Disclaimer: All characters in this story belong to Square Enix and Disney. I own nothing here.

Hakumei: I am back. For better or for worse? Hmm... BTW, yes this chapter is set all the way back when Zexion first met Demyx. Hope I'm not confusing people, o.o

Random note: o.O, as soon as I finished writing this chapter there was a car crash next to my house… (no one was hurt) A sign anyone?

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Chapter One: Scattered Pieces
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Shuffling noises echoed loudly in the large, dominantly white (seriously who the hell was their interior designer?), room.

Zexion lowered the book he was reading, Workings of the Heart. It was a massive book, apparently being the first of four similarly large volumes that all dealt with… well, the heart. It had no author, and the cover only beared the title in slanted, cursive writing. Zexion believed it had been a scholar's journal, compiled by him or one of his assistants.

The hours it must have taken, the extensive research, the hundreds of theories that filled the pages... Now if only he could read in peace.

But no, the shuffling noises continued, followed by what may have been an attempt at humming a song. Badly.

He sighed in frustration and gave up for the day. In actuality he had given up reading the journal after the first twenty pages or so and had been staring at the twenty-first page for the past five minutes, tapping his fingers lightly on the book's spine in annoyance.

Something was distracting him.

More accurately than something, perhaps, would be someone. Then again, Zexion noted dully, a nobody could never be considered a someone.

He looked in the direction the scent was coming from and frowned, "what do you want?"

There was a loud thumping noise, sounding suspiciously like a body hitting the floor, followed by what sounded like someone cursing and trying to get themselves upright from behind one of the library's many bookcases to Zexion's left.

A face peered around the bookcase in question, looking particularly guilty.

Zexion looked back at the book he was still holding. He had known it was just the organization's newest member, number IX. He had arrived at The Castle That Never Was only a few days ago.

He had first seen Demyx - he was pretty sure that's what Xemnas had called him - at the meeting their superior always held when a new member joined their ranks. When he had first seen him Zexion had glanced briefly at Demyx's nervous grin and shaking hands, and then promptly ignored him.

He had then tuned out Xemnas' incessant droning about how everything would be so much better after they completed their own Kingdom Hearts and stared with a passive expression at nowhere in particular. To others, however, he appeared to be paying attention – having perfected the art of keeping his face in a neutral, thoughtful look while in reality his mind was elsewhere. Many other members tried to do the same (some- like Xigbar- failing miserably), all used to Xemnas' habit of pontificating at length, except of course Saïx who always sat in rapt attention. Damn bastard.

Zexion had left the meeting quickly and silently when it ended. Since he preferred to keep to himself (usually staying in his room or in the library) this was the first time he actually talked to Number Nine and seen him up close.

Not that he hadn't heard Demyx. Not by a long shot. The dirty blond was by far the noisiest member as of yet, which wasn't very promising.

A soft cough brought Zexion back to his present situation.

"Hi! My name's Demyx, call me Dem!" Demyx straightened himself up, looking as though he was daring himself to move closer.

"No." Zexion's brow furrowed a tiny bit and went back to pretending to read. Didn't this guy get the message? Everyone stayed out of Zexion's way. He didn't bother them and they didn't bother him. Solitude in exchange for solitude.

He nearly took his eyes off the journal he was trying to pretend to read when he felt someone settle next to him on the comfortable couch.

Great.

Demyx made as though he hadn't heard the cloaked schemer's reply and continued to talk.

"So what's your name?"

"…"

"Why haven't I seen you around?"

"…"

"What are you reading?"

"…"

This Demyx guy was starting to get on his last nerves. Zexion tried to send him a much needed glare but failed miserably when his hair got onto the left side of his face, ruining the effect.

"What's your favorite color?" Demyx scooted closer to the other nobody.

Zexion brushed the hair away quickly and shifted as far away from Demyx as possible. Damn his hair and damn this nobody.

"Do you like the sitar? I have a sitar you know… Did you hear me play it last night?" The younger nobody got comfortable and propped his feet up on a low table a few feet away. He was apparently blissfully unaware of the painful and awkward silence that filled the room.

Zexion nearly started twitching. Who played a sitar at three a.m. in the morning anyway? And the singing… If you could call it that...

The cloaked schemer finally gave up his fruitless effort and laid Workings of the Heart on the table in front of him. He'd come back for it later. Demyx eyed the volume wearily.

Zexion stood and started towards the exit with no intention of talking to the other organization member or further acknowledging his presence. That would be like adding fuel to the fire.

