Rokushi

art by semokan on deviantArt

I have always been a Rokushi shipper.  Ever since Days.  (And since I played Days before KH2, I didn't understand the concept of Rokunami until I played through and was like... oh, okay, I get why they ship it, I just won't ship it myself because I think Roxas and Xion have a deeper connection than Roxas and Namine.)  That is my opinion, you are welcome to disagree, but you aren't going to get me to change bandwagons.  Especially since I'm on my sequel and am not going to start shipping Rokunami anytime soon.  Or ever.  I like my pairings the way they are.  And they are happy with themselves too.  (This is not to say that I don’t appreciate or understand fics that ship characters differently, but in my fics, this is how I ship.)

art by Destiny-XIII on dA.

Roxas and Xion are both Keyblade Wielders in training to become Keyblade Masters.  That is their goal throughout Betwixt and Between.  They work well together and train each other when there isn't a Master around to train them.  Which happens, it does.  Especially since Roxas and Xion like going and doing little missions on their own because that's what they're used to from their days in the Organization.  As soon as Axel stops going off and doing his own thing all the time, he'll probably join them and the three of them will be a pretty epic trio of epicness.

Now, Axel, stop butting into Roxas and Xion's post.  You said so yourself that you don't want to be a third wheel to their fluffiness.  So, kindly leave now.

Thank you.

Moving on.

Let's see, I feel the need to give Rokushi's history... but you all pretty much know that.  If anyone hasn't played Days, I will be happy to sum it up for you, so just let me know in a comment.  Post-Days Xion didn't exist, and after the first 'week' of KH2, Roxas didn't exist either outside of Sora's heart.  The journey taken in All the Pieces was in part to restore both Roxas and Xion.  Roxas was separated from Sora and then Xion was recreated from the memories of her (and her actual memories) that Roxas absorbed upon her death.  Then, after that all happened, Roxas and Xion were, well, for lack of better terminology, completely happy to be with each other again.  

Then there was that little scare with Xehanort slicing off Xion's arm and it shattering into data.  THAT pissed Roxas off.

Which, I suppose is a weakness of the two of them as a fighting couple.  (Fighting baddies, not each other.  Roxas and Xion won't do anything else but playful bickering and teasing.  Like, I don't see them fighting anytime soon... or ever.)  Back to my original point, a weakness of them is Roxas' temper.  Which, he has pretty much always had.  Oh, how did rar put it...  It was ages ago, but it's fitting now... Um... Sora's never usually angry--until he's confused, then he gets angry as a way of dealing with that confusion.  Well, as for Roxas, he spent A LOT of his time in the Organization confused because someone (Saix) was intent on leaving him out of the loop on a lot of things.  So, taking a trait from Sora, Roxas was angry when he was confused.  And he was confused a lot.  He was confused in the beginning of KH2 too.  

Granted, he was NOT confused when Xion's arm got chopped off.  He had a very clear idea of what had just happened.  However, Roxas doesn't just get angry when he is confused.  He can get angry for other reasons.  Say, at the guy you really hate chopping off your best-friend-not-yet-girlfriend's arm right after you basically just brought her back from the dead.

And then Xigbar only went and rubbed salt in the wound.  However, Roxas is glad that he didn't kill Xigbar.  

Moving on.  

That really is their biggest weakness.  Xion has a temper, but she has a better harness on it.  She's not in any danger of becoming corrupted data, or being rewritten to kill anyone.  (Been done before, not going there again.)  Well, the being programmed to kill people.  Corrupted data I haven't touched... but I don't want to.  Not in Betwixt and Between anyway, too much else going on.  Maybe if I'm still writing two books from now.  

Roxas and Xion also know how to keep their heads cool in battle.  They have moved past the point of going gaga over each other and therefore aren't at risk of getting killed because of something coupleish.  Think... Wash and Zoe from Firefly.  Oh wait, that's really vague.  Um... I’d say the Doctor and River… but Rokushi is not like DoctorxRiver in so many ways.  Maybe RoryxAmy? That still might be just as vague.  Oh well, moving on.  Well, anyway, they can keep their heads cool in battle, regardless of how much Axel will tease them about it.  (He's never going to let Roxas live down that Lurk Lizard incident.)

Neither of them have problems with darkness taking over their hearts either.  Neither of them are weak fighters.  They're not the strongest--not yet anyway, they strive.  But they're both pretty balanced in those regards. 

Their biggest strength is probably the fact that they are very aware of the other's fighting style and can orient themselves around the other.  They're pretty evenly matched Keyblade Wielders so it isn't one person carrying all the weight of battle.  They don't have drastically different fighting styles that clash.  They are, again, pretty evenly balanced.

Okay, I thought of a bigger strength.  The fact that they can both use light-attacks well to their advantage.  Light attacks come easy to them both.  Event Horizon is one of their combos.  They both become bathed in light and they dash around the enemies killing them easily.  (Or at least, they killed Berserkers easily.)  They have another combo that I haven't written yet called Call of Light, which, I haven't worked out all the finer details yet, but I know it involves summoning plumes/pillars of light to the sky to obliterate enemies where they stand.  

And I have just come to the realization that I don't know everything about them yet.  I haven't written for them long enough.  So, there's room to grow and learn.  I don't think they'll surprise me anytime soon.  I'm excited.  

So, I shall leave you with all of that, and a picture that I won as a prize for a contest.  I requested Roxas and Xion fighting enemies, and this was the result, which I am happy with:

art by demyx100.