Hetalia x Reader Oneshots.

Ghost!China x Reaper!Reader

Yao was walking around the graveyard until he came upon a familiar gravestone. His own. Kiku was standing there with a bouquet and a Hello Kitty toy. If only he could reach out, touch his life long companion, say that he appreciated everything, that he could stop torturing himself, but ghosts can't communicate with the living or affect their world.

They both stood there looking at the ground until the rain began to fall. Kiku ran to get to shelter, going right through Yao in the process. Both shivered, but Yao couldn't tell if Kiku was crying like he was.

He was about to reach down and pretend to touch the items when he felt a familiar presence behind him. "What do you want?"

"I'm simply observing." The same answer he always got from the girl in black robes, holding that despicable thing that had torn him away from his friends and family. "It's rare the parted get quite as many people as you to leave things for them. You've touched the hearts of many, Wang Yao."

He scowled. "If you think your compliments are going to prompt me to move on with my eternity, then you're sorely mistaken."

"Simply an observation. I'm in no rush, we have forever. In all honesty, I quite like when my charges take their time."

"Is that so?"

"It is."

"Why is that?"

"It means I have more time before I have to go off and collect another poor soul to cart away."

Curious, he turned around. The girl's eyes, which were usually full of pity instead held sadness. "Despite what other reapers may say or what you might think, I receive no joy from this... thing," she said, gesturing to the curved blade strapped to her back. "I suppose it's a double edged sword. I can't get close to the souls I collect, which makes them staying harder for me, but I hate the job I was chosen to do, which makes them moving on quickly painful as well."

"You're not allowed to get close to the souls you collect?"

"It's not like that. But reapers can't move on to the afterlife like ghosts do. We either reap the soul or wait for it to pass on. There's nothing else for us to do. If a reaper refuses to do their job, they're simply turned into a ghost and pass on before being replaced."

"Replaced by what?"

"I don't know. I've never asked. When I was created, I was simply told the rules and sent off to do my first mission."

"Created? Have you always been like that? Physically?"

"Yes. Reapers could look like anything, but we look like the creatures we're reaping. I suppose someone thought that might make us appear friendlier or less scary. As if something with a large weapon coming to drag you away to a new world is something that can be anything but utterly terrifying."

The two fell into an uncomfortable silence. "Take as much or as little time as you need Wang Yao. I will come back tomorrow and see if you're ready to pass on." She turned and flew away, cursing herself for getting to close yet again. Not that it mattered. She would let him move on when he was ready.

----

"Do you know what it's like in the afterworld?" Yao asked her the next day.

"Not very much I'm afraid. I'm told it's a place where ghosts can roam, but I don't know much more. I'm fairly certain that ghosts can talk to those who have passed though. Is there anyone you'd like to see when you get there?" She jabbed her nail into her palm at the unnecessary question.

"My grandparents. They raised me when my parents couldn't be around. And when they get here, I want to be able to see my parents, and my friends. N-not that I'm in any rush for them to get here." He leaned back and stared up at the sky. "I suppose it will be weird. I'll be 34, and they'll all be at least thirty years older than me."