Disclaimer: I don't own anything.

It's finally done! What a short, quick story to write. I liked it.

Giroro had been dead for a time. But it had been worth it. For at least a time, Natsumi's life had been saved. He really hoped she was smart enough to get out of there. To run.

"It is not your time." A man with a long beard stood before him. "How did you end up here? I suppose I see an odd accident every now and then, and you are quite unlucky..." He stroked his beard.

"Angol Mois blasted me. She's a jerk," Giroro growled.

The man's eyes widened. "Do you know where you are?"

"I assume I'm dead. I did get blasted by a Grim Reaper," he said.

"So... you meant that Mois... my daughter..." He frowned. "Sit down. I am quite interested to hear how she's doing. I haven't heard from her in quite some time."

Giroro looked up. This was Mois's father? "I live in a town that she governs and gives safe haven to the supernatural creatures in. Or at least, I used to live in that town."

"Mois always was someone who liked helping the very pitiful and unwanted. She always took it upon herself to fight for the rights of the creatures she found most pathetic. Thought it was being kind, in her own way." The King grinned as he thought of his daughter.

"But the humans in the town have been getting murdered. They were vanishing, and nobody knew who the killer was on the lose," Giroro explained.

The King frowned. "Odd. I haven't dealt with any humans from this town you speak of. If they were killed or died, they should have come to me."

"They probably didn't, because Mois was killing them. Maybe she didn't want you to know." Giroro explained.

"There would be no reason for me not to know. Her job is to kill... but in excesses like that." He frowned. That was unusual. "Unless she was doing it for a reason I didn't support... She would have hidden it by eliminating those poor souls from the reincarnation stream. Killing their mortal bodies and their immortal souls just to silence them."

"Why am I not silenced, then?" Giroro asked.

"Probably because she blasted you. She didn't complete the process... Odd, why would my daughter be up to such a thing?" the King asked.

"I think she's bleeding them and giving the blood to a vampire by the name of Kululu - You probably don't know him..." Giroro was cut off by the King of Terror pounding his scythe on the ground.

"Kululu? She's aiding Kululu?" He had never forgotten how much Kululu had laughed at him. And he was livid. "Go to her, Giroro, and warn her of my return. Because she is in major trouble."

"I can't go to her. I'm dead," Giroro reminded him.

"Your life is returned to you. It wasn't meant to be taken away from you so young. Her meddling wasn't supposed to have an affect in this." The King waved his hand.

And Giroro vanished to return. He smiled. Angol Mois was in biiig trouble.

"My father?" Angol Mois asked, looked terrified. She was in trouble now.

"Won't that be even more of a problem? If one Grim Reaper was hard to deal wit,h won't two be even more troublesome?" asked Natsumi.

"Well, he can't be that mad at you, right...? I mean, you were doing everything according to your job..." Kululu trailed off.

"Actually... um..." She twiddled her fingers. "I wasn't. I eliminated the victims' souls so they couldn't tell my father about how I was using my power for my own benefit, which is actually quite illegal. So, youcould say I am in trouble."

Kululu looked at her worriedly. He had no idea that his thirst had caused this much problem.

At that moment, a small cyclone appeared between Natsumi and Mois. They both knew who was in it. As it disappeared, a large man with a beard was before them.

Is... Is that death? Natsumi wondered. A few weeks ago she would have never dreamed that she would have been staring straight at Death's back. She would have punched someone if they said she would witness a fight between two Grim Reapers.

Natsumi didn't know whether to feel very frightened, humbled, or ready to fight. Whatever was about to happen couldn't be very good.

Worry ate away at her as the two Grim Reapers stared at each other. People would die from their battle. She could imagine it would be nothing less than intense.

"So he is here." Mois's father shot a disgusted glare at Kululu. "I had hoped the werewolf had been lying."

"Mois's not at fault! She didn't do anything. I tricked her into helping me - " Kululu tried to take the blame again, getting between them. Mois shushed him by kissing him on the cheek.

"It is my fault. You can't take the blame for everything, Kululu. I chose to kill those people of my own volition," she told him sweetly.

"You've done a great disservice to humanity, abusing your powers like this. Abusing your birth right." Her father sounded betrayed. "And for what? For him? You made the wrong choice. You will be punished for this. You might even be exiled from our people, giving up your life as a Grim Reaper."

Mois stood her ground, clutching onto her scythe. "I will not give up who I am. It was you who made him like this, requiring me to use my power for him to be satisfied. And how many times have you abused your power just to play with a human? So I will not accept that I've done anything wrong."

Her fathergrew in size, just to look down upon her. "You will not get your way. You will not win this fight."

