Disclamers: Don't own any of the characters!

Oh, special thanks to ONiONLADi777 for the awesome idea!! THANK YOU!!

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Story: Sitar Problem

Axel was walking down the corridors looking for Demyx. He had been willing to talk with the Sitar player for quite some time for now but he seemed never to find him. Eventually Axel wandered down to Demyx's room and knocked on it. But the door was open. "Demyx, you here?" Axel called out but no-one answered. Sighing Axel thought to just leave the room when he noticed the blue Sitar on the corner.

Checking both of the ways on the hallway, Axel stepped in and closed the door behind him. He walked carefully to the Sitar. "How in earth can Demyx play that so perfectly? I can just manage the guitar... And that's just barely..." Axel thought while carefully tracing the smooth surface of the Sitar. Before he even thought a thing, he found the Sitar in his arms.

Axel sat down on the floor and positioned the Sitar in his arms just like he had seen Demyx do billion times. Not sure what he was supposed to do, Axel started to play it carefully... And eventually ended playing it like a guitar on a rock style.

Axel was smiling and closed his eyes. It didn't exactly sound as good as when Demyx played it but good enough anyways. Sure, if Demyx walked in right now he'd be surprised not to say... Maybe... Angry for Axel to touch on the Sitar... But that wasn't in Axel's mind at that moment. He just enjoyed the sound he managed to create on the instrument.

But the hard snap sound startled Axel real bad. He didn't dare to look down on the Sitar but just stared at the wall for quite some time. "That did NOT sound good..." Axel thought shocked. When he finally did lay his eyes on the instrument, he gasped in fear... One of the strings was broken... Cut perfectly from the middle...

Axel stared horrified at the snapped Sitar string. "This can't be happening!!" Axel thought, laid the Sitar gently down to the floor, stood up and started to pace. "If Demyx finds out about this... God damn it! ...I know he hates fighting but for this... I'm sure I'm dead." Axel thought miserably. "Alright... Calm down, you can come up with an answer to this..." Axel muttered to himself while pacing.

Before he even knew it, Axel was going through Demyx's drawers. "There has to be a string or two in here..." Axel thought before he stopped dead on his tracks. "The hell am I doing? Going through my best friends drawers?! What in earth am I thinking? I can't even change a god damn string in guitar that well! And what the hell about tuning this thing!? Fuck, if I'm gonna do that I'm so in need of a god damn book!!" Axel thought in shock.

Suddenly the sound of key used in a door jolted Axel out of his thoughts. "SHIT!" Was the only thing that passed his mind before he took the Sitar from the floor and portaled out of the room. He landed straight to his own room... And started to pace again.

But Axel didn't have much of time to pace before he heard an angry slam of the door. More than startled Axel portaled out of his room with the Sitar and to Twilight Town. Once there, he sat down onto a bench next to a fountain. Axel sighed once before he truly started to think the whole thing out.

Axel leaned back still holding on to the Sitar and closed his eyes. "Okay... I have few options for this... One, go and tell the whole thing and be prepared to be hated if not killed. Two, go and try to find someone to fix this. Three, try to fix this on my own... Dunno if Sitar is much of like guitar... Hell, I need more of info on that thing... Or four, put this up for someone else's fault..."

Axel sighed once again and opened his eyes. The last one was definitely out of the list. If he put it up on someone else's fault it would quite surely get Demyx killed. Third one could be checked quite fast from the library... And that's where Axel headed first.

The library wasn't too far from where Axel was sitting. Once inside the first thing was to go and ask where he could find a book about changing a snapped string of Sitar. And after reading few first parts of first book Axel decided to give up on the plan. Changing the string on his own would so not be his thing. He barely knew how to do it on regular guitar, for gods' sake! Sighing, Axel had only two options left and time was running. Eventually Axel started to go through first Twilight Town and then other worlds in search of music instrument shop that could fix Sitars.

While Axel was searching high and low for a Sitar fixer Demyx was on his search of his lost Sitar. This far he had tried to summon his Sitar with no avail, searched his own room but that ended up with no luck and now he was asking from others if they knew where the Sitar was. What Demyx feared the most was that one of them was lying or he was being pranked. And that wasn't all... Axel was nowhere to be found.

Demyx had gone to Axel's door first but since the fire mage had not answered to the door, Demyx had returned to his own room to search and hopefully locate the lost Sitar. But no such luck. After that Demyx tried once again if Axel was at his room but nope. Sighing, Demyx actually decided to invite himself into Axel's room and search it. The first place was under the bed but that came out to be as unlucky as he had been whole time. There wasn't even a guitar in Axel's room... Which actually got Demyx a little worried. Axel always had his fire-red guitar in his room.

