Demyx watched the rain. It had been drizzling all day and was coming down hard now. The rain beat against his face, plastering his blond hair to his head, as he sat on the roof. He was glad he'd left his coat inside with his shoes as it took forever to dry and his jeans and blue shirt were so wet they looked black. He gazed at the dark sky, watching the rain splash down against the roof and in small puddles. It was beautiful and cooling. He felt whole in the rain. He felt safe, surrounded by his element, wrapped in it like a blanket.

Demyx's sea-blue eyes stared out into the darkness as he waited on the cold, wet rooftop. He wiped the rain from his eyes wishing that he would see a spot of deeper darkness on the already dark roof. However, he could see no sign of a portal. The Nocturne sighed. He had been on the roof almost all day and he knew he should go back inside, but something inside him yearned to stay. He knew Xemnas would be less than thrilled with him dripping around the castle, but it was a little too late for that anyway.

At last Demyx got up and headed across the roof for the window. He shoved his fingers in the crack at the bottom and pushed it the rest of the way open, not feeling in the mood to use a portal to get inside. He turned back to look again at the roof before going inside. It was deserted and he knew it would stay that way. He heaved himself through the window and half-heartedly waved the rainwater up off the floor and back out the window before closing it.

He dripped his way down the hall and stairs towards his room. He passed Vexen, who glared at him for getting the floor so wet, but said nothing.

Demyx went into the bathroom and took off his clothes, wrung them out, and hung them up to dry. He toweled off his hair a bit and noticed that someone really ought to clean the bathroom. He wrapped the towel around his middle and headed to his room.

"Looking good, Demyx," said Axel as he passed in the hall.

Demyx did not reply.

"Dang, Mr. Rain Cloud, what happened to you?" he asked.

Demyx shrugged and kept walking towards his room.

"Want me to come cheer you up later?" Axel called after him.

"Uh, no, that's really Okay," Demyx replied quickly.

"Alright, well catch you later."

Demyx reached him room at last where he changed into dry clothes and flopped down onto his bed. He glanced over at the clock on his bedside table. He couldn't believe it was only 7:43. Time past differently on the roof in the rain and the sky had grown so dark that it had looked much later.

The musician rolled over onto his back and stared at the ceiling. It was extremely boring.

He sat up again and dully summoned his sitar and began to pick out a doleful melody.

After a few minutes, someone knocked on his door.

Demyx continued to play.

"Demyx?" called a voice.

"Yeah?"

"Can I come in?" asked Roxas.

"Sure." Demyx set aside his sitar and looked up as the smallest Organization member entered his room. "What is it?" he asked.

"That's what I wanted to ask you. Axel said you seemed down."

Demyx knew better than to ask what he had been up to with Axel while they'd been talking.

"What were you doing? You're all wet."

"Are people not allowed to take showers anymore?" Demyx snapped, sounding uncharacteristically harsh.

Roxas raised his eyebrows.

"I was out on the roof," said Demyx with a sigh.

"I guess you would like the rain, huh?"

"Yeah."

"And you were waiting?" Roxas prompted.

The kid certainly had insight. Demyx had to give him that. (Plus Roxas was even younger and smaller than him, which was a nice change.)

"Yeah," he admitted.

"He'll be back," said Roxas in a voice that was both confident and comforting.

"Yeah," Demyx said, not sounding at all sure.

"If anyone can take care of himself, it's him. You know that, Demyx. I doubt anyone in the Organization could really take him down, not matter what Xemnas says about never having lost a battle."

Demyx gave a half smile. "It just seems like it's been too long, you know?"

"I know, but he'll be back. Don't worry."

"Wouldn't you worry if Axel was gone for almost a week?" Demyx asked.

"Well yeah, but Axel's crazy."

"And he'd worry if you were gone that long?" pushed Demyx.

"Yeah, I guess." Roxas looked suddenly uncomfortable. He didn't meet Demyx's eyes.

"What is it, Roxas?" asked the older blond.

"Nothing," he said, a bit too quickly. "Anyway, he'll be back soon. There's no mission he can't handle; I'm sure of it." He gave Demyx a confident smile.

"I guess you're right. I just feel like, I don't know why, I was just sure it was going to be tonight." He gazed out the rain-dark window.

"Hey, it's not even eight yet. It could still be tonight," said the kid bracingly.

"Yeah."

"You gunna be Okay, Demyx?" asked Roxas standing up.

"Yeah, I'm fine. Thanks, Roxas." He picked up his sitar again. "I might go back on the roof again." The rain was starting to let up the tiniest bit.

"Okay, well don't drown or anything." Roxas waved and left Demyx's room.

Even though he'd just put on dry clothes, Demyx did go back out on the roof. By the time he was settled on the edge of the roof with his sitar the rain had lessened some. He was soon soaked again anyway, but he sat there playing gentle music to the beat of the rain. He let the rain envelope him, but he carefully funneled a bit of energy into keeping the rain off his sitar so the strings didn't get so wet and slippery that he couldn't play. He became lost in the rain and his music and it was truly dark before it even occurred to him that at some point he was going to have to give up and go back inside.

He kept playing in the slowly lessening rain. He could see the moon and a few stars when the clouds shifted. He was getting sleepy and knew he would really have to give up soon when he finally heard that unmistakable sound.

He jumped to his feet, his sitar vanishing, and spun around in time to see the portal closing behind a tall figure wrapped in a long, black coat.

Demyx watched the figure, every nerve in his body on fire as he waited to see if the it really was who he thought it was. He was almost sure, but everyone looked the same in those stupid coats, especially in the dark.

The figure raised gloved hands and threw off the hood, shaking out long, dark hair that was streaked with gray.

"Xigbar!" Demyx shouted, flinging himself into the older man's arms.

"Hey Dem," he said, hugging the excited little blond. "Miss me?"

"Of course! You've been ages! Was it hard?"

"As if! I just had to take the long way a couple of times." He smiled down at the musician who was practically trembling with excitement. "You're soaked."

"It's raining."

"No kidding. Have you been sitting out here in the rain all this time?"

"Most of today, but it was nice. I like the rain."

"Of course you do." He ruffled Demyx's sodden blond hair and made a face at the rain. "Can we go inside now?"

"Whatever you like," said Demyx vaguely, lost in Xigbar's golden gaze.

Xigbar sighed and snapped his gloved fingers in front of Demyx's nose a couple of times.

"Hey, kiddo, you awake in there?"

"Huh? Yeah. I just missed you."

Xigbar smiled and wiped Demyx's soaking hair off his forehead. His hand moved gently down the blond's face, across his jaw to his chin, which he lifted. He bent down slightly to kiss his Demyx softly on the lips. Demyx wrapped his arms around the older man's neck as Xigbar's free hand snaked around his slight waist, pulling him closer.

The rain enveloped the two men on the roof in the darkness as they tenderly held each other. Demyx had been waiting for what seemed like forever for this moment. Xigbar had been gone for the world's longest week. Xigbar, too, had been waiting for this and, although his mission had kept him rather preoccupied, it had been a long week for him as well.

When they broke apart, they just gazed at each other for a long moment, bathing in one another's glow.

"Welcome home, Xigbar," whispered Demyx.