Disclaimers: I do not own Zombie-Loan
A/N Thanks for you reviews! So sorry for the lateness! Please enjoy!
Death Offer
Chapter 10. Reaper's Interest
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Oh gods, everyone was staring.
Well more like glaring in actuality.
Michiru felt her old self rise in nervousness, squeaking when a particular death glare had been shot at her, almost like a green arrow of jealousy aimed straight at her forehead. She swallowed the lump in her throat and inched herself behind her companion, laughing meekly when he looked at her briefly in question. "A-ah…"
"Is there something wrong, Michiru-chan?" He asked her softly.
"N-no, of course not." She lied, feeling a fierce shiver up her spine. 'I f-feel like they all hate me for being with him.' She thought wearily.
"Michi-ru-chan!" Squealed one of the girls from the mob of hateful students.
The lilac haired girl ceased her steps, looking behind her to see a girl struggling to squeeze through the tightly wound group of pouting teenage girls. Her eyes lit up upon seeing her friend Yumi-chan pop out of the group and scowl at the girl to beat it. Though her friend didn't get angry often, she was not one to be crossed with. And thank kami for her appearance; otherwise the silly group of hormonal girls would have never begun to leave for their respectful classes.
"Yumi-chan! How are you?" Michiru asked sweetly, feeling immensely in her friends' dept for having gotten rid of the negative girls.
Said friend heaved a sigh and turned to face her with one of her brightest smiles. "I'm great. I also heard that you were waltzing around here with an exchange student as if you knew him. Is that true? Do you know him?"
Yes, she was at school again. And yes, she was here with Zarame-kun. Though he told her beforehand that no one in the entire building had any recollection of his last little visit here, so it was as if he was a new student all over again. Not only that, but he also pulled some strings so that he could be in most of his girlfriends courses. Which she didn't have any issues with whatsoever. Except that now… She had the entire female population hating her for even standing near the new kid. Her boyfriend.
"Hai, Yumi-chan this is Gaminishi Zarame—" Michiru began the introduction, but was curtly cut off when her boyfriend turned around and spoke.
"Her boyfriend." He stated quickly, draping an arm around the schoolgirls' shoulder as proof of such. "Yoroshiku." He stated flatly.
Yumi-chan raised her brows in surprise, but smiled nonetheless. "Yoroshiku." She replied happily. "It's about time our little Michiru-chan gets herself a man. And now that you have such a cutie, it's your turn to help me bag my own." She winked at the lilac haired girl.
Michiru blushed a bit, but nodded all the same. "S-sure." She shot a look at Zarame and tugged on the hand that was draped on her. "We should hurry to class Zara-kun. This is your first day, you don't want to make a bad impression."
"Tch, I don't mind. It's not the class that I care for." He shot her a meaningful look, a slow grin working its way across his pale lips.
The girls' friend rolled her eyes and started to shove the two in the correct direction. "Oh please, lets go you two lovers. I don't want to be late either. Move along."
Though he didn't appreciate being babied by such a young ningen, he decided to let it go considering she was his Michiru-chan's friend. So the three walked to their first class of the day, all three equally rolling their eyes when they could hear some distant yelling down the hall from them. The only cause for such a loud annoyance could come from one person.
Akatsuki Chika
'Baka'
-X-
"It's not like it was completely my fault. This baka started it then these morons had the gale to come on our turf and really start somethin'!" Chika bellowed as an explanation, pointing a finger in accusation at the three others that sat at the table.
It was lunchtime. And as usual, any detention Chika-kun and Shito-kun received was met with a scowl before the two skipped to go eat something. This led us to the cafeteria, where Michiru sat innocently next to Zarame-kun, across from her was Shito-kun and Chika-kun, next to them sat Zen-san, Shuuji-san, and Toko-san. Though Zarame felt a similar dislike for the previous A-Loan group, he once again decided to put up with them, keeping his murderous tendencies under a firm hold.
"I told you. Since we're all in this together, we decided to change schools. There isn't anything wrong with that." Toko spoke up in her groups defence, shooting glares at the white haired boy.
To say that the rest of the cafeteria was silent would be an understatement. The students here were used to Boy A and Boy B fighting on a regular basis, but with the new students? Who all knew each other to boot? Very strange…
Chika slammed his hands against the table, leaning forward towards the girl. "Like hell there isn't! You didn't have to come to this school, you should have just stayed where you were!" He argued hotly. "Instead of wrecking our peaceful halls."
"Peaceful?" Toko growled. "You call throwing a punch at Shito-san peaceful? Don't make me laugh Whitey!"
"Why you—Don't call me that you pink haired bi—"
"Akatsuki." Shito, who had been ignoring his partner to enjoy his lunch, had just finished eating, and was now grumbling up at the porcupine. "Be quiet. I would rather we left this place without having to pay for any damages." He lifted his drink and sipped it.