By the end of the sad day, Demyx had asked, barked and nearly screamed at everyone in the Organization. Well, everyone except for Axel. Not to mention that Demyx searched each and every room in the castle... And he still came empty handed out of his search.

Demyx had been searching for his lost Sitar so intently that he had missed all of the meal times but that didn't matter. Demyx didn't feel any of hungry just so damn miserable. "Is there something wrong with me? Why can't I call out my Sitar?!" Demyx thought half crying in his room. He really feared that there was something really badly wrong in him because he couldn't summon the Sitar out.

For that day, it just wasn't that Demyx missed all of the meals, Axel missed them too. Eventually, he stopped searching for the day. He had been in dozens of worlds but none of them had a shop where he could get the Sitar fixed. Sighing, Axel sat down to a bench once again in the Twilight Town. Staring sadly at the Sitar, Axel knew he only had one thing left.

Half praying that Demyx wasn't waiting for him at Axel's own room and half hoping that he was, Axel portaled to his room. He wasn't exactly sure whether to be happy or sad that Demyx wasn't there. Sighing Axel sat down to his bed and tried to come up with a damn good explanation for the broken string on Demyx's Sitar.

Axel didn't have even five minutes in his room when there came a knock from the door. Nearly shrieking in surprise, Axel hid the Sitar under his bed and went to answer the door. Demyx was standing there crying. Axel felt even guiltier than he had before for the sight in front of him. "Dem? What's wrong?" He asked none the less even though he knew exactly what was wrong. "I can't find my Sitar!" Demyx chocked out breaking down once again. "Come on, come inside and we'll talk. Okay?" Axel asked carefully and let the Nocturne inside. Demyx walked quietly sobbing into the room and sat down to a chair. Axel truly had hard time to control his voice from betraying him.

"Dem, what happened?" Axel asked and tried to sooth his crying friend. "I... I left the Sitar in my room... But I can't find it anymore! I can't even summon it up!" Demyx cried. Axel sighed. He was out of words to say. "Well... Have you asked from others?" Axel tried carefully and sat down to the bed. Demyx just nodded miserably.

"Um... I would like to check one thing if it's OK." Axel said and summoned up his other Chakram. Demyx watched with mild interest. "Hold this." Axel told him and gave the Chakram to Demyx. Demyx looked quizzically at Axel but did as he was asked to. Right after that Axel started to try and summon the already summoned Chakram out... But nothing happened. Axel tried time after time again but nothing. The Chakram stayed at Demyx had.

"Um... Ax? What are you doing?" Demyx asked carefully. "I'm trying to summon that back." Axel said and pointed to the Chakram and tried again. Demyx was startled and accidentally dropped it... Which eventually ended up to Axel's hand before it even hit the floor.

"See? That's what I'm meaning. You can't summon it up when someone is holding on to it." Axel explained his little test. Demyx just nodded and sighed. Eventually with a slight smirk he just asked out of nowhere:"You wouldn't have my Sitar under your bed, would you?" Axel was shocked. "How in earth can he know that?!" Axel thought in panic.

Demyx looked at Axel quite surprised seeing that his friend looked a little shocked and panicked. "Ax? You do have my Sitar, don't you? Where the hell is it?!" Demyx asked narrowing his eyes angrily while standing up from the chair. Axel shrank back a little in shock and slight fear. "I... I... It... Um..." For first time in his life, Axel was stuttering with his words. "WHERE IS IT?! WHAT THE HELL HAVE YOU DONE TO MY SITAR?!" Demyx shouted in fury and called out two water pillars behind him.

Axel gulped. "Let... Let me explain..." Axel tried in fear. Demyx stared at Axel but let the water pillars disappear and he sat down. "This'd better be damn good or you're going to be in trouble..." Demyx said with anger filled voice. Axel sighed in slight relief. "Listen... I'm really sorry about this..." Axel said quietly before he retrieved the Sitar from under his bed.

First Demyx was happy and relieved about finally finding his Sitar but it soon turned into anger. "THE HELL YOU'VE DONE TO MY PRECIOUS SITAR?!" Demyx shouted when he saw the snapped string. Axel backed against the wall and gulped. This was so not his day.

Axel gulped once again before he started to talk:"I... I was looking for you in this morning and... Well, I saw your Sitar and decided to try it a little... And then the string snapped... I've been trying to fix it! I swear! I've been going from one world to another trying to find someone who could fix it since I can't!!" It took few tries before Axel did get the whole story out.

But when Axel reached the end of his story it was visible that Demyx wasn't listening. "Dem?" Axel asked carefully and listened. "One... Two... Three... Four... Five... Six... Seven... Eight... Nine... Ten?" Demyx counted quietly while going through the strings. He frowned a little and started to go through the whole counting again. "Uh... Demyx, are you listening to me?" Axel asked slightly louder this time. But still no reaction from the Melodious Nocturne.

