Disclaimer - I own nothing. I wish I did… Damn. Why didn't I think of it first?

A/N: My first ever fan-fic! Yay! xD -Ahem– Okay, I warn you now, new readers: I HAVE NO IDEA HOW ANY OF THESE PEOPLE LOOK BESIDES BLACK AND WHITE. I read the manga, not the anime. And even then, I don't catch up on the manga like I'm suppose to. Don't blame me. I got's no internet at home. :P Besides the obvious of Teito and Frau, the rest of the people I make up from what I see on the manga covers. If I mistake anyone with a different eye color or hair color, my mistake. I sincerely apologize. Well, my fic doesn't really…stick to the original story line. And…some of it I make it up as I go seeing that the manga hasn't really answered any of the more important questions as in: How did Frau die? Dx Well, Ayanami has an active part in this fic, don't like: READ ELSE WHERE! As with many fictions, characters will not always remain in character. Sorry. But…I don't think I completely butcher them when I OOc them…I think.

Chapter One

Differences

Large emerald eyes glared on the wooden door. A clock beside him on a nightstand ticked away the seconds in an agonizing slow rhythm and somewhere beyond the room, the drip, drip of a leaky faucet added to the annoyingly quiet ambiance. He pulled the blanket he was bundled in over his eyes, leaving only his deep chocolate brown hair to endure the crisp midnight air.

It had been hours Teito's traveling companion had left the vicinity, for reasons he rather not know, and still no sign of him.

Teito grumbled loudly, pulling the green cover over his head entirely. Why was he waiting for the damn perverted bishop anyways? The teen needed his sleep, especially since sleep was one thing that was not coming to him easily. How many restless nights has he been having so far?

Ever since this stupid trip began, to a place Teito already forgot, he had been plagued by nightmares.

One night he awoke screaming; Teito rubbed his throat remembering that night. He could still feel his throat burning.

That dream was about one of the worst he had and the brunette could not recall what the dream was about, though he had a vague feeling that it was about Ayanami and Mikage, how could it not be? Either way, he knew it was bad enough to startle the blue eyed priest. But he couldn't ask now, not that he would ever admit as to having nightmares. It was a weak thing to admit to something like that. Getting a nightmare meant that something scared you and you had no courage to conquer it. Teito had courage, plenty of courage. He did not need anyone doubting that.

A soft yawn escaped him as sleep finally decided to creep up on him, gently closing his eyes. Teito could have sworn he heard a clicking noise, but decided that it was nothing more than his little pink bundle of fur and feathers. Another yawn and into sleep he drifted into.

x-x-x

A blunt object crash landed on the young teen's bed, easily startling him from his light sleep. He shot up from the bed, prepared for anything, when he noticed a bag on his bed, his bag.

Teito looked up to meet with crystal blue eyes, a frown easily taking over his childish features as he noticed the damn mocking grin on the bishop.

"Upn'attem, brat. Time to go."

"Did you just get in?" The teen yelled as he, obediently, made his way towards his bag and began pulling out clean clothes.

Frau gave an inaudible chuckle as he made his way across their motel room to collect his own bag from the bathroom; he loved these small, little victories when the brat actually listened to him. Very small, little victories though.

As soon as the blond disappeared into the restroom, Teito was half dressed, already pulling his sleeping shirt off to replace with another. The bishop walked out.

"Hurry it up, brat. We're wastin' time. Geez, you dress as fast as a girl does," the blond groaned, though the glare he got in return told him that Teito wasn't in the mood for teasing. Damn brat; looks like someone woke up on the wrong side of the bed. He needs to learn how to act like a kid, trying to be all mature and shit…, he thought, throwing his own bag towards the door. He was rewarded with the sound of rattling wood, the door to shaking slightly. Frau winced. If it broke, he would pay.

"Well excuse me! I didn't wake up already dressed!" A small tint of red shaded the teen's cheeks as he shoved all his anger, and clothing, into the small bag, a bag that contained only two pairs of clothes (three counting the ones on his back), and pajamas. It was all he owned.

After the packing finished, Teito threw the bag at his mentor, hoping to catch him off guard but fussed when the blond caught it as if he was expecting it.

"Better next time, kid. Now let's move!" proclaimed the bishop as he smirked, turning to the door. The kid was so easy to rile up, the high points of his day were the kid's mood swings. That or a beautiful woman.

Frau was near ready to open the door when Teito shot past him, opening the door to run out. The bishop grumbled, picking up his own bag and made his way out into the cool dawn air. A pink blob of fur suddenly jumped onto his oddly spiked blond hair, taking liberty in nibbling it between tiny fangs.

"Mikage! Don't play with the lecher!" Teito turned to glare at the blond, the pink fyulong jumped from his perch and into the hands of the younger male. Teito quickly turned and ran to the hawkzile.

