A/N: Sorry for the long wait; hopefully this chapter makes up for it. Thanks to everyone who's reviewed so far!

By the time I stopped at my room to change out of my pajamas, I was late enough to the Kitchen of Brewing Darkness to whip up some breakfast without worrying about sabotage from Xigbar. By "whip up" I actually meant "ask Axel for some pancakes" since he was cooking some for Roxas and Xion anyway. I guessed Xion had gotten up earlier; I didn't see her come out of Roxas's room.

"I guess I can spare a few pancakes for a poor underfed coworker," Axel said with a grin, flipping one of said pancakes expertly in a frying pan. They smelled delicious; why didn't he cook more often? "Just don't make a habit of it; I already have to feed two midgets."

I rolled my eyes. "Ha ha. Just because you're so tall…"

"What's a midget?" Roxas stopped his fork-battle with Xion long enough to ask.

"A short person like you." Axel grinned, serving up the pancakes.

"Hey!" Roxas frowned, but he perked up immediately after squeezing an insane amount of syrup onto his pancake and shoveling it into his mouth.

"We're not that short," Xion pouted.

"Sorry to break it to you, but yeah, you are." Axel stated it more like a fact than a tease that time. He rummaged for something in the refrigerator while I loaded three pancakes onto a white plate (one for me, Demyx, and R-2 each). I would've liked more, but I was lucky that Axel had even that many extras.

"You're in luck, Roxas. Somebody bought grape juice." Axel walked over to the table with a jar of blackish liquid.

"Really?" Roxas sat up straighter in excitement, pausing in the fork-battle he'd been having with Xion.

Axel rolled his eyes. "No, I'm joking. Go back to your fork-battle."

Roxas pouted. "Fine."

"I was being sarcastic, Rox."

"Oh."

I thought juice came in a bottle, not a jar, but maybe it was from a different world than last time. The groceries we ended up with were always different depending on which member went shopping and where.

"I've never had grape juice," Xion said.

"It's really good. Not as good as sea-salt ice cream, though," Roxas replied.

"Can I have some?"

I could've sworn Axel smirked, just for a moment.

"Sure ya can, but let's let Roxas try it first." Axel poured the grape juice into Roxas's empty glass.

I crossed my arms. "Why can't she—"

Roxas, clueless as Axel always said, chugged down half the glass before performing an epic spittake. Black juice-spit mixture sprayed all across the counter. And all over the pancakes.

"Even if it was disgusting, couldn't you have spat it out somewhere else?" I asked in dismay.

"Gah! That was gross! Why did you do that, Axel?" Roxas fixed the redhead with betrayed Puppy Eyes, but he just produced a camera from nowhere and laughed as he videoed the damage.

"Ha, the look on your face-!"

Xion frowned, her eyebrows drawing together. "I thought you said grape juice was good?"

I sniffed the half-empty glass of black liquid. "That's olive juice." Not particularly gross, but it would be if you were expecting grape juice.

Roxas ran to the sink and used the sprayer-faucet to wash his mouth out, making gagging noises the whole time.

Axel directed a sly grin at me and Xion after turning off the camera. "Xigbar never said we have to prank each other at night."

"Ohh," Xion said, finally understanding. "But that was still mean, Axel."

He ran a hand through his hair. I could still hear Roxas overdramatically spitting water into the sink. "I wasn't trying to be a jerk. You guys want to be able to eat at meals again, right?"

"Well, now we can't eat this meal," I grumbled.

"Sorry…" Roxas came back, his face still splattered with water droplets. Xion offered him a napkin, and he accepted. "Thanks."

"No hard feelings, right, Rox?" Axel asked with a strained smile. Roxas grumbled something under his breath. "Hey, I'm sorry. All of us have to get pranked at some point. Be glad you're over with first; we've still got to prank this psycho over here." Axel jerked a thumb in my direction, and I rolled my eyes.

"Yeah, I'm a psycho," I replied sarcastically. "Like this castle's not full of them."

"So I'll have to be pranked too?" Xion asked, looking up at Axel nervously.

"Don't worry, we won't do anything awful." Axel ruffled her hair.

"Axel." Saïx's stern voice startled my attention to the doorway. "Stop wasting time. You have missions to attend to."

