Hey, this is BlackFalcon002, aka Chris, with my first-time fanfic. I am a yaoi lover, so...yeah, please excuse the guy-on-guy romance. I just think they look so cute together...a-hem...anyway, I hape you like it, so...yeah, REVIEW! Flame on, because I honestly want to know how my writing is. XP

InternalDeath: Good Day readers (I'm a friend of Chris), and yay for yaoi!! Whooo!!! Enjoy the story, it's pretty good...for a first timer. (A-hem!)

Marluxia stared in despair. 'Why me..?' he thought as he surveyed the damage of Larxene's apparent rampage. His flower garden lay in ruins, smoking black remnants that were once thriving plants extended from the charred ground. They hung, black and twisted, looking for all the world like hands clawing at the sky in a painful rictus of death, pleading for the help that never came.

The Graceful Assassin closed his eyes and swallowed hard. His garden was his most treasured possession, why couldn't anyone understand that? Whenever the other Organization members were mad, they had to take it out on his garden, if only for the pleasure of destroying a living organism, which was often the case. Larxene was one of the most frequent visitors, and he was constantly having to fend her off. But this time he had been too late. Marluxia turned away, unable to bear looking at it any longer, and walked away.

Demyx watched Marluxia walk away. The musician couldn't help but feel sorry for the pink-haired Nobody. It seemed like no one else really knew how much the garden meant to him, but Demyx could see it in his eyes. Marluxia was suffering, he could tell, and he knew exactly what his fellow member was going through. Every day, Demyx had to endure the taunts thrown his way for being a 'bad fighter,' for being immature, clumsy, stupid…and so on. The mockery was endless and cruel.

The sitar glowed in his hands. The Melodious Nocturne sat at the very edge of the charred soil, laying the instrument crosswise across his lap. He ran his fingers lightly over the strings, smiling slightly as they hummed in seeming anticipation. He sighed, closed his eyes, and began to play.

† † † † †

Marluxia paused as the melody drifted past. Of course he recognized the instrument being played—Demyx's sitar. But if he didn't know any better, he could have sworn that some other person was playing.

Demyx's music was normally a seething mass of notes, played out swiftly. But the tune that reached his ears now was slow and haunting, a sweetly flowing river of beautiful notes and elegantly disguised chords. Through it, the melody swam gracefully, the other components of the song parting to let it through. It was a beautiful sound, yet Marluxia could hear something else in it. Misery and sorrow emanated from the tune, accompanied by, oddly enough, hope and a tenderness the like of which Marluxia had never before felt.

He turned back.

† † † † †

Demyx let the music envelop him, obligingly letting his hands think for themselves and play without instruction. The water that the song had summoned flowed all around him, weaving intricately around his body. The musician smiled, sinking further into the melody.

† † † † †

The water broke away from where it had been twisting in circles and evanescing patterns around Demyx, partially obscuring him from view, and flooded the soil. Marluxia nearly called out, but the enticing music had left him in a trance. A strange aura settled over the two of them, and instead of stopping the Melodious Nocturne, he only watched. The water raced lazily over the ground, sweeping the burnt soil away and revealing the fresh and undamaged earth beneath. The clawed tendrils went with it, their black, grasping fingers lost in a steady stream of silvery-blue water. Already, small seedlings that had not quite broken through and had thus escaped Larxene's wrath now poked their small green leaves through the surface. Dazed, Marluxia walked forward and knelt by the musician. He reached out and placed a hand on the ground, fingers. His power pulsed inside him, encouraging, so powerful he nearly recoiled.

Instead, he shoved the power threatening to overflow down his arm and into the damp soil. As it reached them, the tiny shoots grew rapidly, climbing towards the sky as the water and the floral ability nursed them to life. And even as Marluxia watched the spectacle, the buds broke and flowered.

The two elements wove together, flower and water, in an intricate and exotic dance that seemed to end immediately and yet continue for eternity. The only thing Marluxia knew for sure was that one second he was watching mist and petals, and the next second, everything had frozen. The music stopped, and the water stayed in the air, suspended for just a brief moment before pattering gently into the fresh earth. The petals drifted and spiraled lazily to the ground. There was absolute silence for a couple minutes.

"Sorry," Demyx finally said, at the same exact moment that Marluxia said, "Thanks."

They stared at each. "For what?" they asked in unison, then they both blushed and looked away, slightly embarrassed. What was this? They weren't supposed to have feelings. They were Nobodies…but…was that really the end of the story? Wasn't there an exception to every rule?

Marluxia subconsciously reached up and tucked a stray lock of pink hair behind his ear, but it ignored his demands and fell in his eyes again. A hand pushed it back again, but it wasn't his. The Graceful Assassin looked up to see the bright blue eyes of Demyx staring into his own. They asked a question, but Marluxia ignored it.

"I'm sorry," Demyx repeated. Marluxia shook his head, unable to speak. Tears gathered in his eyes, threatening to spill over. Feeling flustered and a bit wussy, he wiped them away. Demyx looked at him with concern, and Marluxia smiled at him.

"For what?"

"That it was destroyed in the first place. That I intruded on things that weren't my business. That—"

Marluxia shook his head again. "No. Now it's even more than it was before."

"More what?"

"Just…more, I guess." Marluxia shrugged, looking at his hands. "I…I never knew I could do that. Make things grow like that, I mean." He looked at Demyx. "I guess it's because…you were…because you were there. Playing that song."

"Well," Demyx smiled. "I don't have to be sorry about one thing, at least. That's a relief."

"…Demyx? Why did you do it?"

"I don't really know," admitted the musician, "But I know that this happens to you all the time…and…"

Marluxia swallowed hard. "It hurts."

The Melodious Nocturne leaned forward. "I know," he murmured, and their lips brushed together. Marluxia quivered with an eerie pleasure, pressing forward. Demyx accepted the gesture, deepening it, winding Marluxia's silky hair around his hand, running his fingers through it lovingly. Marluxia wrapped one arm around Demyx's slight waist, pulling their bodies closer together. The kiss evolved, with Demyx running his tongue across Marluxia's invitingly. The Graceful Assassin squeaked into Demyx's mouth before returning the favor.

Through it all there was an unspoken consent. It would all continue to hurt, but as long as they still had this, this enticing dance of flowers and water, it would all be bearable. And as Marluxia fell back, pulling the younger boy on top of him, he felt the musician nod slightly. And as they continued kissing, their lips pressed together, he could hear the music in the back of his mind like an echo. And he knew that right now, everything was the music, so beautiful and perfect in every way, and nothing could change that.

Yes, it still hurt. But Demyx was here. It was beautiful. It was passionate. It was perfect.