand from Chika-kun so that he could use his pistol to shoot the idiot in the foot. Yes, that would be a very good stress reliever...

"—Then I put her in her stupid bed and you guys showed up—Hey are you even listening to me?!"

Oops, Shito had tuned his partner out again. It seemed to be becoming a nasty habit these days.. "As soon as she wakes, we will question her." He replied, his face void of all emotions as he approached Michiru's bed. He had gently placed a hand on her forehead and nodded to his partner, "She has no fever, so she must have done something to exhaust her body."

"What? But what could she have done? She was just in here doin' nothin'! Tonight wasn't even such a difficult hunt for us." Chika muttered only loud enough for Shito to hear.

He had stepped away from the bed, turning to his partner briefly before setting out to exit the room, "There are many things we have yet to know about Kita-san. Remember, she had left us for four years Akatsuki." With that said, he had left the confused boy sitting on the floor to go to his own room.

-X-

Days had gone by with no unusual occurrences. The morning after Michiru's blackout, her friends had questioned her about it. Except that she couldn't remember how or why she had fainted, only that she thought Zarame-kun was around but was mistaking. After that, everything was as it should be. The continued their hunt for the more expensive zombies without any problems and then they were back to school in no time.

Chika could hardly stay put as they listened to presentations of student's projects and such. All the boy cared about was beating the other team, but Michiru had grudgingly convinced him that the A-Loan group had school as well and couldn't skip like they could. The girl had told him that she would skip school to help their cause, but she only agreed to do it if she could attend a few days of the week.

Shito on the other hand had no problems with it and hardly complained. Though, most of the time he acted like a robot and tuned out all the useless information without any problems. He was a patient person and waiting one day to go hunt zombies was nothing for him to complain about. Sometimes, he wondered why his partner couldn't be a little more like him. But nooo, that would be far too much to ask the gods. He leaned a little more into his hand and huffed boredly, wondering if Chika would ever stop trying to have a conversation with him during the presentations.

'He bores me with his constant annoyance.. Maybe if I could think of something else.. Use my time now to think of more important matters such as Kita-san's incident,' He thought to himself, staring emptily at the speaker in front of the classroom. 'She had said that she thought she could sense the Reaper, but it wasn't him. Maybe there's someone else out there that has powers like her?'

"Oi—! Are you even listening to me ya jerk!" Chika whispered harshly at his arrogant partner.

'No, it isn't possible for there to be another Reaper out there.. Heh, I don't like where this is going. I have a feeling we have a very strong opponent ahead of us.' He mentally concluded just as a paper ball came flying at his head, hitting him lightly with a distinct ruffle noise. He had narrowed his eyes and turned agitatedly to Chika, glowering at him.

Currently, half the class was staring at the two exchanging glares rather than the presentation just ahead of them.

"..Akatsuki.." He muttered dangerously.

"Cheh, shit-Shito." He greeted back carelessly.

-X-

"Michiru-chan!!" Waved Yumi, beckoning the girl to come to their lunch table. "Did you hear?! Boy A and Boy B got into a fight during their second period class!" She squealed as Michiru took her seat next to her.

"Nani..? That's why I can't find them.. What happened?" Michiru cocked her head to the side, imagining every possible scenario that could have happened between the two.

"Apparently Boy A said something nasty and threatened Boy B, then Boy B had gotten up and taken his desk and thrown it at Boy A." She began, sighing dreamily along with the rest of the girl, "Boy B is strong.. and handsome.."

"E-eh!" Michiru's glasses were sliding down her nose in shock. She had sighed silently and muttered, "I can't believe they did that here.. Oh wait… Hai, I can believe it." She laughed dryly.

"Well anyways, their supposed to be on their way to the principles office—"

The door to the cafeteria bursted open, and in walked a bickering pair of boys that soon turned and sent their angry looks to opposite walls. It was clear to everyone that there was tension between the two and Michiru dreaded the only way to relieve the tension. She had really wanted to stay in school today and have a nice conversation with Yumi-chan and the rest of the girls, but clearly someone up there did not like her.

"Oi," Chika called in more of a growl than anything once he reached her table.