"Yeah, yeah." Axel waved him off, grinning playfully. "I know you only pick on me because you care."

Saïx glared like the mere idea offended him. "Roxas, Xion, Xenan; your presence is required in the Grey Area as well."

He strode away, cold and stiff as always, and Axel snorted. "He's such a crazy workaholic these days…"

"You mean he wasn't always?" I asked, unable to believe it. The redhead gave me a closed-off look, a look oddly similar to one of Saïx's own, and I dropped it. It wasn't my business, anyway.

I shrugged and left the kitchen to get my mission report. Axel might've been able to escape Saïx's wrath, but I didn't trust my luck. I tried not to snicker at how his vaguely annoyed expression contrasted with his smiling portrait on the window, the one piece of graffiti the Dusks hadn't been able to remove.

"Where is Number IX?" He asked. What, did he think we were attached at the hip? I wondered if he'd heard about Xigbar's setup last night, but I figured he wouldn't care about that kind of gossip.

"Probably in his room," I answered. "I'll give him his mission."

"You two are paired for your mission today." He gave me a pointed glare. "You are to remove this insult from the windows."

I wasn't surprised. Everyone always figured it was my and Demyx's fault, even when they didn't have proof. Sure, it was partially our fault, but that wasn't really the point. Axel and Roxas didn't get in trouble.

"What are you calling an insult? That's art right there." Speaking of Axel…

Saïx turned his glare on him. "It's a needless distraction."

Axel grinned. "You just don't like it because he drew you smiling. Maybe you should try it sometime; it makes you look less like a grouchy werewolf."

Ignoring the insult, Saïx raised an eyebrow. "He?"

Panic dropped in my stomach like a stone. Axel's eyes flickered to mine. Saïx must've thought I painted it, since Demyx can't draw worth a Dusk, and if he and Axel were friends he would've known that Axel's not exactly an artist either –

But Axel's smart. Way smarter than me when comes to lying. I didn't notice Roxas and Xion half-hiding behind him, but I did notice when Axel pushed Roxas farther out of view. Apparently Saïx noticed too.

"Hmph. How many of you were involved in this?"

Our silence answered the question well enough. Saïx pinched the bridge of his nose, the most direct display of emotion I'd ever seen him show.

"We can't afford to spare any more members. Xenan, you and Demyx will still clean this mess. The rest of you will receive some other punishment at a later time."

"But—"

Axel clamped his hand over Roxas's mouth (and Xion's just in case). "Just give us our missions already. Sheesh, and I thought you were supposed to be efficient."

Not wasting time on an argument, Saïx handed out their missions. I used that break to corridor to the kitchen (salvaging whatever I could of the pancakes – the ones on the bottom of the stack were pretty much okay) and then to Demyx's room. I didn't know how sound worked in the dark corridors, but there was so much painful noise stabbing out from the other side that my ears felt like they were bleeding before I even stepped out. What were they doing in there, torturing those squeaky Wonderland Heartless?

Hands clamped over my ears, I took in the chaos: R-2 looked like he was trying to sing (even with my ears covered, he sounded like a sick opera singer on helium), while Demyx was curled in a whimpering ball. Until he saw me, anyway; then he flung himself at my feet.

"Xenan Xenan Xenan help me I tried to teach him how to sing and he won't stop!" He cried.

"Can you paint with all the colors of the wiiiind~!" R-2 belted, three octaves too high.

"What do you want me to do?" I asked, wanting to curl into the fetal position too.

"I don't know, he listens to you!" Demyx took a pair of padded headphones from one of his junkpiles and jammed it over his ears.

"How hiiiigh does a sycamore grow? If you want it blue, paint it indigoooo~!"

Too loud to try talking to him. I summoned my mace and melted it over his mouth. He tried to pry the metal duct-tape substitute off, scratching at it uselessly, and I quickly melted it back off and into its original form.

"Sorry, R-2," I said, feeling guilty when he looked at me with that same betrayed stare Roxas used on Axel earlier. "You were hurting Demyx and me."

His eyes widened. "My singing hurts?"

"Yeah, little buddy," Demyx said apologetically. "It kind of does. A lot."

"But… I wanted to sing pretty like you…" His shoulders slumped, and his suit changed from bright purple to dark grey.