The very talkative fire…

He could feel Demyx's eyes on his back and he abruptly paused in his journey towards the exit.

"My name is Zexion."

Demyx stared at Zexion's retreating back in surprise. He apparently hadn't been expecting a response at all, "Zexion, huh?"

The lilac haired nobody turned down the hallway towards his room. He didn't even know why he had wasted his time answering that idiot.

"Wait up! What's your favorite color!" He heard the aforementioned nobody call after him before footsteps echoed loudly behind him.

Crap, what had he done?

o0()()0o

It was quiet in the Castle That Never Was. A bit too quiet perhaps.

Zexion poked his head out of his room cautiously. It had been a few days since what he had titled the 'library incident.'

He already wanted to tear his hair out. And not just because it kept interfering with his glaring either. Or even because he usually had horrible bed head.

Demyx had not left him in peace since meeting him in the library, seemingly trying to spend every moment annoying the lilac haired man.

Zexion really couldn't understand why the other nobody refused to leave him in peace. Every day he found that he could only step a few feet away from his room before being accosted by the hyper nobody.

But not this morning. Today, the cloaked schemer had lived up to his title and had come up with a plan that would hopefully allow him to be Demyx-free all day long. Phase one of said plan involved him waking at an ungodly hour to leave his room before Demyx arrived.

After locating the dirty blond's scent as being far away from his room Zexion stepped out of his doorway and held his breath, just on impulse. He sighed in relief when he wasn't immediately trampled and/or attacked. Phase one complete.

He trudged down several long, white hallways. Again, who the hell designed this castle anyway? He sleepily rubbed at his visible eye, slightly zoning out as he approached the kitchen. He had bed head; he could tell by the way the silver-violet hair that usually hid the right side of his face was attempting to defy gravity. Maybe he should have brushed it before going out…

Zexion shrugged; it wasn't like anyone was ever up at this hour anyway.

Especially after the time Axel had made the mistake of pulling an early morning prank that involved gasoline, matches, and an extremely angry/sleepy Saïx. Axel had so totally deserved that bitch slap.

He paused in the doorframe to the kitchen, something was most definitely not right. He smelled something reminiscent of pancakes gone horribly wrong. The pungent burnt smell filled the entire room, the lights were all on, and he swore he had not seen that green matter on the floor the night before…

"Morning Zexion!" An impossibly cheerful voice called out, breaking the older nobody away from his thoughts.

Zexion stared. And continued to stare even when the owner of said voice waved his hand around in front his face in an attempt to bring him out of his stupor, "Helloo? You okay?"

The lilac haired nobody blinked and grabbed Demyx's wrist, "what are you doing up… and what the hell are you wearing?"

Zexion couldn't believe it; he had gotten up extra early today just to ditch Demyx only to crash into him in the kitchen. And Demyx was wearing an apron over his organization coat. Zexion wasn't sure how much weirder his day could get, and it was only just beginning.

Demyx looked down, as though he had forgotten what he was wearing, "oh this? I found it in one of the drawers over there."

His free hand waved in the direction of some drawers near a stove that looked as though it had better days - pots and pans were scattered all over its surface looking decidedly, very unsafe. In addition, pancake batter was smeared over almost every available surface in the nearby vicinity.

The cloaked schemer turned back to Demyx and stared at the front of the white apron which proudly proclaimed (in lacy blue lettering) 'Kiss The Cook Who Never Was.'

That in itself was mildly depressing and disturbing. But Zexion found himself more disturbed when he tried to guess who actually owned the apron. Why? Just why?

Demyx shuffled his feet, uncomfortable under Zexion's stare, "could you... uh, let go?"

Zexion looked up and Demyx pointed to his wrist which was being held in his tight grip. The lilac haired nobody released him and sullenly walked over to the stove. No use in escaping now...

The younger nobody bounded over happily, "I thought it would be fun to get up a bit earlier today! Besides... It's my turn to make breakfast for everyone. I didn't know how long it would take..."

Zexion boiled the water for his tea in silence, trying to ignore the chattering nobody next to him. He glanced at the white clock on the wall in front of him. Four a.m.

Either Demyx was out of his mind or he was an extremely bad cook.

He attempted, in vain unfortunately, to avoid the batter spread around the stove. He wondered idly how the dirty blond had managed to get it on the walls and ceiling…

Just as Zexion went to turn down the front left burner on the stove Demyx shifted beside him, staring at the extremely burnt pancakes on the pan that was set on the hot burner.