"Yes. Yes, I will!" Mois launched herself forward, rushing up to attack.

"Mois!" Kululu yelled.

Giroro grabbed Natsumi's hand. They would not survive to witness the two Grim Reapers clashing. He didn't know what kind of power emerged from such a supernatural battle, but he did not want to find out.

Natsumi turned around to leave with him, but the exit was blocked by rubble. They were trapped. And if either of them, both mortals, got caught in the crossfire, they were dead.

Natsumi looked up at Giroro. She didn't want to be frightened. But she was so out of her element. The supernatural was never her place, it was Fuyuki's.

And she was beginning to realize she couldn't fight it. And she felt weak.

"It's all right," Giroro told her. He knew she didn't want him to see her cry if she was frightened. So he tried to pull her into a hug so a single tear could drop down her face.

Through it all, she was finally realizing what Giroro was saying. They were only humans, and the rest of the things in this town were not. She could not fight it. Giroro had already died once for her mistake. And now they would probably die together, for good, as the whole house fell around them from the oncoming battle.

She was human, and although in some cases that was enough to fight, like to fight normal things like vampires and werewolves, it was not enough to fight death. And she was frightened.

So Giroro just held her. They were as good as dead. He looked at the Grim Reaper battle before him, holding his breath.

Mois and her father's scythes clashed. Sparks flew between them.

They gazed at each other intensely. This was clearly a battle to the death. Well, not their deaths. Kululu, Giroro, and Natsumi could all sense it in the atmosphere.

That was, at least, until Angol Mois spoke. "Daddy!" She stepped back, stomping her feet childishly. "Stop being mean! I can abuse my power just as much as you can! You're just mad because you don't like Kululu."

"This battle has nothing to do with that," said her father. "This is a battle of complex moral judgment. And I forbid you from aiding him..."

"But Daddy, I love him!" Mois insisted. Giroro and Kululu looked at each other for a moment as they realized both of the Grim Reapers' scythes were gone. What Giroro had assumed was going to be a battle of force and power was now a battle of words.

Could words kill? He honestly did not know.

"You will not be dating him! I forbid it!" the King of Terror huffed.

Mois crossed her arms. "Daddy! No." She shook her head. "He's my boyfriend and you have to accept that. He's part of the family now, so I can feed him all the blood he needs. And may I remind you that I'm killing people because of you, who made him like this just because your were just as petty and childish as he. You couldn't take being mocked so you had to have the last word!"

"That is not what happened!" the King of Terror yelled. "Be reasonable, Mois. Fine, fine. You can keep your Grim Reaper status, but only if you dump him - "

"No. I love him," Mois smiled. She sauntered over to Kululu. "And if you don't leave me alone, I'll make out with him right here in front of you."

The King of Terror screamed. "Don't do this, Mois. Really, please, don't."

"Maybe I should just leave... This is not what I expected..." Kululu scratched his head. "I'm so confused."

"Good luck with leaving. The exit's blocked," Giroro pointed out. Kululu frowned.

"Mois, listen, sweetie, my child... You do not have to do this. Just take your punishment responsible..." the King reasoned.

"No! I will not!" Mois stomped her feet again. "You're being so mean! Daddy... why won't you just let me be happy?" Her eyes teared up.

"Oh... Oh no, don't cry... Oh geez, I wish your mom was here..." The King tried to calm down his spoiled little daughter. He glanced at Giroro, who had brought him here. He was beginning to regret his decision to chew his daughter out.

Mois threw her scythe at him. "Kululu is part of our family, and I can do what I want! I'm an adult, too!"

"Missy, you're only a little child in Grim Reaper years. Just a few thousand years old - "

"NO! I'm dating him and you'll accept that, since that's your real issue here, or else!"

"Or else what? You can't threaten me!" the King of Terror growled.

"Or else I'm going to cry and I'm never going to forgive you from tearing me away from my soul mate!" she threatened.

The King of terror stopped grumbling. Mois's tears were already starting to bubble up.

"Oh... Oh no... Oh don't do that. Please. Anything but that," he begged.

But Mois started sobbing. The King of Terror - Death himself - looked sheepish. After a moment of her loud wails, he gave in.

"Fine! Fine! You can date him! And you won't be punished for eliminating thousands of human souls! I'm sure they weren't important! Just please stop crying!" he begged.

Mois perked up, like a switch had flipped. "Okay! And you'll accept him as part of the family?"

The King of Terror looked at Kululu and glared. Mois's lip started quivering again. "Fine! Fine! You got it!" he agreed.

