-CLOUDADE'S SHORT STORIES

It's Not Killing

Genre: Mild Romance, Fantasy

"It's time for you to go," Noir quietly spoke. Although his voice was calm and quiet, the intensity was thick.

As Noir looked carefully upon the body with eyes of sorrow; a wisp arose from the body on the ground and disappeared with a sound like a sigh of relief. A small, bright blue orb appeared on his right wrist along with the others and orbited around it.

"For God's sake! Who have you killed now?" Cate scolded.

"I told you. It's not killing. It's my job." Noir said calmly.

"Right. Put it however you want but right here in front of you is a dead woman. You can't hide the truth." Noir calmly walked out of the front door and the sky was the color of gravestones. Cate followed behind him, ranting.

"How can you just walk out of the door normally? Does your heart show no guilt?"

Noir was an adult man whose figure was tall and lean. Everything about him was average and gave off a very mellow vibe -- except he was not anywhere near average. As Cate said, he "killed" people.

"Cate..you know you're..." Noir started. ...dead? He thought.

"What? Annoying?" Cate asked. "It's not my fault. Wherever I go, I always find you."

"Yes," he sighed. "..annoying."

For a girl who was overly smart, she couldn't seem to put together the pieces of the puzzle. Sure it would be great if Noir would save the effort and tell her but he couldn't. The worst case he had ever encountered was when he had to break out in a chase with a soul that took weeks to catch. His soul was out of the ordinary and turned into an orange bead instead of blue. But of all the years he had been a grim reaper, he had never encountered a soul that roamed so normally as if she was still living and was still clueless of her death. It only made it harder for him.

"Now I'm late for class.." Cate said. "We are going to talk about this later." As she left, he took this chance to disappeared back to home to finish his business. It was the only place that prevented Cate from circling back to him all the time.

"Grim number 524...525..." a speaker announced. There was a line of grim reapers all there for the same reason as Noir. To bring the souls back home.

"Grim number 634. Wrist please?" a lady next to the speaker said. Noir did as told and the lady inserted a shot. It was the serum which made them swear not to betray one another.

Then it was his turn, he raised up his hands open and the orbs that were collected slowly floated away. They tilted and became a white light and turned into glitter like shooting stars on the sky.

"Yo, Noir!" a man behind him called out. It was his counterpart. While Noir watched over death, -- watched over life.

"Hey, Sein.." Noir sighed. Sein walked up to Noir and stood by him.

"How was your trip?" Sein asked.

"The same old thing." he answered. Each minute was the last minute of a life somewhere in the world.

"Have you told her yet?" Sein said. Everything seemed to pause for a second.

"It's not that easy," Noir stated.

"So..you didn't tell her?" Sein raised up an eyebrow. Noir was silent.

It just wasn't easy. She was everything Noir wasn't. In her lifetime, she loved everything to the fullest and knew when it was time to let it go. And the one thing he wasn't able to fulfill at all in his lifetime was holding everything mortal close as if he depended on it. How could he end a young life who had done everything he hadn't.

"The dead can't stay long out there. Don't be selfish, Noir." Sein stated.

"I know." Noir buried his head in his hands in frustration.

"Do you want to know what happens to the souls that come here because of you?" Sein asked. Noir looked up confused by Sein's suddenly calm voice. Sein got up and Noir slowly followed.

They went and followed a white soul that was leaving the underworld until they came to the hospital. When the soul merged with a baby, it let out a cry. It was the mouth that inflated the lungs of a child that has just been born. He had finally understood what to do. He quickly left to see Cate.

Standing at the gate, he watched helplessly as Cate was ignored by many until the two made eye contact.

"Noir!" Cate was surprised and ran over to him. "Why are you here?"

"Cate," Noir breathed. This was it. The end of her endless scoldings and complaints. "There's something you need to know about yourself."

"It's my death, isn't it?" she said.

"Yeah.." Noir's eyes widened. "Wait. You knew?" Cate sadly looked at him.

"Of course I knew. It's not hard to forget a memory so vivid." Cate smiled through her sorrow.

"But. You." Noir was startled and stopped talking. Confused. He felt confused. Hurt.

"I know but when I saw you, Noir. I was afraid of being taken away and ending my life there so I acted dumb. Instead you made me feel less lonely." They were both selfish. They both wanted something. Someone to make them feel better. Noir understood now.

Smiling through, he spoke the words.

"It's time for you to go." A pink orb appeared as a bead around his wrist.

The rain tasted like salt.