I quickly tried to find a way to phrase something in a way that wouldn't hurt his feelings. "You make pretty pictures with your colors, R-2. Demyx can't do that."

"Hey," Demyx interjected, pouting.

"And Demyx can sing better than you. So it's fair." I wasn't sure it would work (it rarely worked when Dad used it on me and my siblings), but R-2 looked thoughtful.

"So what can you do that's pretty, Xen-Xen?" He asked.

"Pretty?" I blinked. Demyx coughed over a snicker. "Well… I can make stuff out of metal." I didn't usually make pretty things though, just useful ones.

"Oh." R-2 rubbed his mouth. "I knew that…"

For some reason, that reminded me – I still hadn't named my mace yet. Still, I was doing fine with my nameless one, and we had more important issues to take care of. Like our mission. "We have to get R-2's magical colors off of the window," I said while passing out pancakes. "The Dusks couldn't do it."

"Whaaat?" Demyx's jaw dropped, revealing a rather unappetizing image of his semi-chewed pancake. "We have to clean? We don't even know how to get it off!"

"I do! I do!" R-2 waved his arm in the air.

"How?" I asked.

"I just tell it to go away. Easy." R-2 flashed a grin, which was immediately swapped for a frown. "Wait, you're getting rid of my picture?"

I didn't pay enough attention to that last bit at the moment. "But Saïx will probably be watching us."

Demyx sighed heavily. "So it's all up to us?"

"We'll figure something else out," I said, eating my half-a-pancake in one bite. "You have water magic. Maybe that will work."

"If R-2 just hadn't used magical painting powers…" Demyx muttered, but luckily R-2 didn't seem to hear.

"It's not his fault. He was just trying to help, and we all liked his painting." Sure, I was annoyed that we had to clean instead of doing a useful mission, but I couldn't blame him. It was getting harder and harder to keep him hidden, though… Too many close calls… We needed a better plan.

"I know." Demyx sighed. It took me a moment to realize he was replying to what I said and not what I'd been thinking.

"Come on, let's get this over with." I opened a dark corridor. "R-2, please stay here and don't make noise."

"Okay…" He sulked more, but Saïx would already be on our cases for being late, so I didn't have time to worry about it.

XXX

"It's not working," Demyx whined for the forty-seventh time. By now I was ready to agree with him. We'd tried everything we could think of, from scrubbing to scraping with my mace to blasting the window with water for a full ten minutes. That last attempt left me soaked from the spray, and my coat hung heavily, only making my mood worse.

"Well this is just great." I rolled my eyes, wanting to bang my head against the window rather than clean it. "Do we have a plan… uh… What plan are we on?"

Demyx shrugged. "Probably Q or something."

"Do we have a plan Q?"

"Ignore it until it goes away?" He suggested hopefully.

I glanced over at Saïx, who was sitting on a couch approving mission reports, while Demyx dried up the water from the floor and my coat. "If we could just get him to leave, R-2 could get this off in no time."

"I'm good at making distractions," Demyx grinned.

"I don't know; Saïx doesn't get distracted easily," I whispered.

"Trust me," he insisted. "After I get Saïx out you can get R-2 in."

Well, if anyone knew how to be distracting, it was Demyx. "Fine, but be careful."

"You're sounding like my mom again."

I rolled my eyes. "Maybe you need a mom."

Demyx's laugh made Saïx look up from his paperwork. "I don't see what you find amusing about this."

"Uh, the rag made a funny squeaky noise," Demyx lied, polishing the window to make it squeak.

"Stop that," Saïx ordered calmly.

"Why-y~?" Demyx sing-songed. Was this part of his plan, or was he just being stupid?

Saïx got up, took the rag, and went back to his work.

"How am I supposed to clean now?"

"You were not cleaning before. I'm sure you will figure something out."

Demyx pretended to think for a moment, but I knew he was faking because he was grinning too much. "Maybe I could find something to get it off in the Basement."

Okay, so it was part of his plan. "Yeah, they've got just about everything in the multiverse down there," I added.

Saïx exhaled, looking vaguely annoyed at the universe like always. "Let's be quick about this."