"A-ano… Can't I at least finish my lunch?" Michiru asked timidly, wanting to finish her food before leaving. She was prepared to hear some very loud complaining, but nothing ever did come. She only received a curt nod from the silver haired boy and a small smile from Shito-kun. They had left and she had happily finished her meal with her friends mentally noting that she was slowly having a positive effect on them.

'I haven't eaten with the girls since Friday! I'm so glad—.. glad I—' She blinked her olive green eyes in confusion, lifting her head slightly to concentrate better, 'I—I can feel that presence again. Just like Zara-kun's! But it isn't.. It's familiar.. I know I felt it before… It isn't far—' She blinked again, 'It's gone.' She frowned, heavily confused.

"—I know, they're such rebels!—"

"..Skipping out on the principles office..."

"..I think I'm in love—!!"

'What was that? And how did it.. Disappear like that?' The remainder of the meal was eaten in silence on her part, but no one seemed to notice anyways.

-X-

The glow from the zombie loan blade faded slowly and dispersed into the sky, "Guidance complete.. Oi, how much was that one worth Shito-kuuuun?" Chika chirped, bouncing to his partner's side joyfully.

Shito had grunted in response, staring boredly at his chequebook, "Clearly not enough, but worth more than the other whelps." He dematerialized his pistol and stared at Chika's excited amber pools. "Aren't you going to put away your katana?"

'Oh no, I think I hear a fight coming on..' Michiru mentally whimpered, groaning slightly since they had finally gotten into better spirits.

"Keh! I will when I feel like it! I don't need you telling me what to do shit-Shito! Hey, Gopher! Where's the next one?!" Chika called over, resting his katana on his shoulder haughtily.

Her glasses had slipped slightly down her nose as she stared in shock at them. They really were getting better at this whole 'being nice' thing. Chika had hardly blown up at Shito like he usually does, "A-ano.. j-just five blocks away from here, near a cemetery this time." She replied in a stutter.

"Alright, first one to get to it doesn't have to buy dinner." Chika pointed his katana accusingly at Shito-kun's face, "I'll finally show you how much better a katana is compared to your cheap toy gun." He challenged.

Se had sweat dropped and practically fallen over, but at least they didn't tear pieces off of each other like they used to. Besides that, if she were part of this challenge, she could easily beat them to it, but lying low for a while seemed like a good idea for the time being. She wouldn't use her powers except for the stronger zombie's since she didn't want to draw the attention of their rivals.

"You're going to loose, you vile piece of trash." Shito cursed back, running ahead of Chika with a small grin.

"H-hey! You cheater! I didn't say go—Grrr ah!" Chika sprinted after him with his katana still materialized for the world to see.

"E-eh! W-wait for me!" She trotted after them, trying her best not to trip over any random objects that littered the ally way. In her other form she was much more aware and precautious of her environment, but as a human, things were a little difficult on her since her senses were slightly dimmed.

She could feel her shoes soak in the water from various puddles and the smell of garbage felt like it would never leave her nose in peace. She could feel the wind whip her lavender pink hair back and caress her skin. And now, she could hear the distant shouting of… Zen-kun? It hadn't taken her long to find a group of five standing at the cemetery. Two of which were from her group and the others.. "A-Loan..?" She whispered, slowing to a stop behind her friends, slightly out of breath.

"That was clearly our claim you little pip-squeak!" Chika roared in anger, brandishing his sword at the smaller boy's throat.

"There clearly weren't any claims on it you over grown prick!" Zen challenged back, knocking away the katana with one of his twin blades effortlessly. "Moreover, I'm no little pip-squeak! I'm a third year student you jackass."

"Why you damn two foot nothin' little— How can you be older than me you—!"

Michiru began to panic and waved her hands around to grab her associates attention, "Chika-kun! Please, don't fight—!"

"Are you taking his side!?" He hurled at her darkly.

"Glasses-chan!" Zen had also shouted simultaneously when his opponent had howled.