With a dark look, Chika had grudgingly sat down and crossed his arms in a pout. "You're lucky I don't kick your ass for bossing me around, dobe." He rumbled hotly.
Michiru sighed in relief, grabbing Zarame's hand for some comfort. 'At least they're half decent today.' She inwardly huffed, about to smile at her friends when suddenly, the door to the cafeteria bursted open. There stood the angriest principle of all time, his teeth clenched and eyes roaring with ferocity.
"Akatsuki! Tachibana!" He yelled, face fully red in fury.
Heh. Guess skipping detention had its limits!
"Excuse us." Shito stood quickly, as well as his partner next to him. Both nodded before making a mad dash to the other cafeteria doors, all current students within the room staring as they left. Shortly after their departure, the enraged principle had followed suite and gone after them, again slamming the door open and closed in his wake.
"Mou, that spiky haired baka gets into a lot of trouble these days." Toko commented lightly, taking a sip of her juice.
Zen nodded in agreement. "Are they always like this? I thought they would at least be respectful on school grounds." He frowned.
Michiru smiled at the previous A-Loan group. "This is how Chika-kun and Shito-kun are around each other all the time. Not even school can change their habits."
"This will be an interesting term." Toko grinned lopsidedly.
'Indeed it will.' Zarame mentally agreed, eyes flashing briefly to Michiru.
-X-
They were staying with them at the dorms. The previous A-Loan group.
Chika-kun threw a fit, as per usual.
Shito-kun merely glared and shrugged his shoulders.
Koyomi-san was more than happy to make new friends.
And Michiru was… well she was okay with it. She didn't have much to complain about considering she had Zarame by her side most of the time now. Until Shiba was caught anyways, things would be like this for some time. 'Shiba… I can't believe the countless times he's escaped us. Poor Zara-kun is stressing over it, I can tell. He may not show his emotions often, but I am quite capable of reading him now.' Michiru chewed her bottom lip in thought, peeking next to her to observe Zarame.
She was sitting in the living room with him and Toko, the three working on their homework. Yes, Zarame had actually taken an interest in some of his studies. Particularly in his history course. He seemed especially interested in the project they had been given concerning a new topic they were exploring. It was adorable, seeing the Grim Reaper's attention being focused on school activities.
"Is there something wrong, Michiru-chan?" Zarame raised his amethyst eyes from his papers and book to look at her. Again, his face remained blank of any emotions, the perfect poker face.
The lilac haired girl blushed rosy and shook her head, looking up at him with her pretty olive eyes. "Iie, it's nothing. I was just thinking." She said quickly, feeling a little warmer when he leaned closer to her, almost nose to nose. This was his way of intimidating her sometimes. It generally made her turn into a puddle of goo having him so close, but since she had been with him for some time, this little trick of his only caused nervous flutters in her stomach and a gentle increase in her heart rate.
Okay, so she wasn't that immune to his looks. But still! She was getting better!
"You do realise, you can tell me anything that is bothering you." He said in that gruff, deep voice of his, brushing one of his pale hands against her flushed cheek. "Michiru-chan." He finished with a small smirk.
Michiru opened her mouth to say something when they were rudely interrupted by a booming voice from a white haired boy. Even Toko jumped a little in her seat from the sudden appearance of Chika-kun, shooting him pouting glares at his behaviour. Soon after, Koyomi-san had even entered with a bottle of fantan and Shito-kun at her side to make sure she didn't fall over from her drunken sugar rush.
"Yo! Yo!" Chika chuckled loudly. "I've got news!"
Zarame merely rumbled in displeasure at the interruption, giving Michiru a small peck on the cheek sweetly. He sat back in his seat and returned to having his poker face, waiting for the loud idiot to speak more on this so-called 'news' he held. 'This had better be good.'
"And why couldn't you tell us this news at dinner Shiro-chan?" Toko pointed out bluntly. "I've got homework to do you know!"
"Tch! Quit calling me that!" Chika narrowed his golden orbs at her, but calmed himself quickly. "Feh, anyways. Like I said I have news!" He cleared his throat. "We have been signed up for the school festival this year!" He bellowed with a gigantic fake smile plastered on his face.
Toko saw through this and sighed. "What you mean to say is that in order to not get a suspension, the principle forced you to take on an extra curricular activity. And you forced us into it too."
Shito nodded briskly. "That is precisely what occurred."
All eyes were on Chika, some angry while others were excited.
Chika took in the looks and pointed an accusing finger at Shito. "O-oi don't blame me! It's his fault! We'd be suspended instead of doing this crap if it weren't for him and wanting a perfect damn record!"
"I do not like to tarnish my name." Shito was quick to defend.
Amethyst eyes bore into Chika, the Reaper even more annoyed now that this moron involved him in his problems. "Are you saying that I am included in your shenanigans, boy?" He nearly hissed.