"Demyx?" Axel asked even louder and finally Demyx seemed to come out of his trance. "Huh?" Demyx asked and looked up at Axel. "I asked if you were listening to me at all." Axel repeated. "Yeah... You tried to fix it..." Demyx said distantly and went back to counting the strings. Axel was confused. First Demyx was more than angry at him and now... Where the hell had that anger went to??

Demyx counted to ten several more times before he stood up and brought the Sitar next to Axe. "Count." Was all that Demyx said and Axel did count the strings to the snapped one. The snapped string was tenth string. Demyx just nodded and asked Axel to follow him up. Axel just did as Demyx asked and followed him through a dark portal to Demyx's room. Once there Demyx put the Sitar to his bed and went to the drawers. Axel sat carefully to a chair and watched confused at Demyx. He really didn't know what was going on but he did know that something wasn't right.

Finally Demyx seemed to find what he was looking for and turned around holding a Sitar string in his hand. Without a word, Demyx started to change the snapped string to new one. Axel just watched quietly too scared to actually talk... Not to mention too confused as to Demyx's behaviour.

Finally, when the string was fixed, did Demyx turn to Axel. "Sorry about this but... Well..." Demyx started and without another word, Demyx started to tune his beloved Sitar. Demyx sighed quite happily while doing it before he started to talk: "You can stop being scared. I'm not angry at you nor am I going to kill you either." Axel still stared at Demyx in loss of words.

Demyx sighed and looked up to Axel once before he turned back to tuning and started to talk:"I knew that string was gonna snap. I was meaning to change it today but I had to help Xigbar in the morning and... Well, once I got out of there I couldn't find my Sitar. Nor to summon it up. I kinda freaked out by it." Demyx chuckled a little before he continued:"In fact I've been meaning to change it for quite some time but whether I've forgotten, been too busy or too tired to do that. Besides once it's changed it gotta be tuned."

Axel just nodded. He still was a little confused and didn't say a word. Demyx glanced at Axel before he chuckled again. "Go on and ask. I know there's something in your mind." Demyx said and kept on tuning the Sitar. "Uh... Am I off of the hook?" Axel asked carefully slightly fearing to say the wrong thing. Demyx laughed:"Of course you are off of the hook! The only wrong thing you did was to touch on my Sitar without permission... Though... I could take this as a late pay back for the broken Chakram..."

Axel chuckled a little:"Nah. That's over and done. Besides, we did share the money, didn't we? So, if I get this right... You're trying to say that I have the rights to your Sitar but it would be damn nice to ask permission first, right?" Demyx nodded:"That really would be nice." Axel nodded too and laid down on the bed:"Glad that this is over and done. Though, I really am sorry about the string..." "Not your fault." Demyx commented, tried all of the strings once, glanced at Axel, closed his eyes and started to play. Eventually Axel closed his eyes too and started to listen Demyx's playing. "I'd better let him handle the Sitar and teach me on the guitar thing... Oh, that reminds me... Gotta go to fetch it tomorrow... Shit! I'm such an idiot! I could've taken Dem's Sitar to there and check if they could've fixed it. Oh, well, maybe next time which hopefully won't ever happen." Axel thought happily.

"Oh, can I ask one thing?" Axel asked carefully. "Yeah, just shoot it." Demyx said without stopping playing. "Where do you buy those strings and stuff for your Sitar?" Axel asked quite interested. "Zephyr's Muzic. World is Neluda. Why?" Demyx answered and looked at Axel. Axel chuckled:"That's where my guitar is." Demyx just nodded before he asked what had been slightly worrying him for quite some time:"Why exactly is your guitar there?"

"Just the check up. Changing the strings, panting few places... You know... The normal thing..." Axel answered airily. Demyx just nodded. He knew that Axel was kinda too lazy to really take care of the guitar and Demyx himself had actually recommended that place. Besides, Axel got discount from the fee thanks to Demyx.

None the less, Demyx was kinda looking forward to playing with Axel again. Sitar and guitar side by side. Yeah, they did play together at least once in a month. That was one part of Demyx's little teaching on playing the guitar, though, Axel did know the basics and some of the advanced stuff before they started. In the end Axel had mentioned about playing a guitar before the Heartless attack... Well, in end, Demyx had bought the guitar for Axel... Or in real, got it made for him. And Demyx did enjoy listening to Axel's playing. So Sitar and guitar together was win – win situation for both of them.

But there was one last thing to be asked. "By the way, why were you looking for me?" Demyx asked carefully.

"Ah, that's nothing. Kinda forgot it already." Axel answered with a chuckle. Demyx just nodded.

THE END

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