Summery: It's Christmas time, and even the Akuma seem to take a break for the holidays, as do the Clan of Noah and the Black Order. It's the time of year where smiles and good cheer make the rooms brighten and the laughter and songs make it warmer. But for a Bookman, none of this should matter.

Rabi has a hard time trying to suppress his feelings of joy, and this produces nothing but bitter thoughts. While seeking refuge in a small village, he meets with Tiki and something unexpected happens, showing the true power of the heart.

Rated PG for shounen-ai. The pairing should be obvious, but just in case, it's the first ever Tiki x Rabi! I love these two, so I figured I should give it a shot. I hope it's good!

Melody

By:

-Minosuke Ichigo-

Rabi hated Christmas.

He hated it more then Akuma, more then the Noah clan, and more then the Panda's bad attitude. The Exorcists were having a festive party in the Black Order, but the red haired Bookman-in-training wasn't able to bring himself to join in the festivities due to the strictness of his training. The training was killing his heart, but then again, what use did a Bookman have for such a thing?

So, to keep himself sane, the usual-socialite found himself sitting in the darkest corner of a small café in a nearby village, staring out the window and watching the snowfall. His cup of hot cocoa had long since gone cold and remained untouched, just as the piece of cake had, but he didn't really pay much attention, lost in thought. So, it wasn't very surprising when someone took the seat across from him and he didn't even notice until the person spoke in a playful tone.

"Did your cat die?"

Rabi blinked and looked at the speaker and opened his mouth to growl something snotty at the one who had interrupted his very important thoughts, but every word he had vanished the second his eye met the speaker. Tiki Mick smiled at him and tipped his top-hat a bit in greeting, his smile never fading and dark eyes burning into Rabi's one green one. The Exorcist pushed away from the table and stood, reaching for his hammer, but paused when the Noah held up his hands.

"Ano…" he grinned. "I have no intention of harming you, Bunny-chan." Rabi's eye twitched, and he was tempted to attack the Noah for even calling him that. The man pointed at the other humans in the room and winked at him. "If you pull out that weapon, some innocent bystander may get hurt, and you wouldn't want that, Bunny-chan." The teen let out a low growl in response, realizing reluctantly that Tiki was correct. "Now, sit down."

"What do you want?" Rabi asked, refusing to follow a Noah's order. Tiki blinked at him with a look of innocent confusion on his face. The exorcist scowled. "Don't look at me like that, you bastard. Just tell me what you want already so I can leave!"

The Noah's expression of innocence was replaced by a coy smile as he rested his elbows on the table and laced his fingers together. "I merely came to have some cocoa. That's all, Bunny-chan."

"STOP CALLING ME THAT!!" Rabi snapped, ready to attack the man if he called him that horribly familiar name one more time. Tiki laughed lightly at the boy's outburst, earning him a dark glare. "What's so funny?" This only made the man laugh harder, and for a moment, Rabi was beginning to wonder how someone that easy to amuse was a member of the Noah family. Memories of what the man had done to Allen put him on edge once more.

After a moment more, Tiki calmed, taking off his hat and setting it beside him on the table, running a gloved hand through his ebony hair. He smiled sweetly at the Exorcist and motioned once more for him to sit. Slowly, Rabi complied silently, keeping one hand on his hammer as he watched his enemy carefully. "You're so tense, Bunny-chan…" Rabi's eye twitched. "It's Christmas, and even my family is relaxing!" The teen's look of distrust disappeared, replaced by one of confusion.

"What? You guys celebrate Christmas?" Tiki nodded. "…Huh?"

Tiki shook his head with a small sigh, resting his chin on his hands, watching the boy as he spoke. "We are the Clan of Noah, and Jesus was the son of the God we serve, so why should we not celebrate his birth?" Rabi nodded slowly. "Although Rhodes may only get coal in her multi-colored stockings if she keeps stealing Lord Millennium's things…" at the boy's confusion, he answered with a light chuckle. "She's a kleptomaniac to put it nicely. We like to call her a midget with busy hands."

The Noah smiled, his eyes never leaving Rabi's. "But, enough about me. Tell me, why are you so bent out of shape? You don't look like the type to think, so it must be important." Rabi glared at him once more and started to retort, pausing when Tiki laid a finger to the boy's lips, silencing him. "I've told you of me, so it's your turn. Equivalent exchange."

Rabi gave him a dirty look and silently threatened death upon the man who had dared to touch him, call him Bunny-chan and hurt his best friend. However, his problems hardly related to any deep secrets of the Black Order, so, against his better judgment, he blurted out his problem. "A Bookman can't care about other people!" He said, pushing the man's hand away from his mouth. "And we aren't allowed to dream, or fight, or even celebrate Christmas because of all the emotional crap that goes on!" At that, Tiki looked shocked.