"Ev-ver-y body can do it! Ev-en-hic-Zen and-hic-Shuji-senpai-hic!" Koyomi giggled, leaning into Shito more, her cheeks flushed prettily. She continued on in a mumble, occasionally giggling and rubbing her cheek against Shito. No one paid much attention to her afterwards, deciding it to be best to ignore her crazy behaviour.
"Ano sa, what event are we doing together?" Michiru asked a bit excitedly. She had never participated in any school functions before since they were highly discouraged by her guardians.
Chika paused in thought. "Uhm, I think a school play. I don't know which one, but the roles will be chosen by lottery!" He piped, rushing up to her and grabbing her hands, his eyes going starry. "Are you actually interested in this, Gopher?"
"Uh huh!" Michiru giggled, sitting up more and in turn giving him a determined smile. "We could have so much fun!"
"Ah…" Chika continued to look all puppy eyed, then asked. "So can you find a way to bail me out of this?"
Her mood had dropped, and she stared at him blankly, "E-eh? Ch-Chika-kun I can't do that—"
"Bah! You're hopeless!" Chika roared, dropping her hands to go and ask Toko the same question, not even getting a chance to do so since she had given him a good slap across the face.
"Don't touch, teme." She growled, grabbing her school things and storming from room.
The room was silent after she left, leaving the white haired male to speak first. "What's with her?" Chika asked in frustration, turning to the couple on the couch for any ideas. However all this did was show off the bright red handprint vividly displayed on his left cheek.
Zarame chose to simply snort and turn back to his textbook, mentally cursing the white haired boy for his silly antics. He was placidly surprised to feel the weight of a hand on his shoulder, his eyes looking up to catch Michiru's innocent green orbs. She had removed her glasses and put them on the coffee table so that she could lean into Zarame and nap for a while. He smirked, opening one arm up to let her nestle herself into his chest, his arm wrapping securely around her afterwards. He then returned to reading his book and ignoring the rest of the world.
Chika made some sort of choking noise at their display of affection, then high tailed it out of there before the Shinigami could have the chance to turn him into a Popsicle, or worse. 'Heh heh.' Chika mentally chuckled, a wide grin tugging at his lips. Who knew he could get away with teasing that arrogant dick without even getting a scratch! Michiru-chan definitely was a piece of work, being able to chill him out and all. 'This place would not be the same without those two around, heh…'
"Guess I'll go find those other A-Loan losers to tell 'em the great news." His face suddenly paled though, and he stopped in his tracks. 'Holy shit.' He thought in horror. "I forgot I picked up an extra shift tonight! I'm late!" He yelled, bolting for the opposite direction to get the hell to work.
'Guess I'll tell them later!'
-X-
The next day, the group had remained after school to help with the preparations of the up coming festival. Though Shuji-san and Zen-san were never told why they were staying behind, they were later informed by the head of their department who sprang into action the moment every member was accounted for.
"Hello everyone! My name is Ameru Momo! You can just call me Momo though, okay? Great!" She beamed, her pale, long blond hair bouncing with every movement that she would make. She seemed nice enough, but she could also easily get on any one's nerves. And just as her eyes began scanning the crowd for all the participants, they had landed themselves on a handsome crimson haired male who bore and indifferent expression. 'Oh, and who might he be?' She thought inwardly with a smirk.
"Momo-senpai!" Shuji-san lifted his hand up to wave to the older student. "What exactly are we doing here?" He asked boredly.
Next to Zarame, Michiru peeked over at Shuji, smiling a bit timidly. Looks like Chika forgot to tell them after all… 'That's just like Chika-kun.' She thought with a small giggled.
The blond haired, hazel eyed student mock gasped and giggled at Shuji's question. "Silly, you're here for the festival right? And for our event, we will be putting on a play!" She waved her hands to the black board behind her, motioning to the written notes. "All characters will be chosen by lottery! And since I want to make thing interesting, one by one, each student will come up and pick a name and link it to one of the characters written down here!" She pointed to the participants names which were all linked with a line and mixed up in a maze of lines that all connected to various characters in their play.
"We're here for the festival?" Zen said in a murmur, eying Chika darkly. The two exchanged glares at each other while Momo continued.
Momo smiled brightly. "Now then, our play is Snow White!"
There were loud gasps of excitement that engulfed the classroom, and several giggling students as well as chuckling males. All delighted about the selection, Momo was quick to have them line up to choose a name at random that was not their own to see who would be the characters. When suddenly one of the students at the chalkboard asked who Gaminishi Zarame was, and all eyes turned to the crossed arm individual with crimson hair.
"Hn? What do you want." He stated more then asked, making the other student a bit nervous.
Since the boy was too nervous to speak, Momo-senpai had stepped in and spoken for him. "It appears that our Snow White had been chosen! To you Gaminishi-san!"