Of course he wasn't going to let Demyx sneak off alone, which worked into our plan perfectly. When they were gone, I corridored to Demyx's room.

"Xen-Xen!" R-2 glomped me painfully. "I'm bored. And hungry. Are we going to lunch? Can we have biscuits and gravy?"

"Uh, not yet. I need your help." I led him through the corridor.

"Okay. Helping's good."

When we arrived at the Grey Area, I explained that he needed to get the smiling Saïx off of the windows. I wasn't prepared for his reaction.

"What? No!" He yelled, making me wince and glance over my shoulder. Please let Demyx keep stalling Saïx… "I don't want to destroy my painting!"

"But R-2, Saïx is going to get really mad if we don't get it off, and then he'll get me and Demyx in trouble."

His eyes widened. "He will?"

I nodded.

"But – But…" He looked between me and the painting. "Is there a way I can keep it and you not get in trouble?"

I sighed. "No, there's – wait." Cameras. Axel's camera. It could take a picture of a picture, couldn't it? "We need to find Axel."

"Mister Skinny Flaming Pyro Man?"

"Yeah. Him."

"Where is he?"

Oh. That would be important to know. But the only person I could think of who would know was Saïx, unless we wanted to search every world I knew.

"I don't know." I sighed.

"But he could save my picture, right?" R-2 asked worriedly.

"I think so. But he's not here now." I glanced around the room for something, anything, that might be useful. But the Grey Area was empty except for the furniture, Saïx's paperwork… and the moogle. He was so quiet, I never noticed him. Could he have overheard where Axel was sent to?

I ran over to him. "Hey, do you know—"

"Finally acknowledging my presence, kupo? Could we start with a greeting first?"

"I don't have time—"

"Hello, Floating Pom-Pom Head." R-2 smiled.

If the moogle's eyes ever opened, I suspected he'd be rolling them. "My name is of no importance, but if you're going to call me something, tactless kupo, you may call me Gloomex. Now for your names, kupos."

I figured it would be faster to agree than argue. "My name's Xenan."

"I'm R-2, 'cause I'm Riku's second replica. And the only one who's not dead."

Wait, what? Under other circumstances I'd ask about R-3 and how R-2 knew he was dead for sure, but there wasn't time.

"Nice to meet you, Xenan, R-2, kupos. Was it information you needed, kupos?"

"Yeah. Do you know where Axel went?"

"I know of all who come through this room, kupo." Goomex sounded like he was smiling. "But the information will cost you."

"What?" We didn't have time to deal with a finicky moogle. If he wouldn't help us soon, I'd resort to digging through Saïx's paperwork.

"It is the moogle way, kupo." He nodded. "Fifty munny for Axel's location."

"Ugh, fine." I dug it out and shoved it at Gloomex's tiny hands.

"Agrabah, kupo. Can I interest you in—"

I dragged R-2 through a corridor without letting him finish. We finally had some luck – Axel and Roxas were destroying Heartless in the marketplace area where we appeared. Roxas accidentally missed the Scarlet Tango he was aiming a Blizzard at, and the icy projectile took a small crater out of the sandblasted wall.

"Axel! I need your camera!" I called. He finished destroying an Armored Body before responding, "Why?"

"It's an emergency!" I practically begged. "R-2 won't get rid of the painting unless he gets a picture, and Saïx will be back any minute!"

He stared at me like I was crazy, but then he shrugged and opened a corridor.

"What's going on?" Roxas asked after finally killing the Scarlet Tango.

Axel grinned. "Flexible thinking."

Roxas groaned. Axel pulled him by the hood while I tried to get R-2's attention away from some shiny vases in a shop. I hoped we wouldn't be too late—

But when we RTC'd, my hopes fell lower than the Basement That Doesn't Want to Be.

Saïx glowered at us, arms crossed and eyes cold as Vexen's lab. Demyx cowered behind a couch, guarded by two Berserkers. My only small comfort was that Axel had come out of the corridor first, but I wasn't sure if even he could smooth this over if Saïx saw R-2 hiding behind me.

"Invisible," I whispered. Thank Kingdom Hearts he got it, holding his breath and fading out of sight. Saïx seemed too focused on Axel to notice.

"Number VIII, what is the meaning of this?" I flinched from his glare, even though it wasn't directed at me. Yet.