"What?" He stared at the boy. "No Christmas?!"

"No Christmas. No friends. No romance. No dreams. No fighting. And no heart." At that, Rabi bowed his head, unsure if he should feel happy about letting his feelings out or uneasy because of who he let them out to. Tiki seemed to understand the boy's sadness and smiled in a way he had never smiled before.

Kindly.

"Ah. I see…" Tiki picked up his hat and placed it back on his head as he stood. "You poor kid." Rabi looked up at him sharply, eyes wide. "You're worse off then me. At least I can give myself what I want, but you're liked a caged dog. A pitiful pet." The teen winced, the words hitting true and hard, though the man had no intention of making his words hurtful. "But…perhaps I can help you."

Rabi gave him a suspicious look, standing and placing his hand on his weapon as he asked coldly, "What do you mean?"

Tiki smiled and spread his arms as if stating the obvious. "You seek what you can't have. I have what you want. I'll give you one moment of freedom if you give me something very small."

The Exorcist growled. "I'll never give anything to someone who works with—oomph!" he let out a muffled yelp when he was pressed against the wall by Tiki, the man's lips touching his own in a light kiss.

For a long while, Rabi couldn't seem to grasp what was happening, his eye wide and locked onto Tiki's dark eyes. His eyes…Rabi thought. Are…dark brown…like chocolate…and so sad…He winced when the man nipped his lips gently, and squeaked when he felt something wet slid into his mouth. Gah! His…his tongue…! He grabbed his weapon's handle and started to swing it at the man, but his weak attack was stopped by Tiki's hand. The Anti-Akuma weapon fell from his fingers as the kiss was deepened and the man's hand slid into the boy's shaking one.

Eventually, Rabi surrendered, his eyes closing and body trembling from fear. What seemed to be a century passed in four minutes before the kiss was broken, Tiki slowly pulling his tongue from the younger boy's mouth. He nuzzled the teen's neck and sighed, letting go of his hand and stepping back a few steps, watching as the Exorcist touched his lips with quivering fingers.

Tiki tipped his hat a bit. "Payment received. And for that, I give you your freedom." He slid a hand into Rabi's coat pocket and withdrew it, empty. With one more sweet kiss, he bowed and left the café while whistling a Christmas carol.

Ten minutes passed, the boy not hearing the other people singing and talking, his brain working overtime to try and figure out what had just happened. Shaking his head, he touched his pocket and froze, realizing something was in the once-empty pocket. Quickly, he yanked out the object and stared at it with a look of pure confusion on his face, which was soon replaced by a very small smile.

-Later-

"Rabi-chan?" Allen looked at his friend. He had been searching the Black Order for his friend since the party in the cafeteria began, and he was perplexed when he saw the other Exorcist coming in from outside. Rabi grinned at Allen and shoved his hands into his pockets. "Where were you?" The white haired boy looked concerned. "I was really worried."

"Allen-chan, I'm a big boy." Rabi said, waving his companion's concern off and smiling. "Listen, I'll be right back. Meet me in the cafeteria, 'kay?" Allen nodded slowly, watching as the older Exorcist turned and ran toward the dorms.

"Rabi-kun seems happy." Rinalee said from behind Allen, the boy yelping and putting a hand to his chest as he looked at her in horror.

"Y-you nearly killed me!" He gasped, trying to calm his pounding heart. She giggled lightly at his expression and apologized. Muttering under his breath, he recovered and looked back down the now-empty hall. "And you're right.…I wonder what happened?"

-Meanwhile-

Rabi set something proudly on his bedside table and studied it for a moment before nodding and running from the room, ready to party the night away with his friends.

Sitting quietly on the table was a small oak box with a key in the back of it. The lid was open and in the middle of it, resting on a small mirror in the shape of a star, were two small figures, back to back and chains lying around them, broken. Hauntingly beautiful music drifted from it, and if you studied the figures closely, you could see that one of them had a top hat and the other an eye-patch, and both were smiling fondly.

Owari

A/N – Okay. The thing about the music box was inspired by, well, me. I love music boxes, and I love listening to their music. It's kind of like my own meditation thingy, but for Rabi it means something completely different. When Tiki said that he would give Rabi his freedom, he, of course, can't grant someone freedom physically, but the emotional chains holding Rabi back from being himself could be broken.

Alright. It sounds like a bunch of crap, but it makes sense to some extent.

As for the two figures that mysteriously look like Rabi and Tiki, that's hinting at either one of the following:

A sequel.

Tiki's been in love with him since they met on the train.

Whichever it is, all will be revealed. If people give me good feedback, that is. So, until next time, have a merry Christmas, and may all of the dark emotional chains be broken.