…
"…" Zarame remained silent, his widening eyes the only form of shock written on his face, which had quickly disappeared and been replaced with his usual mask. "Tch." He turned his head to the side, ignoring the giggling of the female students and Chika's bellowed laughter that could easily cause an earthquake. There was a faint dust of embarrassment on his cheeks, but that was quickly removed when the Witch Queen was announced.
"Akatsuki Chika, The Evil Step Mother!" Momo applauded happily.
Chika choked on his laughter and turned a lovely shade of pink when the girls started to stare at him next. 'Aw crap…' He looked away in a pout, feeling the Shinigami ahead of him grinning in pure satisfaction. 'Asshole…' He mentally shot at him.
The process of choosing characters had continued. Shuji having been picked to be part of the prop making, while Zen and Toko were two of the seven dwarves. Shito had been picked to be one of the forest animals, something that was also laughed about when it had been done. Koyomi was chosen to be part of the dwarves, and finally Michiru was left with one of the main roles, which made her very nervous.
"The almighty Prince, Kita Michiru!"
"Eh?" Michiru looked up at Zarame.
The Shinigami seemed to relax a little, now that he was sure that he would not be kissing anyone other than his Michiru-chan. 'However I am still very wary of this Ameru Momo character. She has been watching me carefully ever since she walked into this room.' He thought with a small frown, but shook it off lightly and grasped Michiru's hand. "Omedeto gozaimasu, Michiru-chan. It seems you will be my opposite in this event."
Michiru nodded with a bit of a smile. "I-I'm happy, but… I hope you don't mind your role too much Zara-kun. You do have a lot of lines to know."
"Oh?" Zarame cocked his head to the side.
"Didn't you know?" Chika piped up next the Reaper. "The Play is named Snow White for a reason."
Zarame turned to look to Shito for more clarification on the matter, hoping the male knew what they were all talking about.
The blue haired male nodded. "Snow White is the main character, and thus has the most lines in this play." He explained.
Appearing from nowhere, Momo had surprised the group with her screechy, overly high pitched voice. "That's right! Our very own Snow White has the most lines! Now do your best, out there!"
With her being so close, he had been forced to back up along with Michiru for some much desired breathing room. Zarame had refrained from growling at the woman and instead grunted at her, shooting her a hateful look for having gotten so close to him without his permission. 'She is not to be trusted.' He noted, his amethyst eyes following her as she turned and walked back to the front of the room to calm all the students down.
She had made more announcements, and clarified that anyone without a role on stage would be responsible for what would be happening back stage instead. This included the props and costume work which some of the on stage characters could help with, though their main focus was to know their lines before helping out with other tasks. There would be fittings for the costume to make sure they were of the proper measurements, and wigs were already at their disposal for all the characters.
"We will be meeting every Monday, Wednesday and Friday for the next while to work on our props. Characters! You must practice your lines at home! Preferably if you could find time to meet up and do it together, that would be great! We will also be rehearsing here, but I want you to start as soon as you receive your scripts. That will be at the next meeting tomorrow!" Momo announced, her blue eyes sitting on Zarame and Michiru suddenly. "You two!" She pointed at them.
Michiru squeaked in alarm while Zarame remained as he was, watching the woman cautiously.
"I want to make sure that there's real heat and passion in this play. You two must absolutely work the hardest to make the audience truly believe you are in love with each other!" She yelled enthusiastically.
Behind the two, the rest of the Z-Loan group, including the ex A-Loan members were all grins and chuckles, informing Momo-senpai that it wouldn't be a problem considering they were already an item. "The issue will be getting them to keep their hands offa each other, ne Shito?" Chika laughed, earning a nod of agreement.
"Yea." Zen decided to add with a small look of distaste. "I remember catching them in the hallway the other night—It was nasty—"
"Zen-kun!" Toko hissed with a bit of a blush.
"What!" Zen pouted, insisting that he hadn't said much of anything.
This caused a bit of an uproar in the room, all the girls getting all giggly, others jealous of the lilac haired girl. Even some of the males were patting Zarame roughly on the shoulders, telling him things like 'way to go' and what not.
"Fine fine!" Momo-senpai howled. "Quiet down! Since you are all a little too excited, you are dismissed for the night! Have a safe trip home and I will see you at our next meeting tomorrow!" She yelled.
All happy to be released of this madness, the group had split up to go home. Zen and Shuji were interested in hunting, so they left the group to go find some trouble. They had of course dragged Toko with them since they wouldn't dare ask Michiru while Zarame-sama was around. So with one last glance at Chika, something that had not gone unnoticed by someone else, Toko had grudgingly left with the boys.
Koyomi had piped soon after that she was going to pick up some food for dinner, asking for Shito's help to carry home the groceries. The pair had gone off in a separate directions leaving Chika-kun with Michiru and Zarame. This gave Michiru the opportunity to bluntly state. "I think Toko-san has a crush on you, Chika-kun."