"Chill, Saï." Axel brushed some sand off of his coat. "Number XV here just knew she needed some extra help. Thought I might be able to blowtorch it off."

"Is your own mission complete?"

"Pretty much."

"That isn't a yes."

"C'mon, there were only a few Heartless left in our quota! Do you want this picture gone or not?"

While they argued I tried to give Demyx a comforting glance, but he was still cowering on the floor. Roxas looked confused. R-2 didn't look like anything since he was invisible.

"Fine. See if you can remove it," Saïx relented. Apparently some things were more important than work to him. Like his dignity.

Axel snuck a glance at me, eyebrow raised. I mouthed "Camera," and he grinned.

"Wait a sec." In less than a "sec," he slipped the camera from his pocket, snapped a picture of the Saïx-painting, and tossed me the camera. "Saving some memories."

Saïx sighed. Axel muttered, "Don't melt that one," and summoned a ball of flame. I wondered how strong those windows were – apparently strong enough to withstand blowtorching, because the fireball didn't leave a scratch on the glass. Or R-2's painting.

"Now," I whispered to R-2.

He sucked in a huge breath and started whispering, "Go away pretty colors, please go away when Mister Skinny Flaming Pyro Man fires you…" The paint listened and disappeared wherever Axel's fireballs hit – but R-2 was becoming visible again. Demyx was next to notice. He squeaked, and I hastily motioned for him to get over here. Luckily Saïx was too busy watching the picture disappear, and Axel's fireballs were making enough noise to cover a bomb going off or a large stampede of Heartless.

"Help me shield him," I said, loud enough for Demyx to hear over the noise but hopefully not loud enough for anyone else. We stood side-by-side, but there was still enough space in between us to see R-2, his face scrunched in concentration. It would be extremely useful if he could stay invisible and whisper at the same time… I got an idea for how to hide him, but it wasn't a particularly good one. I hoped Demyx wouldn't mind. At least it wouldn't be as awkward as what Xigbar put us through, and under the circumstances, I was lucky to have an idea at all.

"Let me pretend to cuddle you."

"Huh!?"

His exclamation drew Saïx's attention, so I didn't have time to explain. I threw one arm around his middle, standing close enough to block R-2 from Saïx's line of sight. Demyx uncertainly returned my side-hug. Good. It would be a pain to explain to Axel later if he saw, and he probably wouldn't believe us about that photo being a setup now, but a lifetime of teasing was still better than R-2's lifetime ending in science experiments. Or worse.

Demyx squirmed slightly while we watched the painting-Saïx disappear from the window bit by bit in exploding flames. I wondered if Axel knew R-2 was the one making it disappear, not his fire. Either way I was just relieved that I wouldn't have to worry about it.

"So, uh, why are you cuddling me?" Demyx asked, his face slightly pink.

"We can't let Saïx see R-2 behind us."

"I kinda guessed that, but weren't we already blocking him?" He looked at me curiously.

"He could see through our legs. We needed to be closer, and it would look weird if we just squished together."

"So you mean this doesn't look weird?"

I sighed. "All of this is weird. Do you have a better idea?"

He shrugged and glanced over at Saïx, who was now watching us disapprovingly. "I think we need to be more convincing."

Suddenly he was kissing me and I was not expecting that and I tried to pull back but his hand behind my head kept me there, and he was getting his stupid Demyx slobber germs all over me, GAH. I was probably going to catch a disease or something. And R-2 was right there! Did the few brain cells he had left suddenly turn to Jell-O?

Once I discovered struggling was pointless, I didn't really have any other choice but to kiss him back. I mean, at least it would look convincing. Gah, I still couldn't believe he was doing this. I was definitely going to pull the worst prank possible on him. I tried to look on the bright side: at least it was Demyx instead of Xigbar or someone equally awful. And at least he wasn't eating my face off.

The explosions stopped. So did R-2's whispering, which he had somehow managed to keep up while staring at us in confusion. Miraculously he didn't ask any questions, just held his breath and disappeared again once his job was done. Axel laughed harder than I'd ever heard, while Roxas stared between him and us like we were complete aliens.