"Yay! You could say, happy ending?" she squealed.

Natsumi pried Giroro's arms off of her. "Wait, what? No. No way." She shook her head. "Mois's been killing people. Murdering them gruesomely!"

"Yep! I was keeping them alive with my power until they were completely drained of blood. They had miserable deaths," Mois said honestly.

Natsumi was horrified. "And you just accept that? She's done horrible things! She shouldn't be let on her way to just kill who she pleases. You're an expert of moral judgment. Shouldn't you stop her?" She looked desperately at the King of Terror.

The King thought for a moment. "Nope. I don't want to deal with her temper-tantrums. This was probably her calmest one yet. She can do as she pleases."

Natsumi looked terrified. Mois was so spoiled! And the King of Terror vanished.

"See? Problem solved. You could say, agreement reached?" Mois smiled at Natsumi. "And since you know you're not strong enough to take me down now, I assume everything is solved. So... uhh... friends again?" She reached out her hand.

Natsumi felt like she was the only normal person in this town. "No!" She swatted her hand away. She didn't know what to do.

Would the murders keep happening? Had she solved nothing coming here? Was she just a tiny meaningless pebble in a stream?

She felt terrible.

The town was cleaned up pretty fast, and the residents seemed to act like nothing had happened. They just ignored it. Natsumi felt shaky and nauseous at what she had learned. Nothing was right.

"I didn't imagine that whole thing, right?" Natsumi asked to Giroro. It felt like such an unsatisfying end. No monster captured, no way to capture them, and the murders likely continuing. "You really died, didn't you?"

He nodded. "That's why I told you to stay away from this town. The people here are odd - they accept the unusual. But you... You understand right and wrong. You don't belong here, Natsumi. This adventure in your life... It was just a bump. You may think losing like this makes you like a pebble in a stream of things that you can't control, but really this town was a pebble in your path. A bump in the road of your life. And you'll move on to do things and help others. Because you're that kind of person," he told her with a smile. "And you'll succeed."

Natsumi stared at him. "You died for me. That was a grave sacrifice. Why?"

Giroro sighed. It was time to tell her his feelings, the deep things inside him that he felt so intensely. But to confess his love to her, how he wanted her to be safe, he needed the most perfect, the most honest words. "I suppose you could say I've fallen for you." And he used the worst pick-up line in history, considering that he had literally fallen to the ground and died that day.

Natsumi slapped him.

"OW!" Giroro groaned.

"Sorry, it's just... That was a really bad," she laughed.

"I know. I know. Now I feel bad. I'm so sorry," he apologized. He felt so ashamed.

Natsumi giggled. "It's fine. I just... It's a little surprising that you'd be so bad with romance. I mean, when I first met you, I saw you as this intimidating, tough figure. A sort of a bad boy. But to know you're so bad at puns... It's kind of funny."

Giroro frowned. "You know, you can just say you don't feel the same way..."

"I didn't say I didn't." She leaned up and kissed him on the lips. "I just think it's fun to keep you guessing." She grinned.

"A challenge even here, hmm? Interesting." He liked the kiss she had given him, even if it was short. But she quickly made it longer, and they kissed for a few moments to erase from their minds the terrible things they had learned about the town.

It took them a week to pack up and get ready to leave town. Natsumi eventually decided she had done some good, because she had heard rumors around town that the countess and her evil servant had vanished. People had said the murderer struck again, and Natsumi and Fuyuki decided it was best to not tell them that they were ruled by a murderer.

Sometimes Natsumi wondered where they were. If they were off killing others. But it frightened her to think about.

Sometimes it was best to just put it out of her head.

Really Angol Mois had gone back home, to visit her family in the land of the dead. After more begging and prodding, Kululu's thirst for blood was finally repealed. And he could finally eat foods again like curry.

When he tasted curry for the first time in a thousand years, he wept.

"What now?" Kululu asked her. "I mean, if you really want to live back at home with your parents, I'm fine with that, but don't you miss the town you left behind? Didn't you like the power of ruling over it?"

"I made it for you. And it is unneeded now. But I suppose we could find a new town," she said. "There will be more monsters who need haven. More people. And although it won't be like the last town, it could still be ours. After all, we need a base to watch the centuries pass."

"We'll make a new one. Without the bad history the other one had," he decided.

"Yes. And it'll be bigger! We need a nice to place to raise the little ones!" she beamed.

"Little ones? Ohhh, like genetic experiments! Ku, ku, ku, I like it!"

Mois giggled. "I meant children."

Kululu grimaced. That was perhaps a more terrifying fate than being a vampire.