Both males stopped walking, equally confused at her words.
"…Nani?" Chika asked in a low, disbelieving voice.
"What makes you think this, Michiru-chan?" Zarame also asked, showing interest in this matter.
'Neither noticed?' "Well…" Michiru looked over at Chika, and smiled. "She looks at you just like Zarame looks at me… Very discrete in her display of emotions except with her eyes. I think she likes you very much Chika-kun, but hasn't really realized it yet."
How was it that this innocent little girl could speak so wisely at times and yet be unbelievably clumsy the next?
"Th-there's no way.." Chika murmured.
Michiru shook her head. "Yes there is. Maybe you should just pay more attention to her, or—" Just as she continued on walking, she had successfully tripped over her own feet, shrieking when she was about to fall flat on her face.
See? Clumsy.
Zarame had obviously caught his girlfriend long before her face could come into contact with the cement, giving her a raised brow look with an amused quirk at his lips. "I told you, you don't pay enough attention to where you're walking."
"Mou." Michiru blushed. "Y-you don't n-need to tease me about it, Zara-kun."
Chika snorted. "Jeez Gopher, watch where ya going next time." He walked up to her and ruffled her hair with a wide grin.
"O-oi!" The girl squeaked in protest.
Michiru went on in her frustrated small voice, trying to stop Chika-kun from teasing her while Zarame stood back and let them have their little childish spat. He smiled at his girlfriends flushed face and drooping glasses, about to picture her in a different way when he felt a small feeling a the back of his neck. Recognizing this, he had dropped his smile and turned his head to look at the cause of this interruption, his eyes catching a small shadow partially hidden a couple blocks away in an alley.
'Hn? We are being followed.' He couldn't quite see by whom, but he knew enough to consider it no threat at all. He couldn't pick up any signs of it being a zombie and brushed it off as nothing but a nuisance. He returned to his girlfriend and broke up their fight in favour of returning home. He had some work he was interested in doing, and he rather preferred to do it before going out for his evening black ring collecting. "Let's go, Koyomi-san will be done grocery shopping at the rate we are moving."
"Keh!" Chika crossed his arms and continued on in front of them. This allowed him to hide his thoughtful expression, his cheeks dusting themselves with a blush. 'There's no way she and I—I mean this is Toko!' He shook his head, deciding that it wasn't at all, remotely possible for someone as pretty as her could like him. 'Great, I just thought that she was pretty. The hell is wrong with me! Grah! There's no way I like Toko! I mean there's no way she likes me!' His eye twitched.
'Shit, I'm screwed, aren't I?'
-X-
"I refuse to read this."
Oh yes, it had already come to be the next evening, Wednesday night, and the scripts had been handed out. Zarame flat out refused to play the role of a woman, feeling that the character was much too idiotic for his taste. Similarly, Shito had a problem with his role. Actually, more like he found it to be more embarrassing than appropriate. He had agreed to be a deer, but not one that would squeak and make all sorts of 'friendly' noises.
"You have to, you are Snow White."
Materials to begin stage making were handed to the students. Costumes measurements were also taken from all the cast.
"She is weak and childish, speaking to animals and singing with birds. I refuse."
It was a cloudy day, so what better way than to spend it inside practicing roles and working hard?
"You refuse and they get suspended. That's right, I know why they're here."
…
"Tch."
So much for a good start.
"Zara-kun, it isn't all bad. Come on, why don't we practice in the hall?" Michiru tried, a small smile on her lips when he nodded at her request. He rarely turned her down when it came to an offer to be alone together. She also knew well that it would take a lot more convincing to get him to practice the role of Snow White, let alone perform it.
"Yeah, go on. Try to convince him hm?" Momo waved them off, deciding to look at the progress of the other students.
Zarame hadn't wasted a moment to grab Michiru-chan and yank them both out of the class. Intent on escaping this place, he decided to continue down the hallway, Michiru making small protests behind him.
"Ch-chotto matte! I said the hall, not out the school—"
"I simply can't remain here. I refuse to play that silly role—"
"Zarame-kun!" Michiru stopped in her tracks and tugged him back. "Stop."
He stood still for a moment.
She sighed behind him, wrapping her arms around his torso and hugging him from behind. "Don't be angry, please? This is meant to be fun, not humiliating. Everyone is working hard, and besides, I get to be your opposite. Isn't that enough to be happy about?" She asked gently, hugging him a bit more tightly before letting her arms drop. She was soon pressed firmly against the lockers with his body moulded against hers, a small gasp of surprise escaping her lips. 'Z-Zara-kun..'
"Of course I'm grateful." He whispered hoarsely in her ear, nuzzling his nose into her soft lilac hair. "I am merely having a difficult time adjusting to this odd life of yours." He lightly kissed his way down her jaw line and up to her lips apologetically. "Gomen nasai, I didn't mean to make you unhappy." He caressed her cheek with one of his cool hands lovingly.