"Maybe they just need to be flipped and no one will notice…"

Zexion was about to protest that idea when Demyx turned the knob for the burner to a higher temperature, failing to notice the excess pancake batter that had gotten past the burner top. Flames immediately flared up and caught fire to the nearest object.

Said object being the sleeve of Zexion's organization coat.

"OH SHIT!" Zexion was pretty sure that it had been him who had yelled out first in the confusion. He couldn't be too sure though, as somehow the boiling water on the stove tipped over and spilled everywhere.

Demyx slipped, crashing into the older nobody (who was frantically trying to put out the flames on his sleeve) and bringing him down as well.

Yes, extremely bad cook it was. Or klutz…

o0()()0o

After all of the fires had been dealt with Zexion sat back and stared at the ruined kitchen in disbelief. He was pretty sure he looked like something had blown up in his face – judging from Demyx's appearance. To make things worse his left arm hurt like hell, he was partially dressed, probably had pancake batter all over him, and to top everything off he was soaking wet.

The soaking wet part resulting from the fact that him and the younger nobody had slipped around on the floor for several chaotic minutes as they both tried to put out the fire on Zexion's coat and the fire on the stove.

That had involved Demyx talking rapidly so that Zexion was unable to understand what he was saying and then trying to help the lilac haired man take off the leather organization coat, going so far as to unzip the entire front.

Finally, however, Demyx remembered that his element was water and had promptly summoned his blue sitar and put out both fires. Wet leather was not comfortable.

Zexion wanted to kick him.

And he would have too had he not been distracted by the sound of quickly approaching footsteps.

"What the hell happened in-"

Axel paused at the entrance to the kitchen, bright green eyes sweeping over the mess in front of him. He looked at the scorched wall behind the stove, the overturned pots and pans that littered the counters, the water that was spilled all over the white tiled floor and then-

His eyes landed on Zexion, the normally dignified and calm organization member, sitting on the floor with his coat unzipped and half shrugged off his shoulders, looking like a general mess. Demyx was standing to the side of him looking extremely guilty and apologizing rapidly.

And then Axel did what any sane person would do – namely laugh at the plight of both nobodies.

"Trying… to get into his pants already Demyx?" He asked between laughs as Zexion watched with rising horror. No, no, no! The coat came off because it was on fire, dammit!

Demyx looked perplexed, "huh?"

Axel continued to laugh, mostly at Zexion's expense as Demyx appeared to be completely oblivious, "and what's with the mess? Some kind of weird foreplay or-?"

Zexion glared at the pyro, making a mental note to gain some sort of revenge on him when he wasn't soaked, half dressed, and generally in a lot of pain.

"What's going on here?" A blue haired figure appeared beside the still teasing Axel, a cold edge to his voice.

Zexion flinched inwardly at the appearance of the Organization's seventh member – Saïx. Saïx was Zexion's least favorite organization member. If that wasn't already completely obvious by the way he kept saying 'Damn Bastard' whenever he thought about him.

Saïx's amber eyes glinted with what could have been called anger had he the heart to feel said emotion.

The second in command turned towards Axel, "you did this?"

He gestured vaguely at the mess in front of him.

Axel, now slightly sobered by the appearance of Saïx, gazed longingly at the scorch marks littered around the stove and the singed state of Zexion's clothing.

"How I wish it were so…"

The seventh organization member turned to Demyx and his left eye started twitching slightly, either due to Demyx's attire or a sudden remembrance of Axel, early morning, and cans of gasoline. Or maybe it was just a lack of sleep… Zexion couldn't tell.

Axel, unaware of the potential Saïx attack behind him, continued to grin at Demyx and Zexion. The second of the two wondered how much more awkward/dangerous this situation could get.

"By the way Demyx, that apron looks really nice on you…"

Saïx's glare returned double fold, focusing in on the bewildered dirty blond.

Zexion really wanted to sink into the floor and disappear. He didn't want to see/talk to Demyx for a long time – preferably a very long time. He didn't want to see the mischievous glint that had entered Axel's eyes. And he most definitely wanted Demyx, who was still in rapid apology mode, to SHUT UP.

Getting to his feet, after pushing away Demyx's helpful hand, Zexion stepped backwards into the tendrils of darkness that had begun to form. As the darkness engulfed him he wished the last thing he saw had been anything but the guilty look on Demyx's face and the need for vengeance on Saïx's. He was so screwed.

o0()()0o

Demyx was knocking on his door. Zexion closed his eyes tightly, hoping that the dirty blond would go away if he concentrated hard enough.

