Kettle of Fish

Demyx sat up on his bed, pulling his earbuds out of his ears. He looked lethargically around his room, trying to find something to help pass the hours he was stuck in the Headquarters. There was nothing to do in the World That Never Was, not since Xemnas banned Friday night karaoke after that nasty incident involving a little bit too much Paopu fruit juice and that "I'm too Sexy" song. Demyx smiled, remembering the horrified look on Xemnas's face when Marluxia tore off his overcoat and Laexus joined Marly in a strut on the catwalk. Ah, it had been so much fun while it lasted.

Demyx stood up and walked over to his bookcase, perusing each shelf in search for an interesting title. He continued to search until he found a book titled Underwater Creatures. He pulled the book from the shelf and dusted off the cover, revealing a scenic picture of several types of fish, all shapes and sizes. The color in the picture was faded, and what used to be a brilliantly bright red fish, looked pale. That was another downside of the Headquarters, all color seemed to fade quickly. Except for Marly's room, which was always a very strong hot pink. And glittery. Marly never seemed to run out of sparkles to dust his room with.

Casting the book onto his bed for later amusement, he decided to see what the other members were up to. Perhaps Axel and Roxas were free for the day, in which case they could get themselves into mischief by harassing the others. Demyx started think of things they could do together. Perhaps today was a "harass Xigbar day", in which case they could try pulling his eye patch off again, or maybe today was the day to make Larxene's life a living hell, being so bold as to dump a pail of water over her head before watching as she was zapped with her own lighting.

Demyx was so lost in his own thoughts that he almost ran head on into Axel as he walked out of his room.

"Hey! Watch it!" Axel yelled as he evaded collision with Demyx. " Pay attention to where you're going, will ya?" Demyx looked up, embarrassed, " Sorry Axel, I guess I wasn't really paying attention, I was thinking-"

"Apology accepted, just pay attention next time." Then Axel changed tones, "Anyway, Roxas and I are going to go heartless hunting, you interested?" Demyx shook his head, and apologized, making up the excuse that he was too busy and didn't have time. Truth was though, that he felt bad killing the little things, even though it was thanks to them that he was stuck in this headquarters. He just thought that they were so cute, their big yellow eyes and adorable size. He had decided long ago that he would never go heartless hunting, at least not unless he absolutely had to. In fact, he actually once had consid- Axel interrupted his thoughts, " Well, Roxas and I are heading over to Twilight Town, commit it to memory." And without waiting for a response, Axel bid farewell and disappeared in a swirl of darkness, leaving Demyx alone in the hallway.

Demyx sighed, and decided to head into the kitchen and find Mr. Fuzzles, his cat.

Mr. Fuzzles had been given to him by Xemnas when his pet hamster had been eaten by Marly's Venus flytrap. He shivered when he remembered how he had found Mrs. Squeaks' blue bow in front of the Venus flytrap, and a large lump in the flytrap's mouth. It's punishment for eating his hamster was death, but Demyx still wouldn't forgive Marly for letting it eat Mrs. Squeaks. Xemnas had told him to deal with it and had promised him another pet, hopefully a more successful one. So far, Demyx had lost four different kinds of pets. His first had been a small bird, which had soon after met its fate when it ran into the glass window, attacking is own reflection. He had loved that bird dearly because it had kept him company and sang when he played his sitar. His second pet which had gotten as a gift from Axel was a chinchilla which had promptly run away, when he had tried to dress it up and teach it to play the sitar. Demyx sighed. He hadn't had that pet long, maybe an hour? His terrible luck with small pets had led Xemnas to believe that a larger animal, such as a kitten, would suit him. And thus, Mr. Fuzzles had came into being. He had decided not to tell Marluxia about him, for he was worried that Marluxia would end up luring him into his room, which meant certain death for any small animal that happened to walk into his garden of everything EVIL. Even children. He remembered the one time when nobody in the Headquarters could find Namine, only to discover her an hour after she had stumbled into Marluxia's poppy field, completely disoriented and dazedly wandering around. She'd been languidly lounging amidst the flowers, taking in deep breaths and then giggling inanely. Upon further inspection of her sketchbook, she'd occupied herself drawing psychedelic circles and lewd pictures of various organization members in varying states of undress. He didn't want to think about those pictures, but sometimes he wasn't quite quick enough to block the memory scalded into his brain when Axel and Roxas went off together for any length of time.

As Demyx walked into the kitchen, he saw Xigbar and Xaldin loudly discussing their newest assignments, and Luxord and Zexion sitting quietly staring at the cards they held in their hands. Demyx walked over to Luxord and Zexion first, interrupting their game.