Demyx grinned and gave me a squeeze before letting go. I replied with a you-are-so-dead-and-I'm-going-to-bust-your-sitar-into-a-million-pieces glare, violently trying to wipe the spit off of my mouth. Neither action had as much effect as I'd hoped.

"Great, we're done!" Demyx clapped once and opened a corridor, and I (discreetly) shoved R-2 through. Hopefully Saïx thought his squeak was just my boot scuffing the floor.

"No, don't thank me at all." Axel rolled his eyes.

"Thank you," I said. He smiled smugly.

"That's all I ask."

Saïx cleared his throat. "Axel, Roxas, I believe you have a mission to complete."

Axel sighed but winked at me as he opened the corridor to Agrabah. "I guess I'll just have to wait to tease you liars."

"It's not—" I started, but I bit my tongue to stop myself. Better to lose dignity than a friend.

"I don't get it," Roxas sulked, following Axel through the corridor. Demyx hovered by the edge of his own. Saïx stared us down like he was trying to shoot eye-lasers at us.

"We're done, right?" I asked nervously.

After a long pause Saïx said, "I trust both of you will keep your feelings," he sneered the word, "under better control on your missions."

"Definitely." I nodded way more than necessary. "Completely under control."

"Yeah, we were just – uh—"

"I don't want to hear any more about this," Saïx cut him off, vanishing through a corridor.

There was a moment of awkward silence right after he left before I wheeled on Demyx.

"Why in the name of Kingdom Hearts did you do that!?" I practically screeched, making him flinch. "You–You just invaded my personal space, and—"

Demyx cracked up. I punched him in the stomach, and he doubled over. "Ow! Xenan–"

"What?" I growled.

He looked like he was about to start laughing again. "You're not really that mad at me, are you? I mean, you pretty much did the same thing to me."

"I did not!" I retorted without even thinking. Did I?

"You didn't make sure it was okay before kissing me yesterday—"

"That was Xigbar's fault! And that hardly counted as a kiss anyway."

Demyx rubbed the spot where I'd punched him. "And then you went and glomped me earlier without explaining."

"Only because I was trying to keep R-2 safe!" I realized I was being way louder than necessary, but I didn't really care, either. I was still pretty angry about being force-kissed, but mostly I was angry that Demyx was (probably) right.

"Yeah, and so was I. I was being more convincing." Demyx smiled annoyingly.

"Sometimes I really hate you," I grumbled. We didn't need to be more convincing. We just needed to keep R-2 out of sight. Unless by 'be more convincing' he meant we should be so awkward Saix would forget about any of our other stupid mistakes. Which, if that was actually his thought process, wasn't completely stupid. But that didn't make it okay either.

"Aww, don't be mad," he replied cheerfully, but I glared back. "C'mon, Xenan. I wasn't that bad, was I?"

"How good you are at kissing isn't the point!" I yelled, throwing my arms in the air. He burst out laughing again.

"Wait, you're saying I am a good kisser?"

"NO!" I summoned my mace instinctively, but I banished it once I felt the cold metal in my hand. "Look, for the record, you're not an awful kisser. But I don't like you like that."

"I know that. You're just too fun to tease." He grinned.

I wanted to summon my mace again and… do something really violent. "Promise me no more kissing."

"Even to protect R-2?" He asked, more serious now. Why did things have to be complicated?

I shook my head. "We shouldn't have to do that again. We'll come up with something else."

"If you're sure, I promise."

I sighed in relief. "Good."

Demyx laughed again. "C'mon, let's go. R-2's probably all sad that you pushed him."

"I was just trying to get him somewhere safe," I retorted but kept my voice even. Those two had to be onto something about us having hearts; I'd never had mood swings this bad.

"You're such a mom."

"I am not!" I shoved him lightly and coughed out something like a laugh for no apparent reason.

"What?"

I glanced over my shoulder as I stepped in front of the corridor. "It's just weird that this kind of insanity feels like normal."

"I don't think we'd know normal if it danced in front of us in Xemnas's underwear."

I had to agree with him there.

A/N: I promise I don't try to ship-tease DemXen, they just love to throw themselves into awkward situations! 3X Oh well, it ended decently, I guess.

In other notes, the next chapter should involve a prank, Axel teasing Xen and Dem relentlessly, and probably a new plot development!