He had been there for a good while now. In the hours after the kitchen incident Zexion had thrown out his burned coat (he preferred his room not to smell like dead cow, kthx), taken a long shower in an attempt to look fairly normal, painstakingly bandaged the sore burn on his arm, gotten redressed, and fell onto his bed. At some point, he supposed, he had stopped cursing Demyx and had fallen into a light sleep.

That was when said nobody started to pound on his door with an insistence unknown to mankind. And that was also when Zexion had thrown a pillow at his door and attempted to ignore Demyx in any way possible.

"Zexion? Zeexxioon? I'm sorry, please open the door!"

The older nobody opened his eyes slowly and sighed in defeat. He stood up from where he had been sitting cross-legged on the floor trying to finish a thousand-piece puzzle. At least Demyx had been considerate enough not to just poof into his room with his Darkness Portal™. Those things really could invade a person's privacy.

Zexion's eyes started to water slightly as he remembered a time not long ago when he had transported himself into Xemnas' study unannounced. Never again. That much he was sure of.

"Zeeexiioooon!" Demyx slid down the white door, landing with a soft thump on the ground. He brushed a hand through his hair and leaned his back against the door.

Said nobody only then decided to open the door for the younger nobody. It was only to get him to shut up, Zexion reasoned.

Demyx fell backwards at the sudden lack of door and banged his head on Zexion's boots. He muttered a pained 'ouch' as he struggled to turn over and sit up on his knees. He blinked, a bit disoriented, before he realized the older nobody had opened the door for him, "Zexion! I just wanted to say I'm really, really, really, really-"

Zexion sighed, nobodies couldn't feel. And just like he was sure Demyx couldn't feel guilt he was sure he couldn't feel forgiveness or even anger for that matter. Demyx was just annoying. And really loud.

As Demyx grabbed Zexion's gloved hand to ensure that the lilac haired nobody could not slam the door in his face before he was done apologizing Xigbar started to walk down the hallway. And stopped mid-stride. And started to stare at Demyx kneeling before Zexion with the older nobody's hand grasped in his.

"-really, really, really-"

The cloaked schemer tried to wrench his hand away from the younger nobody but found that his grip was surprisingly strong. His eye started to twitch slightly as he watched Xigbar's face turn from surprised to extremely amused. So he did the first thing that came into his mind, namely use Demyx's grip on his hand to his advantage and jerk the younger nobody forward into his room.

"-really-OOMPH."

He managed to slam the door with his right hand before Demyx crashed into his chest and sent them both toppling backwards onto the (not surprisingly) white carpet.

Zexion was not in a good mood. This was the second time he had fallen flat on his back in a matter of hours. He did not fall dammit.

At least it shut the younger nobody up.

Demyx frowned when he found himself face first in a black leather coat. He shifted slightly and found that he was face first in Zexion's black leather coat, plus he was pretty sure he was crushing the older nobody under him (not that he weighed that much mind you).

"-sorry?"

The cloaked schemer pushed Demyx off of him with a small wince as his arm throbbed angrily at the sudden movement.

"Fine, whatever. Just leave now." Zexion stayed on his back and stared up at his white (who would have guessed?) ceiling. His arm really hurt and he felt too lazy to lift himself off the ground. He would, just as soon as the other nobody left.

Demyx, on the other hand, seemed to think differently and stood up slowly, "how's your arm?"

The lilac-haired nobody stared impassively at him before finally replying, "It's fine."

The dirty-blond bit his lower lip thoughtfully, as though trying to decide if Zexion was telling the truth or not. After a few moments he shrugged and decided to let it pass, for now.

Zexion looked back at his very interesting ceiling as Demyx stood awkwardly in the center of his room.

"So…" The younger nobody began.

"Anything else you need?" He rolled his eyes, why wasn't he leaving yet?

Demyx cringed and nervously glanced around the room before his eyes landed on the half finished puzzle. He laughed uneasily, "I love puzzles! I didn't peg you to be that kind of guy. Here, let me help."

The younger nobody sat and dug through the pile of puzzle pieces that were yet to be united with the pieces that fit them. He muttered quietly to himself, "Nope too light… Need one with purple on the edges…"

Zexion sighed and finally sat up; obviously there was something Demyx was trying to avoid telling him. He stood and joined the other nobody, trying to sit as far away from him as possible. Maybe being annoying was contagious.