They were all at the train station. They might not have had a supernatural creature in tow, but they were going to leave this town, anyway.

"Who's going to rule now that Mois's gone?" Natsumi asked the monsters.

"I... I am," Keroro answered. "There's too much of a political struggle with her gone, and a few of the other monsters have discussed it with me. Because of my doppelganger abilities, it's best for all if I just pose as her, at least until I can hand the town over to myself. Apparently doppelgangers have fairy blood. They're fairy children auctioned away to goblins for a purpose. But because of my fairy blood, I can be very charismatic. So I'll bring this town to how it's supposed to be. Safe," he said with a smile.

"Yep! My Mr... I mean, Keroro will do great!" Tamama smiled. He wasn't too happy with Keroro having to pose as someone else, especially that woman, since Keroro was just finding his identity, but he was glad Keroro got a chance to help people. Keroro liked doing that.

"It's too bad about Mois. I had no idea she was like that," Dororo frowned, "I'd like to say it was clear cut, like she was evil, but I think there's a different phrase for it. As she might tell you - 'you could say, love makes you do crazy things?' It was a real pity." He nodded sadly.

Natsumi had to agree - it was a pity. Mois had acted like a nice girl. But she didn't know at all how much of that had been an act. And how much of Kululu's evil had been an act for them to suspect him.

"So... I guess this is good-bye, then." She looked a bit sad.

"Actually, Natsumi..." Koyuki trailed off.

"You want to stay?" she said. "We can't. We have places to be Koyuki."

"You have places to be," Koyuki corrected. "My clan is dying out. We're unneeded. But here, the people keep to tradition, to the spirits. And without Mois here... Dororo has no one to remember him. He needs a person. A real person. Me," she told her. "I went with you for the money. I thought money could help me find where I needed to be in this world. But it was the journey that made me find where to be. Here."

Natsumi looked shocked, but she couldn't tell her best friend no. So instead she just hugged her. "I'll try to visit you," she promised. Koyuki smiled.

"Thanks," she said, standing by Dororo's side.

Natsumi tried not to cry. She glanced at the approaching train.

"I guess this is good-bye, then," Giroro told her.

Natsumi shook her head. "You know, I can't stay. But that doesn't mean you can't come with."

"I'm a monster," he reminded her.

"But you don't belong here. You're human, as far as I care, except on the full moon. And I've proven I can't get bitten. You want adventure as much as I do. You weren't meant to stay in one town." She reached out her hand. "It's only you who thinks that being a werewolf is a curse. You've got to fight it. To make something of yourself. You have 29 days out of the month. Isn't that enough?"

Giroro thought for a moment. He looked at Dororo.

"Go. You weren't meant to be in this town. I'll be fine. And you can visit," Dororo told him. Giroro nodded after a moment. Then he smiled.

"Just make sure to kick my butt when I try to bite you," he said to Natsumi.

"That is one promise I can keep forever," Natsumi grinned. And she helped Giroro onto the train with her.

She'd take one thing from the town, and Fuyuki would be happy enough because it was a supernatural creature.

In her life, this adventure would mean something. Because it was where she met Giroro.

She sat on the train across from her brother. It was almost like how they had come to the town. Except this time she had two new companions, Giroro and Momoka, traveling with her.

She saw fliers being handed out on the train talking about Mutsumi, the thief who was going through town to town stealing from the rich and giving to the poor. He must have left before them and made something of himself instead of hiding in fear.

Maybe she'd catch him next, although he wasn't really doing much wrong.

She smiled at Fuyuki. "I guess that wasn't all bad, but you didn't get a subject to research."

"It was a fun trip," Fuyuki smiled. Then he sighed and looked out the window. "You know what I'm thinking about doing next?"

"Being quiet?" she asked.

"No! Looking into aliens! I know they're out there! Wouldn't that be a cool trip to plan? To try to find them..."

Fuyuki was cut off by Momoka's sigh of annoyance. "You're marrying me first. No running off on research trips like this one before we're wed."

Natsumi laughed. Nothing had really changed. But at the same time, she had. She was more accepting of the unusual.

She watched the town of Lunaris get smaller and smaller out the window. That adventure was gone. And although bad things had happened and it hadn't ended satisfyingly, she was happy.

She might not have played a big part, but her personal journey had been a big one. And that was enough for now.

I'll catch murderers later. And nobody's getting away again, she vowed.

All right, so I will now mostly try to update Heartbeat Lies now and write more of that. I also have a Pirate AU in the works.

And of course two research papers to complete...Hmm...Maybe I should do those first and do things at a slower pace fanfiction wise...Probably.

Please review!