Toko had visibly winced and had looked fiercely at the other girl in jealously, crossing her arms stubbornly. She clearly ignored the fighting and especially the other woman childishly, not caring if the boy's fought all night. If she couldn't separate Zen's lovey dove eyes from her then she could at least scare her off with her anger and cold shoulder effect.

"U-um," She whimpered away from Toko's visible dark aura of anger and scooted closer to Shito-kun. "Hi Zen-kun, how are you?" She asked kindly.

"I'm great—" He got cut off due to the strong bruising pain coming from his left foot. "—A-ai!!—Itai! Itaaaiiii!" He whimpered loudly, clutching his abused foot protectively while turning to the whistling white haired man. "You dick! That was a low blow!"

"Cheh, well I wouldn't have done it if it weren't for your damn flirting! Jeez, leave her alone ya baka!" Chika ordered hotly, dematerializing his weapon.

"Will all of you be quiet. Your voices are far louder put together and they're frustrating.." Shito muttered smoothly, having placed a delicate hand on his head to counter the oncoming headache.

"Why don't you shut up, you baka! If it weren't for your constant stopping to pull your stupid socks back up, we would have gotten here much sooner!"

"What was that…?" He asked dangerously, "Last I recalled, it was a race and you didn't have to wait for me to pull up my socks. You could have ceased your mocking and gone ahead. Besides, they bother me when they fall to my ankles." He defended, anger slowly bubbling.

"You should be thankful I was giving you a chance to catch up to me each time you stopped to fix those stupid socks! I was playin' fair! You should just tape your socks to your damn legs, that way we wouldn't have to stop so damn much!" Chika shouted loudly.

"Mou.. Can we leave Zen? I'm getting tired of listening to the doll fanatic and the old man fight." Shuji sighed boredly.

"I guess—"

"Doll fanatic?"

"Old man..?"

At this point, Michiru could do nothing but turn her head back and forth between the boys in full out panic. The last thing she wanted was a brawl to break out, especially when they all had weapons. Well, they weren't using them yet—oh now they are.. 'Why can't we just get along? What's so wrong with that idea?' She had wanted to say, but feared that she would only be dragged into this if she said a word.

On top of all that, she knew Chika-kun was angry with her for befriending Zen-kun. He didn't want her to have anything to do with the A-Loan team, but she couldn't help it. Like she mentioned earlier, she needed them. But maybe Chika didn't understand that? Possibly explaining to him a little more clearly seemed like a good idea and a very good topic to bring up as soon as they got back home hopefully sometime before sundown.

Her mind had slowly reeled back to reality when she could see that a machine gun was being pointed at Shito-kun. She could have sworn she heard the seconds tick by as she sprinted out of habit to protect her friend. Yes, she was a fool for doing it, but what made it even worse was the fact that she did it without using any of her powers, which put her in mortal danger.

And yet she stood there protectively, her arms spread out in front of Shito-kun's body, ready to take any bullets. Though Chika-kun and Zen-kun had been using very much verbal abusing, they had yet to draw their weapons out and simply stared at Michiru in shock instead.

Not only was she being silly, but in addition, incredibly stupid since she was clearly not thinking. No matter how many times Shito-kun would get shot, he probably wouldn't die. It would be very painful, but in the end, he was already dead. Obviously, she was thinking more with her heart than her mind at the moment.

"Oh? You're protecting senpai? Don't think I won't shoot you because you're a girl. You're still our enemy and it would make things easier if you were dead anyways." He said in his usual gloomy voice, his finger slowly pressing down on the trigger.

"—Michi—!" Chika began to yell in alarm.

The bullet's had fired.

"N-no Shuji—!" Zen screamed as well.

A long black cloak washed over the oncoming bullet in one quick sweep, turning them to dust.

No one had seen it coming, or rather him.

He was so enraged, that it was a wonder why he didn't kill Shuji. Instead he had decided to let him off on a warning, courtesy of his beloved's wish… His scythe was at Shuji's throat either way, his eye's showing absolutely no mercy within his storming violet pools. His auburn hair glistened in the sunlight along with the metal from his blade as he pushed it harder against Shuji's throat.

"Zarame-kun—!" Michiru had managed to squeak out in a strangled cry.