The dirty blond grabbed a puzzle piece and sighed, "Nope not the right one…"

Zexion rolled his eyes and snatched the puzzle piece out of Demyx's grasp. The younger nobody looked up, his mouth rounded in an 'o' shape.

"Either tell me what you want to say or get out, I'm tired and I want to get some more rest," Zexion lied.

Demyx pouted slightly, "Zexion is mean…"

The lilac haired nobody ran a hand through his hair, his patience on edge.

"Well… You know how we messed up the kitchen this morning?"

Zexion nodded, was Demyx stupid or something? How could he forget? And we? It was all Demyx's fault! Okay so he had flailed around on fire a bit… But really…

The younger nobody scratched the back of his head, "Saïx was pretty upset about it… And…"

Zexion started to feel a bit uncomfortable, anything involving Saïx was bad. Really, really-

"He went to Xemnas… And complained…"

That ba– he wasn't even going to say it anymore, it was a waste of breath… err… thought… Everyone knew number seven was second-in-command; regardless of the fact that he was not even one of the original six. The older nobody felt a sinking sensation in the pit of his stomach.

"And well, Xemnas decided the punishment for the damage would be to take on more of the cleaning duties…"

Zexion shrugged slightly, Demyx had been making it out as if it had been some big issue. It could have been worse considering all those scorch marks… And besides, Zexion kind of liked to clean, his spotless room was testament to that fact.

Demyx brightened considerably, "That's a relief, I thought you might be angry about the extra work I got you into…"

The lilac haired nobody shook his head. This could actually be very good! Now he and Demyx would be so busy they'd hardly see each other. He could finally get a break and-

The younger nobody clapped his hands together, "This could be fun then! Now we can spend even more time together!"

Zexion's jubilant thoughts stopped abruptly. Wait… What! WE?

"Saïx thought it would be easier if we both did cleaning duties together; he said it would get things done faster." He started to count off on his fingers, "we could straighten out the library first and then…"

Zexion slammed his hands down on the half finished puzzle in a momentary lack of composure. Damn that… Saïx… He must have seen how much Demyx annoyed him and that blue haired weirdo…

"Zexion…? Are you okay? Hellooo?"

Zexion looked down at the scattered puzzle pieces with downcast eyes and briefly wondered if he was looking at fragments of his once semi-normal life.

Demyx grabbed one of the puzzle pieces that had skittered farthest away from the others, "aha! Now I found you…"

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HAHAHHA. I make bad things happen to Zexy… :shot: No not really… I have mixed feelings about this chapter (which kind of is a filler chapter… I dunno. :shot again except not really:) … If no one has noticed by now I have issues with my writing! 8D

Not too much relationship development going on yet, it's mostly Zexy being annoyed by Demyx, the poor guy who just wants a friend! But we all know he secretly wanted to jump him… Okay maybe not yet…

As for the leather coat thing… It was bound to happen, really! Besides I had to add it in, something similar once happened to my cousin, o.o… Luckily he wasn't severely hurt.

Okay I hope you all don't hate me now, review my crappy chapter… please?

:hands out Zexy plushies to reviewers/silent reader people:

Cloaked Vampire: Here be the chapter:pats: Stressful days at work are no fun at all!

Ranma Higurashi: Yay love!

Catgirl Akai: xD, doesn't everyone want to know about the Xemnas pornography incident? . fufufu…

Riku-stalker: Thank yous :hug:

Incognito Indigo: :glomp: Updated! By the way, everyone go read her stories! There's SoraxRiku and Akuroku goodness… You know you want to 8D

blockofthewritingkind: Yes, Zexion is such an oblivious idiot. We all love him though:3 It shall be fun to develop his and Demyx's relationship back to the point it was at in the prologue…

Shadow of Darkness 22: Yay! Updated!

Riko-chan: Here it is! W00t!

Shiguna: Thanks so much! You gotta let those squeals out soon or you'll explode! o.O, we don't want that happening! And how many times have I found myself spending the day reading yaoi fanfics in the darkness? xD… I'll never tell... :sneaky:

black vapor: Very clueless, xP. Thanks for the review!

yaoifanboy: Updated!

Stratus5: xD! Poor Saïx, oh how I luff him… What was the Xemnas Pornography Incident? Maybe we shall all find out… o.O

Sekre: Word. xP

I'll give cookies to the people who guess the background pairing in this chapter & who the apron belonged to. xP, easy questions… Pshh.

Review please!