The sun blazed overhead, two men trudging through the desert in their black and silver exorcist uniforms. Rabi, the older of the two, led the way, his face left open to the harsh elements. However, his companion, the dark-haired Mamoru had a scarf and hood hiding his features from the baking sun.

The two teenagers had been sent on a mission by the Black Order to find another innocence. Unfortunately the duo was hardly prepared for the weather they now faced.

"Rabi, do you see the ruins yet?" Mamoru questioned the red head with a lack of emotion, gazing into the nothingness with his being blind.

"Not yet, Mamoru-kun." The older teen replied a bit hoarsely, his lips severely chapped and throat dry.

Picking up his pace slightly, Mamoru walked beside Rabi, placing his footsteps carefully and listening for any noise that seemed out of place. However, Mamoru could notice the sound of his companion's footfalls slowing steadily and soon enough he had to thrust out his left arm, forcing Rabi to stop in his tracks.

"You're becoming sluggish…have you been keeping hydrated?"

Rabi arched a brow, gazing at the normally Kanda-like teen in amazement. But the red head froze his body tensing as Mamoru stood in front of him and touched his lips with a pale, ungloved hand that was oddly feminine.

'Just like Yuu-chan.' The red head thought to himself in a daze.

"Your lips are severely chapped…you didn't even bother protecting your face!" The younger male cursed, quickly pulling off his scarf and canteen and pushed them towards Rabi's chest. "We're near an oasis…we'll rest momentarily, but you owe me, understand?"

"Yeah…thanks, Mamoru-kun." Rabi gazed at the dark-haired exorcist, a glint of gratefulness in his one emerald eye, as he turned in the direction of an oasis he had hardly even noticed. Shaking his head to bring him back down to Earth, the red-headed teen quickly followed his younger companion, deciding it would be best to think about what had just happened later.

Mamoru cursed himself quietly, wondering why he had acted the way he had and why his heart beat so quickly whenever he was near the bookman. He sighed softly, listening to his partner sit on the soft sand and he did the same careful not to let his guard down.

"What time is it, Rabi?" The dark-haired teen asked flatly, unsettled by the silence.

"I suppose it's about four 'o clock in the afternoon, Mamoru-kun." The red head answered his companion and took a sip of water from the canteen afterwards.

Rabi gazed at his friend curiously, watching the other jump up and draw his innocence suddenly. "What's up, Mamoru-ku…" Rabi ducked, Mamoru's arrow barely missing his head.

Mamoru shifted out of his ready stance, lowering his innocence, which took the form of a long bow, and advanced towards the general direction of Rabi.

"You need to be more aware…an Akuma almost got you…" The younger exorcist stated these words firmly, taking a stand in front of his somewhat more relaxed friend.

'Friend? Since when had we become friends?' Mamoru thought to himself for a moment before switching back to the situation at hand.

The red-headed exorcist sat up, gazing at his dark-haired partner with his emerald eye and noticed a glimmer of some unknown emotion in Mamoru's pale crimson eyes. He put on his usual grin as the other knelt in front of him and seemingly reached out to him.

"Rabi…" He heard his name leave the other's pale lips so smoothly, so effortlessly, he swore his mouth went dry at that very instant.

The crimson eyed exorcist tried his best to glare at Rabi, his features shifting from worry to anger in less than a second. "You idiot! You could have been killed and we would have failed this mission because I'm too blind to find my way out of this god forsaken deser- - -Aaaah!!"

The sand shifter beneath the two teens shifted and gave way into a dark pit just as Mamoru had leaned forward and the fell into the darkness below.A few seconds later a blushing Mamoru sat up quickly, touching his lips lightly and utterly speechless.

He had fallen into the darkness with Rabi, somehow landed on top of the older teen with their lips touching in a kiss and said red head was knocked unconscious by the impact. His mind processed all of this slowly trying to grasp the information, but couldn't even do that because of the strange sounds he heard.

Crimson eyes narrowed dangerously, gripping his bow tight in his hand and countless Akuma approached them in the spacious corridor they appeared to be in. "Damn it…there are so many…the sound's so deafening…but…Rabi…he's incapacitated…I have to protect him…" The dark-haired boy's voice held some degree of sorrow, but even more worry for his fallen comrade.

Mamoru aimed his bow above his head and drew back the string, an arrow of pure energy appearing as he did so. "Tengoku no Mon – Gate of Heaven!" The arrow was released, flying straight into the sky and beams of light rained down, taking the form of golden gates around Mamoru and Rabi.