Her cheeks burned with heat, making her olive eyes seem brighter than usual. "Z-Zarame…" She began with a stutter. "We shouldn't be doing this out here. Please, can we rehearse?"
"Hn." He contemplated it. Only for a split second though before his lips began to devour hers in a hungry kiss. He grinned to himself when she returned it, the kiss quickly becoming rougher and heated. The one hand that had previously been on her cheek was now at the back of her neck while the other wandered down to her waist and pulled Michiru against his body tightly. In response the usually shy girl had groaned and wrapped her arms around his neck to pull him further against her lips. He broke away from her due to lack of breath but did not halt his actions. Instead he kissed his way down her jaw and neck until he reached the junction to her shoulder, caressing it deeply.
Michiru gasped at the sensation, a shiver of pleasure running through her body. "Zarame…" She purred in pleasure, her eyes fluttering in a haze.
With one final peck, he moved his way back up to her lips to kiss them one last time roughly. He broke away suddenly, speaking. "Let's practice our lines, hm?" He smirked at his flushed girlfriend.
Still in a bit of a daze, Michiru mumbled in discontent. "That was… Mean."
He chuckled, tugging her forward as he stepped back to give them some room to practice. He'd have to make some effort today if he wanted to do this again with her at the next meeting.
"Let's begin Michiru-chan. First page."
-X-
Momo-senpai was in the middle of concluding their meeting for night when a flicker of a familiar feeling stirred within Michiru. Next to her she felt Zarame stiffen at the sensation and turn his head briefly to look outside just as she did. It had been a while since either of them felt a strong sensation such as this. Not an ordinary zombie, but a highly skilled illegalzombie.
Unfortunately not Shiba.
But maybe… someone just as close to his strength. Someone freshly created.
"I will go." Zarame murmured first, ready to excuse himself from the room.
"No." Michiru turned and hissed swiftly. Zarame was an important member in this group. He needed to listen to Momo-senpai's speech more than she did. "You stay, or Momo-senpai might get angry." She reasoned in a whisper, catching Chika and Shito's attention suddenly.
"Eh? What's going on Gopher?" Chika hoarsely whispered, leaning forward in his seat to get closer to her.
Shito, who had been wearing his glasses and taking notes (why he would be taking this so seriously no body knew..) had removed his glasses and regarded the girl with a serious look as well. "Is it a zombie?" He asked softly enough that only she or Zarame could catch it.
Michiru nodded sharply but quickly added. "Not Shiba…" So that Chika wouldn't freak out in the middle the class. She fidgeted in her seat as she waited for her team's answers, even Zarame's. When she looked up at him, she could see him struggling with the idea of letting her go by herself to tackle this zombie. She opened her mouth to argue more when Momo had finally loudly shouted an end to tonight's work.
"Sayonara!" She bowed.
There were floods of different answers and goodbyes to the elder student as everyone rushed to escape the classroom for the evening. Slowly, Michiru squeezed her way through the crowd to leave with Zarame, but felt him get jerked back roughly into the classroom. When she was in the hallway she stood up on her toes to find him, but could only see a mop of blond hair and crimson hair next to each other further back in the room.
"Jeez! What's the rush!" Koyomi whined as soon as she was freed of the crowd. She turned around when she spotted Michiru-chan, bobbing her head to the side inquisitively. "Eh? Michiru-chan? What are you doing?"
"Senpai pulled Gaminishi-sama back into the class to have a word with him." Answered the drawled out voice of Shuji.
Zen agreed with Shuji and added, "I saw her grab him pretty hard, looked like it was important what she had to say."
Michiru clenched her teeth together in irritation. She didn't have time to be waiting around like this when she knew and could feel that new zombie rousing trouble. She could have sworn her ears perked at the sounds of giggling, something that no one in her group was currently doing which left…
"Oh? Looks like Momo-senpai is being extra nice to our Shinigami—" Chika began but had been hit over the head by his partner roughly to silence him.
"Shut up, baka." Shito growled threateningly.
"You can't keep that loud mouth of yours shut for two seconds, can you?" Toko darkly remarked at the boy.
Chika narrowed his eyes and howled back. "Look who's talking!" He then inwardly added. 'And Michiru says she likes me! What a joke. Toko only has one interest, herself!'
"Excuse me?"
"Uh guys…" Zen laughed nervously, scratching the back of his head uncertainly. What could he do to help smooth things over with his partners? He sighed and opened his mouth to speak more when he was interrupted by a loud screech from within the classroom. Naturally the group had turned to investigate the noise within the room, and that's when they caught, or rather saw Zarame pressing Momo-senpai roughly against the chalk board, the elder student looking a bit flustered while the Shinigami looked to be a bit ticked off.
