"Papa, wake up.. You'll be late for work." a soft voice murmured

"Five more minutes, Tenshii.. Papa's exhausted..." Kazama groaned in his sleep. Those new types can go kick their own asses and crawl in a hole, but this glamorous boy won't wake up.

"Papa.. I'm holding the cherries hostage. I'll throw them out one by one.." another voice menacingly threatened.

Yep. It's time to get up.

"I'm up! I'm up! Children don't murder my cherries!" Kazama's voice was a pitch higher than usual, making his two children chuckle.

"I told you it would work." Kuze snickered as Tenshii giggled softly. "Brother is a genius." she glanced at her older brother and the both of them giggled at their own father.

"You two.. come here!" Kazama immediately playfully pounced on his children, who were giggling madly as they were caught in their father's arms. "Papaaaa nooo!" Tenshii laughed, as Kuze tried to wriggle out of Kazama's iron grip.

Nothing like waking up to your children's antics.

***

Lenka Utsugi noticed that Kazama seemed to be in a terrific mood today.

"Good morning, Utsugi-kun!" Kazama shined brightly with the intensity of the sun.

Even Lenka was quite shocked to see him like this.

"G..good morning, captain." Lenka stammered as he scrambled to bow politely. It seemed that he is also overwhelmed by the sudden intensity of Kazama's brightness.

The man's literally glowing like the sun, who wouldn't be scared of that?

"That's the spirit~ Now, listen here. We're going on a joint mission today! So it's best to get ready." Kazama's smile widened more as he looked at Lenka.

what on earth did this man eat to become this energetic?

"U.. Understood." Lenka nodded robotically. "are we, by any chance.. partnered with the First Unit?" The blue haired boy immediately added.

"Yep. Major Amamiya said that it's a good idea to have a joint mission with another unit to familiarize you rookies with other co-workers!" Kazama nodded as he rubbed his neck.

"anyways, you better prepare now. I heard that we'll be collaborating with the Long-range specialist god eater, Sakuya Tachibana-san, and their new-type rookie." The smiling young veteran nodded at his rookie teammate as he sent him off to Hibari before going back to rereading his report.

'Sakuya.. Tachibana..' Lenka thought, What was she like? It seemed that Kazama's quite comfortable with her, is she a veteran as well?

Several questions swirled around Lenka's head as he approached Hibari.

"Oh. Utsugi-kun! Here for the collaboration as well, I see.." Hibari giggled as she started typing on her keyboard.

Lenka on the other hand was immersed in his thoughts, but his curiosity got the best of him. "Sakuya Tachibana.. what is she like?" He asked, head tilted as his vibrant green eyes monotonously stared at Hibari.

Sakuya.. hm.. She's gorgeous." The redhead sighed fondly as she looked back at Lenka before continuing

. "Don't worry! She doesn't bite!" She giggled before sending him off to the elevator.

***

The wailing plains had looked as dreary as ever. The sky was in the state of perpetual sadness as an even darker turbulence continues to swirl in the middle of the plains.

"This place never seems to be happy." Kazama sighed, his mood dampened by the even damper weather. 'Cheer up. Kuze and Tenshii loves the rain.' Kazama thought, trying to cheer himself up.

"Well, It's not called the wailing plains for nothing." Sakuya chuckled as she continued to gaze on the swirling turbulence.

Two figures strode stiffly towards their location. Their feet squishing against the muddy ground, signaling their arrival.

Sakuya turned first towards the light haired recruit. "You're the new recruit I met earlier." She nodded to Yuu as her eyes moved to Lenka's form. "My name's Sakuya Tachibana. Nice to meet you two!" A friendly, yet formal smile bloomed on the gorgeous woman's lips.

"Ah.. you must be Kannagi-kun." Kazama's eyes trailed over to the light haired teen. "Lindow-san told me about you. My name's Kazama. Nice to meet you. I hope we all get along well." the chestnut-haired young man gave an amicable smile towards the light haired teen. "It seems that you and Utsugi-kun are friends. How nice." Kazama chuckled as Sakuya looked at the two new recruits.

"Are you two nervous?" She asked, placing a hand on Yuu's shoulder. The act reminded of Kazama and Lenka of an older sister coercing a younger brother.

Yuu stiffly nodded as Lenka visibly tensed up. "You two need to relax, or the two of you might find yourselves freezing up at crucial times." Sakuya chuckled as she retracted her hand back and placed it on her hip.

"Don't worry. It'll all be fine just as the last one." Kazama gave the two rookies a close eyed smile. The female god eater glanced at Kazama with a hint of surprise. It seemed that little Kazama-kun had matured quite a bit.

Quickly recovering herself, she looked at the two rookies. "All right. I'm going to brief you now." the gorgeous female then looked back on the damp and dreary wasteland, surveying the area as the three males imitated her.

"During this mission, you two are going to take the lead. Me and Kazama-kun would be backing you up from the rear."