"Have either of you seen Mr. Fuzzledeedumpkins?" he asked. Luxord's response was a mere grunt, which Demyx decided was a no, while Zexion looked up and paused for a moment to think then said,

" Marluxia's room." He then turned back to his cards and laid them onto the table.

"Royal flush," the cloaked schemer dead-toned. Luxord stood up and slammed his hand onto the table.

"ROYAL FLUSH?!? THERE'S NO WAY!" Zexion stood up without smiling and walked slowly out of the room, not even glancing back. Luxord started to clean up the cards, mumbling to himself, " He has to be cheating, there's no way…." He stalked out of the kitchen, muttering several curse words under his breath and going on about Zexion and his evil ploy to take his name as the "Gambler of Fate." Demyx smiled, knowing how touchy Luxord was when it came to his name.

Zexion was the only one who had ever been able to beat Luxord at a game of cards, and many of the organization members respected him for that. This made Luxord quite angry and everyday they would play a round of cards to see who would come out on top for that day. Even though Zexion had walked off without gloating, to Luxord that was his way of smearing his victory in his face. Demyx figured that he should avoid all contact with Luxord today, knowing that if he spoke a word, he would probably have his head bitten off.

Demyx turned his attention back to finding Mr. Fuzzles, and headed towards Marly's room. He despised going in there, for everything had flowers, and it was more of a garden than a bedroom. As Demyx walked through the hallways, he happened to glance at the time. He couldn't believe it! It was already three in the afternoon, which meant that Mr. Fuzzles was already half an hour late for his bath.

He hurried the rest of the way, now aware of the time. When he got to the room, he opened the door to find Marly sitting down on the ground planting some hideous hot pink flowers that went well with his light pink hair. Marluxia turned when he heard the door open, and smiled as he saw Demyx walk in.

Marly had some exciting news to tell Demyx, and couldn't wait to announce it, so when Demyx walked in the door, he blurted out that he had found a small kitten and was planning on keeping him. But when Demyx responded by claiming the kitten as his own, Marluxia became quite angry.

" Just because you can't keep a pet alive doesn't mean you should go around stealing others' pets!" Marluxia glared at Demyx as he continued to argue that it was his cat and that his name was Mr. Fuzzledeedumpkins.

"No! You're wrong! His name is Iris, and he's mine because I found him first!"

By this time, the ruckus had aroused the kitten from a deep sleep in a plant of catnip, and he gingerly stepped out of his hiding place. He blinked, confused about what was going on. Demyx pointed, and shouted,

"There! That's Mr. Fuzzles!"

"No I'm telling you! This is Iris!" Demyx and Marluxia stood facing each other, weapons out. By this time, they had quite an audience, Larxene snickered watching them fight, while Vexen and Saix scowled at their confrontation. Demyx and Marluxia lunged at each other and a loud metal clang followed afterward. The other members watched in silence as Xemnas threw off the water clone on his one side and the scythe on the other. The scythe hit the ground with another metal clang while the water clone burst, soaking the flower bed Marluxia had been working on just moments before.

"What is the problem here?" He cast a cold glance at both Demyx and Marluxia, waiting for one of them to respond. Demyx pointed and started to wail.

"He took Mr. Fuzzles away from meee!!!" Xemnas seemed to be taken aback by Demyx's sudden reaction, and he stood for several moments, not knowing what to do. Finally, he turned to the small group of Organization members who were snickering at Demyx's abrupt outburst.

"I'm sure you all have something better to be doing." They slunk off, going their separate ways by disappearing into darkness. Xemnas sighed, and turned back to eleven and eight, who were now sticking their tongues out at each other. Figures, he thought, that the two most immature members would be fighting over something as stupid as a little kitten.

"Now I suggest that you both let this little kitten decide for himself who he wants to stay with. I expect this conflict to be ended and forgotten by the time I see you two again." With one final indignant look, Xemnas left the room, disappearing into a thick cloud of black smoke.

Demyx glared at Marluxia and then turned to Mr. Fuzzles, smiling and sweetly calling his name. The kitten looked at Demyx with a dazed, catnip high stare and then stuck his nose deeper into the patch of kitty drugs. Marluxia smiled,

"See, I told you, he's mine, and his name is Iris." Demyx sadly walked out of Marly's room, not looking back at the kitten who watched him walk out the door.

Demyx slowly walked down the corridors of his room, thinking about how angry he was not only at Marluxia but also at Mr. Fuzzles. Demyx decided he would get a better pet, one that would be more loyal, and have the same likes as he did, since it was obvious that Mr. Fuzzles didn't enjoy his bath time. Then a smirk spread across his face as he came up with a brilliant plan, the perfect pet for him.

"Next stop Atlantica." He said to no one in particular.