"If you ever," He began in the most deadliest voice ever heard to man, "dare try to touch her with your degraded weapon again.." The curved blade sliced the skin on his neck with ease. His scythe was placed so that the curve practically wrapped around his enemy's neck while his other bandaged hand held his victim in place by the scruff of his shirt. His black cloak blew behind his body, but not due to any form of elemental winds but because of his bellowing aura of destruction. It was so strong that it was causing a form of demonic wind around his body.

"I will reap your soul far earlier than intended." With that said, he had backed away in one swift movement and protectively in front of Michiru, his bandaged hand gripping the handle of his weapon tightly to emphasize his threat as his power never diminished one bit.

The air around the cemetery had frozen solid, literally. Frost was slowly forming on the tombstones and coating the grass, giving it a crisp wintery look in the middle of a sunny hot day. Everyone was chilled to the bone from this man. Only the Grim Reaper could make them feel this afraid and shocked to the point where they could do nothing but watch helplessly. No one could take on the Grim Reaper and live to tell the tale. He was the bringer of death! Enough said.

Shuji had been beyond frightened and shocked. His whole body was visibly shaking with fear and he could do nothing but nod wide-eyed at the Reaper. His weapon was gone and with the help of Toko, the group had retreated to recover from the disbelief of seeing the Grim Reaper threaten them.

Once he was sure they were gone, he had turned to his friends, earning a tight embrace from Michiru almost instantly. "Zarame-kun!" She piped happily, as if nothing had happened. She had missed being in his strong, warm embrace. His well-toned muscles hugged her back comfortably and made her smile even more. She had carefully tilted her head upwards against his chest to look into his relieved indigo orbs, and was immediately passionately kissed by the auburn boy.

His scythe was gone in a glow, leaving him with one hand wrapped around her waist to bring her in even more tightly against him and his other hand caressing her cheek lovingly as his lips grazed hers. She had let out a small moan of approval before blushing in embarrassment, her cheeks feeling very warm under his fingertips. Though he found it to be adorable, and also adored hearing her heart beat loudly and quickly against her chest. He had trailed his hand away from her heart shaped face and back down to her waist as he ended the kiss with a series of small kisses to tear away for some much needed air.

Shito and Chika nearly fell over at the sight and exchanged glances before deciding to back off for a bit. Though Chika couldn't help but comment about the strange frost that seemed to coat all the tombstones in their area. Shito had motioned to him that now wasn't the moment and had dragged him a little way's away, not really interested in watching the other two make out.

-X-

"I'm here solely for the purpose of retrieving my previous core." Zarame had reluctantly changed into a school uniform and was now standing very awkwardly in the dorms with everyone, safe for Koyomi who had some errand to run and the usual Otsu-san and the funeral management man.

They were all in Michiru's very snug dorm. Those who sat around a small table that was set up were Bekko-san, Yuuta-kun, Chika-kun and Sotetsu. Shito merely stood and Michiru sat comfortably on her bed while watching Zarame speak. The pale skinned boy also stood and leaned against the wall for support, keeping his hands stuffed in his pockets.

"Your previous core?" Yuuta repeated strangely, "I don't understand…"

"It's simple. All immortal beings have something called a core that keeps them alive. It's rare for someone to be able to steal an immortals core, but it can be done. Also, if ever this core were to be destroyed, than the being would die. In this case however, the Shinigami had his core stolen by a human he was reaping." Bekko-san explained in a huff, earning thankful glances from the other occupants of the room.

"The human had surprised me. I don't even think he knew what he did until it was too late for me. I was in my barrowed form for a while under your care until I was able to create a new core and sustain a proper body again." He chewed the inside of his cheek nervously, "The human who took it just recently merged it with his soul and is now using my power to do as he wishes."

Michiru gasped, something finally clicking in her head as she remembered.

'Bright, green, light.'

"Your core is green! Isn't it?" She insisted suddenly.

"All cores are bright green and glowing. Mine was no exception." Zarame replied coolly, "I take it you've been sensing it too then?"