The chestnut-haired god eater then smiled at Lenka. The last mission had provided the blue haired rookie some edge and experience with gunners. Kazama was sure that it'll all be fine on their boat.

"This is a basic strategy for teaming up with a God Eater with a long distance god arc, so don't forget it."

Lenka slightly relaxed, but Yuu kept his guard up. The light haired god eater had no prior experience with long-ranged specialists unlike his blue haired counterpart.

"Oh and, don't get too far ahead. Always stay within the firing range of your backup, ok?" Sakuya smiled softly as she glanced at her 'students', who were complacently nodding along.

Kazama noted that this seemed to please the female veteran as he noticed her eyes softening towards them. Seems like Sakuya Tachibana is akin to a doting older sister.

"Good, you do as you're told. I'm counting on you."

"All right, let's begin."

Somehow, the mission looks like it'll be nothing but smooth sailing through the sea.

**

The mission is to annihilate two cocoon maidens. Sakuya and Kazama planned for the team to split up and take on each aragami.

But no. The blasted things decided that it's a good day to stay with each other in this damned plain.

"Well.. Seems like they decided to snuggle up to each other." Kazama chuckled as he prepared to open fire.

"If they weren't aragami, I'd think that would be pretty cute." Sakuya laughed as the two rookies prepared themselves mentally. This is only their second battle, after all.

"Lenka-kun. Let's do our best!" Full of adrenaline, Yuu gave a fist pump as he looked determinedly at his rookie counterpart. In turn, Lenka revealed a smile. "Same as you, Yuu." The blue haired boy gripped his god arc tightly.

"Birds of a feather flock together, as they say." Sakuya chuckled at the sulking Kazama. Even Yuu Kannagi can hold a simple conversation with Lenka, and he couldn't!

He'll definitely ask him how he pulled it off later on.

And as if they knew each other's movements, Yuu and Lenka charged right through the field, god arcs ready to hack the poor maidens to pieces.

"Guess it's our cue." Kazama smiled as he open fired, his trusty assault gun aimed on the muddy ground. Despite mud being no good to create a mini sandstorm for a diversion, that and a tad bit of smoke would do just fine.

"Lenka-kun, to your left!" Yuu yelled as the first cocoon maiden attacked, firing a cluster of oracle cells that formed a small fireball towards the blue haired god eater.

Lenka dashed away from the area of effect immediately as Sakuya fired her own gun towards the impending projectile, her own bullet colliding with the oracle maiden's resulting into an explosion.

"Watch out for the spikes!" Kazama yelled at Yuu, who managed to dodge incoming balls of oracle cells and is now preparing to hack the aragami.

Immediately, Yuu sidestepped quickly as the cocoon maiden 'opened' and launched its spikes, giving Yuu the chance to crouch and impale the thing with his blade.

Alright, One down.

But a good god eater never celebrates too early.

Lenka on the other hand, ducked as the cocoon maiden he faced suddenly opened up from the 'waist' and launched its set of spikes in hopes to impale the puny human in front of it.

Lenka gritted his teeth as adrenaline filled his veins.

"Devour!"

And with a sudden turn of events, a gaping mouth sprouted from the hilt of his god arc, its teeth penetrating through the maiden's tough husk and devouring its core.

Yuu gaped at Lenka, as the young man had not been able to perform a devour yet, and it was only the second time he has seen the god arc's devouring form.

Kazama and Sakuya shared knowing glances as they watched Lenka sitting on the muddy ground in shock, and Yuu immediately peppering him with questions regarding the events earlier.

"That was amazing, Lenka-kun! How did you do that?!" Yuu looked at Lenka, full of admiration and amazement.

"I.. I don't know, Yuu.." Lenka stared at his hand. "Adrenaline just.. made me do it?".. Lenka questioned his own answer as the two veterans smiled at the two.

"Great job, children. Now let's go home." Kazama smiled fondly as he accidentally let a word slip out.

"Children?" Lenka questioned as Yuu looked inquisitively at the male veteran.

"E.. Er, I mean, Rookies. Sorry about that." Kazama stammered, caught off guard. Sakuya immediately noticed this and decided to give Kazama a hand. "Kazama-kun's quite fond of children." Sakuya chuckled.

"You two just looked like two siblings earlier. He couldn't help himself." and with that, The topic was shut off.

Despite Sakuya's 'explanation', the two rookies still felt like Kazama's words were meant for somebody else.

*Extra*

"So, you called them children by accident?!" Lindow couldn't hold back his chortles as Kazama once again sat on his favorite chair, holding a can of juice, silently gazing on Yuu and Lenka talking to Karel Schneider. Another veteran god eater, with a gluttonous appetite for cold hard cash.

"Yes..." Kazama grumbled, downing the can's contents in one go.

"Pffft..." Lindow covered his mouth to stop his laughter.

"Laugh all you want, Lindow. I swear, I'll get back at you one day." Kazama growled as he gazed back at the two rookies who were animatedly chattering with each other.

I want to go home.. Kuze..Tenshii... Save me!!!