However what looked like one scene to one person, another took in differently. To another, this scene could easily be mistaken as that of passion, Momo-senpai flustered and flushed from something Zarame-sama could have said or done. 'He wouldn't do that, not to me. Th-this must be a mistake, o-or… I just don't…' Michiru shook her head and gaped at them, her eyes landing on the woman who would soon be incinerated if she dared to approach her.
Without a word, she had turned from the scene and pushed her way past her friends to walk to the nearest empty space. She found the girls' washroom conveniently placed near their location and quickly sheltered herself within it. When she was positive no one was around she had transformed into her alternate form, her white wispy cloak completely covering her as did her furry hood.
The doors to the washroom had bursted open only seconds after Michiru entered, the olive eyed girl catching glimpses of Koyomi-san and Toko-san's worried faces. Blinking, the two were gone as she swirled out of the room in a flurry of her white feathers, mentally apologizing to the girls before leaving.
"Michiru-chan." Koyomi squeaked, exchanging anxious looks with Toko.
-X-
After the student had scrambled away, Zarame had rolled his shoulders to loosen them up, feeling a bit less stressed out now that the annoying blond girl was gone. 'Did she truly believe I would allow a relationship to form between us? Baka.' He snorted, turning and exiting the classroom with his hands stuffed into his pockets.
He felt a large pressure wash through him just as he reached Michiru's friends, assuming that the girl had simply gotten impatient and left without him to go hunting. Apparently though, he had been mistaken. Toko and Koyomi had rushed out of the washroom and pushed past everyone to get to him, both looking very concerned.
"Michiru-san just left!" Toko said first.
Zarame narrowed his eyes. "Aa, I felt it."
"Ya well didn't you feel how miserable she was?" Koyomi had surprisingly growled. "Don't you know anything about girls?"
"What are they talking about?" Zen whispered to Shito, out of earshot of the girls.
Shito merely shrugged, "Women are very sensitive. I believe she may have hurt feelings." He muttered in response, though not sounding entirely sure of his answer.
"Well that Momo did look like she was hittin' on our Shinigami." Chika added in his normal tone, catching the Reaper's attention with his words.
It was like he had finally understood them, realizing now what the situation within the classroom may have looked like to her. 'Does she doubt me that much?' He frowned at the thought, looking up at the women whom stared at him for his answer. He sighed and removed his hands from his pockets, his fists clenched. "I see. Michiru-chan was made to believe something entirely untrue. I understand now." He loosened the tie around his neck, his shirt opening up slightly.
"Then if you 'understand', go and get her before she blows up the city!" Toko yelled at him.
Chika was quick to jump in and grab the angry girl before she could say anything else that would piss off the Reaper. As annoying as this girl could be sometimes, having her frozen in a block of ice wouldn't be helping anyone. "Chill Toko. The Gopher wouldn't be dumb enough to do that. She said that there was a strong zombie around here so she's probably just venting on it."
Toko had struggled against his grip, but had frozen when he mentioned the zombie Michiru had gone after. 'Wait, what? She had felt that without even casting a spell? H-how did she do that?' She thought in confusion, biting her lip. 'I never knew she was that strong. I-I mean I knew she was but… This is just so weird to get used to.' She finally looked up and caught Chika's strange gaze on her, raising a brow in silent question. 'What is he looking at?' She finally noticed how close they were, and flushed in embarrassment. "L-lemme go!"
Chika quickly let her go as if she burned, coughing to hide his blush. 'Shit, what was I doing?' He inwardly cursed himself.
'Michiru-chan hunting while she is upset may not be the greatest idea. Despite having done nothing wrong, I can see why she would think so. Especially since that blond girl had some intentions of her own.' Zarame-sama looked up at the group and nodded. "I will watch over her until she calms. Please return home and do not worry over us."
"I doubt any will. Just return home in one piece." Shito said with a small smile.
Koyomi had turned to him when he spoke, feeling her heart race a bit faster. "Sh-Shito-kun." She practically floated to him. 'If Shito-kun believes in him, then so do I.'
"Right then, guys washroom is this way." Zen chuckled, jabbing his thumb in the correct direction.
Because changing into his shinigami form in the middle of a hallway with surveillance cameras wouldn't be the greatest idea in the world. 'It would be best to remain hidden from the rest of the ningen population. Drawing attention to myself would make things rather difficult.' He nodded to the group in thanks and made his way to the boys' washroom, taking note in the back of his mind of closeness of that Toko girl next to Chika. He inwardly chuckled, finally seeing what Michiru had said before, and shook his head.
"She was right after all."
-X-
She lifted her arm, pointing her blade in an upward motion. It glowed warmly, filling the space with its light as she guided the lost souls to the other side. Blood dripped down her cheek and stained her white clothing in splatters. She ignored it, choosing to focus more on her guidance than her minor injury. When the last of the souls had crossed, she had lowered her curved blade, her face indifferent.