All eyes were on her, causing her face to heat into crimson. She didn't want this to be a huge deal, but apparently it was, "I-I've been feeling your presence around here for a while. But at the same time it doesn't r-really feel like it's you. There's another aura laced with yours and it's been appearing and disappearing a lot." She answered timidly, fiddling with her fingers absently.

"So, you guys mean to tell me that there's some baka out there parading around our little town with the Shinigami's power at his fingertips?!" Sotetsu blared out in disbelief.

"That's what I've been trying to say. Hai, there is a soul out there using my powers. I haven't been able to locate him as of yet, but I do know he is near your Z-Loan building." Zarame-kun informed, darting his eyes to Bekko-san's.

"..Interesting…" The Ferryman mumbled to himself, deep in thought. He pushed his glasses up on the bridge of his nose and leaned against his hand.

"Hence the location of this meeting, correct?" Shito had asked, sighing as he pushed himself off the wall to stand up straight, "The Z-Loan building is not safe to speak in anymore."

"That building is under constant watch. There is a force there that surrounds the office and I don't like it." His violet eyes glimmered with a slight hate until he refocused them on Michiru. "One thing that I'm positive this enemy is unaware of, is Michiru-chan's growing power. That's the only advantage you have against him."

"Damn it all! First Z-Loan is being threatened to get shut down 'cause of A-Loan, and now this bullshit of some stupid spineless human who's out there using powers he stole from the Reaper to cause havoc?! What else could possibly make this situation even worse?" Chika snarled viciously, throwing his hand up as if punching the air.

"You just jinxed us you baka.." Shito muttered with a sigh.

The Reaper at this point seemed a little amused but still angry nonetheless as he moved so he could sit next to Michiru on her bed. He had smirked almost evilly due to what the fates apparently had in store for everyone and announced, "I know the identity of the mortal who took my powers. Well technically he's immortal now but.. He is someone you fought with in the past."

That had grabbed all their attention. Generally the people they fought with were strictly zombies, and none of them have survived at this point. Which only left them with the thought of it being, "An A-Loan member?!" Chika shouted first, "I bet it's that Zen kid! When I see him I'll—" His rant was interrupted by the logical answer that usually came from Shito, the more brilliant partner.

"Impossible. Inubashiri-san was much too frightened when the Shinigami saved Michiru." Shito had carelessly popped Chika's theory even though the silver haired boy had tried to come back with an excuse that the brat could have been faking fear. Except that Shito insisted that Inubashiri-san was sincerely afraid and not acting.

"So, if it's not them… Then who..?" Sotetsu dared to question aloud.

"A zombie that you failed to completely slay. A zombie that I had almost successfully reaped." Zarame drawled out, "An old friend of yours, Akatsuki-kun." Yes, the gods must be really amused by now with all this drama. Because the look that came from Chika's face was the most horrible look he had ever scene. A mix of confusion with depression and terrible sadness had obviously washed over the boy and left him in silence.

"The good news is," Zarame tried to lighten the mood slightly. "If you effectively guide his soul to the other world, then your debt will be completely paid off."

Now that was something to look forward to, wasn't it?

'…Shiba-kun…'

A/N It's been a while ne? Well, I updated! And I'm damn proud of this chapter! Oh yes.. So I hope you all liked it! And obviously there's gunna be another one. So stay tuned!!!!!! And if you guys didn't read up there, just so you know there are some parts that were taken from the 12th and 13th episodes of ZOMBIE-LOAN. So like just so you know.. and the rest is moi.. oh and REVIEW! :)

Shito: See, you just jinxed yourself.. Baka, this wouldn't have happened if you had kept your mouth shut.

Chika: Mou, Shito-kuuuun shut up before I break your face. I'm already enough sad as it is..

Sotetsu: I know what will cheer you up!! –bounces in front of Chika- A trip to an exotic place where the food is beyond delicious! –beams-

Chika: Go away loser..

Michiru: There's a new zombie worth a lot of money--

Chika: Nani? Where? We're going! Oi! Shito! Get your ass in gear! We're leaving! –marches out-

Shito: Does he even know where he's going…?

Michiru: Nope..

Sotetsu: Heh.. that could be problematic… R&R!!!