"This is going to be a long trip," sighed Frau. So much for his little victory to brighten up his day.

x-x-x

The loud humming hawkzile was the only sound making any sort of disturbance to the silence hanging around the group of sour looking travelers.

The entire ride had been dead silent, except for a few growls from the fyulong, who only seemed to want to end the silence too.

Frau was lost in deep thought, his mind returning to the past, yesterday actually. It was not like he wanted to think about it but it bothered him, if only slightly. While he was out, stalking the night as only he can do, a vision passed through his mind. Almost like if someone slipped in a video, pausing on his own world to play this unknown tape on fast forward. Frau shook his head, focusing on the road again.

The vehicle hovered over the freshly fallen snow; a line of trees outlined the perimeter of the forest nearby. The sun was clouded, adding more chill to the now snowing air.

Teito's jade eyes trailed to the bishops back. This trip was stretching their comfort lines to the point of breaking and Teito did not like it. Frau was out most of the night now, coming back in the strike of morning. It was not like Teito cared because he didn't, it was just…he shook his head. This was stupid, Frau was a grown man and he could take care of himself and do whatever he pleased. And that included not involving the teen in any of it. He sighed, turning to look at the scenery once more.

A tiny flake landed almost elegantly on Teito's nose, quickly melting into oblivion. His hand unknowingly reached out to the bishop, crumpling the fabric of the male's thin coat in his gloved hand. The white blanket of snow was near mesmerizing, almost as if it could purify the ground it rested upon. It reminded him of a home he could vaguely remember.

Frau felt the boy's small hand crumple his coat. He turned slightly and caught the once slave in his vision. The way Teito gazed out to the scenery, his large emerald eyes hazed over with some unknown emotion, was near heart-breaking. Thoughts of his vision flooded back into mind. This child knew death, was in close relationship with death, closer than anyone should be allowed to.

The silence surrounded them once more; the humming of the vehicle grew softer and softer. The road soon began to feel uneven.

Teito jolted suddenly, his other hand flying to grab the bishop's coat. He buried his face into the nook of the bishop's broad shoulders, slowly looking up to catch sight of two sapphire orbs. They blinked.

Another bump and the younger, once more, hid behind the bishop. He wondered why the road turned so rutted. His emerald eyes trailed upward again, seeing the ominous trail up ahead.

Teito's out of body feeling quickly fled; his brain ran on over-drive; the only function his body would allow was the use of inaudible words and the raising of his hand to point ahead.

Frau slowly came back to the real world as well, the noise of the hawkzile hitting rough road finally hit his ears. His head whipped around just in time to see the fall up ahead. Why it had no safety rail, he didn't know and cursed inwardly for the people who were responsible for this road.

His hands gripped tightly onto the handles, roaring the quite engine to life. Frau grunted as he forced the machinery to turn. The hawkzile protested to the sudden commands given to it, grunting as it spewed gravel.

The world stopped. Heavy breathing was going on with both males, Teito kept his grasp on the bishop while the other was lost in deep meaningless thought. Nothing moved. No one dared to move. The world suddenly felt like if a single thread of string supported it. Then the world suddenly started to tilt off to one side. The younger male's arms began to frail violently, feeling his weight shift in the wrong direction, his legs slipping off the seat. His eyes caught sight of the drop below, fear pulsing through his veins. No matter how forceful one can drill into their mind to be fearless at all costs, when faced with immediate death, all that becomes meaningless talk.

Teito was certain his death was below him when his own coat began to strangle him, suspending him in mid air. His head was buzzing with no real noise; everything was starting to turn dark around him. A low, rough grunt sounded above him; he looked up to catch sight of a very pissed off looking Frau.

How had he gotten himself into this? Frau replayed that one single thought over and over in his mind. He grunted once more, finally being able to pull up the teen. As he did so, the extra weight of the teen pushed him off to the other side. The priest soon found his leg was pinned underneath the hawkzile and the rest of him was trapped beneath a somewhat heavy teen.

The teen wheezed, trying his best to remove the thing that was strangling him just moments before. He felt utterly disoriented and just wanted to get away from the cliff as much as possible.

The older man, on the other hand, just wanted the boy off of him. With strong hands, he grabbed Teito's shoulders and threw him off to the side. A pile of snow scattered everywhere as the smaller fell, the seeping cold slipping through his clothing. He gave out a small yelp.

"Damn brat! You're too much trouble for what your damn worth!" In frustration, Frau kicked the hawkzile, finally succeeding in removing the contraption from atop his leg. He knew a bruise was going to appear, if not later today, tomorrow.

As soon as the words slipped from Frau's mouth, he immediately regretted them. He screwed his eyes shut, cursing lightly under his breath. Prying his eyes open, the blond turned to his traveling companion, guilt plagued him as he caught sight of the teen's passing expression.