"Guidance complete."
This zombie. This freshly created zombie had not wasted any time choosing its prey. Already three other victims had been chosen and unfortunately crossed over by Michiru. Whoever had chosen this person as the candidate to be an illegal zombie was really beginning to irk her. He had been strong and tricky. She realized shortly after barely avoiding getting her eye taken out that he was worth her keeping herself on her toes. She had been right before when she had sensed him. He had been like Shiba.
Cocky and powerful. Minus the whole Reapers core and all.
The girl was also beginning to notice some strange fluctuations in this world that she had not felt before. Shrugging, Michiru decided to think about that later and possibly discuss it with someone else.
Till then, she had some much-needed anger to blow off before she accidentally set fire to something (or possibly someone). Luckily for her these zombies had been clustered together within a warehouse somewhat near a water source. With all the targets put to rest and such a large and fairly empty space at the girls disposal, she was easily able to blow off some steam by simply sitting and letting her anger boil out of her system. Whatever doubts she held she let them slip away as she breathed out, the air rapidly heating up around her.
Inhaling, she pictured her friends arguing with each other, as always. Something that always brought some happiness to her heart.
Exhaling, she imagined Zara-kun standing a little too close for comfort to that pretty blond girl, staring at her with his deep amethyst eyes—
Inhaling, she erased all negative images from her head, and replaced them with her happiest moments.
Exhaling, of course most of those moments were spent with Zarame.
Inhaling deeply, she mentally tried to convince herself that he would never do anything to purposely harm her feelings. He cared for her too much.
One final exhale, and she felt all of her anger melt away. She opened her eyes and observed her surroundings blankly. She was just feeling jealous, she mentally concluded, something that was perfectly natural to feel in this stage of a relationship whenever your boyfriend would get near another woman.
'Uh, I think I might have turned this place into an oven.' Michiru thought meekly, almost feeling the urge to laugh. Well, the only way to fix this was to either fetch her boyfriend or open all the doors and windows to air the place out. 'It's very strange how so many of these zombie's like to be in places like these.' She thought when she stood up and brushed some of the dirt off of her clothing.
Then in a blink of an eye, all of the windows and even the doors had been opened, the white clad girl deciding to leave the bodies as they were so that they could be found and given a proper burial by someone. Besides, they couldn't do any harm with all their souls properly guided. 'At least they shouldn't be able to.' She cast a look back to the four limp bodies in the back of the warehouse, shaking her head for thinking such things.
She left the location in a swirl of feathers and reappeared on a rooftop downtown, surveying the city for any abnormalities that needed to be wiped out. 'There aren't very many around. I wonder if that was why it was so easy to sense the other one?' Her olive eyes flickered around wearily, the student feeling a bit tired suddenly. 'I shouldn't have exhausted so much power trying to cool off. I—' She shifted, her eyes shooting to the side quickly when she felt a disturbance behind her.
'Shi—' She tried to move, and had done so in a blur, but not without getting nicked. Her lower back had been sliced, though if she hadn't moved like she had, she was sure she would be dealing with a wound much worse right now. Her clothing tinted themselves quickly in red, including her wispy cloak. She winced from the wound, her mind rapidly thinking up ways as to how he had moved so swiftly. "Shiba…" She spat the name out venomously.
"I'm willing to bet you're confused as to how I appeared so quickly?" He grinned, sitting his scythe against his shoulder. He laughed loudly at Michiru's impassive face, his eyes lowering to her bloodied clothing. "My my, I did quite a little number on you. Too bad you noticed me though. I could have cut you in half and ridden this world of your odd existence. Too bad." He mused, lifting the scythe off his shoulder.
'His speed had never been an issue before! What is he doing?' She mentally cursed. She kept a close eye on him as he moved, swearing under her breath when he ripped a whole into the fabric of this dimension to enter a new one. When he had disappeared behind it, it had sealed up, effectively revealing how he was moving so unpredictably. 'He's ripping through the dimensions! He could appear anywhere!' She realized, feeling a bit worried now. 'Is that the reason behind the odd disturbances? Has he been mastering this trick?'
"Where will he attack next?" She mumbled. "From above? Bellow? Right or left? Or Behin—" She gasped, feeling cool metal pressed against her neck.
"Yes, I can attack from just about anywhere, isn't it great?" Shiba had once again emerged from a portal behind her, his scythe curled around her neck. "Now even you can't win against me." He teased, pulling him blade a little more tightly against her neck.
"Now then, I'll be taking that core of yours Amaterasu-sama."
Michiru swallowed nervously and glared behind her as best as she could. 'Over. My. Dead. Body.' She inwardly swore, her eyes flashing with flecks of gold.
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A/N There you have it. I hope this is okay, I mean it should be. What do you guys think of the whole Snow White thing? You just know something is going to go madly wrong during this play, something always does. Haha! Well R&R!