Teito's eyes filled with a pain he knew all too well, the feeling of never being wanted, a feeling Teito never wanted to have and his only wish was that this certain emotion was killed long ago with the rest of them at the academy.

"Hey…kid…" Frau spoke almost uncertain.

"Shut up! Just shut up, Frau! If you don't want me around, fine! Not like I want to be around you! Just dump me off at the church and leave me there! Why do you drag me around anyways?" Deep down, Teito knew that he never wanted to hear that answer. Why did Frau bring him to these trips anyways? He truly was nothing but trouble. Teito struggled with his disorientation, pushing himself to his feet, completely ignoring the burning sensation in his eyes. He ran his sleeve across them, not wanting Frau to see him cry, yet again. It was stupid of him to even have feelings. So why…?

The teen turned on his heel and took off, his footing slipping slightly in the snow. Stupid, stupid Frau!

Teito's head suddenly jerked back; with awkward footing, he found his body doing a one-eighty. His boots slipped on the slick ice, unable to keep himself stable, sending him forward into what felt like a hard stone.

"Damn brat! If I wanted to get rid of you, I would have done it a long time ago! Stop acting like a little girl."

Teito hissed, realizing that his rock was none other than the perverted bishop. He pushed harshly against the blond's chest, hating the fact that Frau was so close to him. But strong arms wrapped around his small body, keeping him prisoner in Frau's hold, his face buried in the blond's chest.

"Frau! Let go! Let go, let go, lemme go!" Hot tears threaten to rise once more, just the fact that Frau had said it so causally, said that he was too much trouble than what he was worth, fear and other emotions rose up all too suddenly for the teen to handle. He wanted distance; he wanted time to compose himself.

The bishop could feel the hot tears that ran down the males face onto his chest, the light water soaking through the thin fabric of his shirt. Everything was wrong, the brat's response was wrong. He was suppose to yell, he was suppose to get furious and spew insults, throw punches, not this, defiantly not this.

"Brat, will you just shut up and listen to me!" Frau practically yelled into the younger male's ear. Teito froze, his eyes running with tears now. He stiffened, muscles aching but he said nothing, kept quiet as instructed.

"I'm not going to dump you off like baggage, okay…?"

It sounded like Frau wanted to say more but he remained silent. Teito shivered, feeling the cold even more as his own body was pressed against the bishop's, the thin materials of both coat and shirt did nothing to block out the cold weather, or the cold coming from Frau. The bishop must have realized this for he began to unclasp his hands, allowing the male to take a step back.

Teito turned his gaze to the floor, his entire body shaking. He hated feeling this weak, this vulnerable and it was only this one stupid man that made him feel that way. He ran a sleeve across his eyes once more, feeling them burn. They felt puffed too.

"…Let's get back on the hawkzile, alright? We should reach town before it starts getting dark."

The teen spoke no words; he simply turned and began to walk back, head lowered. The rest of the ride was kept in silence; even the pink fyulong did not utter a single growl.

x-x-x

"You lost my bag!"

The blond bishop raised his hands in defense, a guilty grin spread along his features. But the teen was far from being in a forgiving mood. Anger filled him, making him take on a shade of red.

"Was it my fault you let it drop into the gorge?"

"Yes! It was your fault, all your fault if you just-"

The blond gave a loud, exaggerated sigh, turning from the smaller male and began to walk down the streets of the market place.

After a long ride of silence, they made it to their next stop, a small city in which Frau did not bother learning the name of. It was a simple stop for them to rest and pick up supplies before returning to the Barsburg Church.

"Oi! Don't turn your back on me when we are still talking! Frau! Frau!"

A grin spread across Frau's face. Teito had always reminded him of a duckling, never straying too far from its mother. His blue eyes trailed along the markets shops, his mind wandering off. Why exactly did he get so distracted? It was not like he had never seen the brat get all emotional before. So why did it affect him that much?

He ran a hand through his golden hair, giving another loud sigh. A small body ran into him, causing his sigh to be cut off short. Frau's eyes trailed down to catch sight of the small teen rubbing his sore nose.

"Frau! Why'd you stop?"

Green eyes looked upward towards the tall man, caught in his sudden stare. Hesitant, Teito took a step back, suddenly feeling at a lost for words under the bishop's watch.

"W-what?" Teito could feel a small heat rise to his cheeks as the bishop continued to stare. He had never seen Frau looked so concerned, if that was the right word. Before he had time to utter another word, the blond began to reach over to him, placing his large hand on Teito's head. His fingers slowly combed through the boy's hair. It was a strange yet comforting feeling making Teito feel all the weirder. "F-Frau?"

A/N: Petting! So, so cute~ Cute cliché numbero uno! :D Le Petting.