Kingdom Hearts - Blades of Three Realms

[[XIII] Roxas]

As they followed Wolfwood toward the town's inn, Isa did pause a brief moment to contemplate what sort of a bar serves donuts. He wasn't as bothered by the desert heat as say, Demyx, but he was definitely more of a nighttime person so the intense sunlight wasn't exactly favorable to him.

Crystal was somewhat amused to be seeing Shiro extend the invitation to the mysterious stranger to come along with them considering it was uncommon for him to be the one reaching out to new people. At the very least this man didn't seem inclined to make any more trouble for their group now that he had ceased his misinformed assault on Vash. There was still some question as to why the mysterious stranger had assumed that Vash must know where this Shiroi Kumo person ought to be, but it seemed doubtful they would get an explanation as to why that had happened in the first place. After all, the mysterious stranger wasn't even one for talking, which probably meant that explaining himself would be out of the question.

"So, I guess if we're one room short someone is going to have to share," Xion pointed out.

"I'd be fine with doubling up," Crystal easily volunteered. "Us girls gotta stick together, right?"

"Actually, I was thinking maybe you and Roxas might want some time alone together," Xion made that all too common gesture of blushing while pressing her index fingers together with a look of embarrassment. She hoped she wasn't overstepping some sort of unspoken boundary by saying so.

"Eh?!" Crystal immediately turned an impressive shade of red at the mere suggestion of such a thing. Not that she'd entirely object, but it just didn't seem completely appropriate given recent developments. It would be way more harmless if she and Xion shared a room together.

"It might not be such a bad idea," Roxas interjected thoughtfully. "I mean, we know you've been having a tough time sleeping lately because of the difficult dreams you've been having, but you seemed to sleep just fine last night when you were with me."

"You know, that's kind of an interesting point," Crystal calmed down slightly. Roxas did make a pretty good point about that actually. "I suppose it could be something worth testing out again."

Xion nodded while looking somewhat less embarrassed since that seemed to be working out okay after all. "Right, so that's all the more reason for the two of you to share a room together."  

[Kuukyo_Fushichou]

Roveth of course saw what Xion was doing, but since there was too many rooms, and people seriously expected him to be on the roof in a desert... yeah right. "sorry to say, as much as i love nighttime, i'm not about to get caught at night in a DESERT world. i'm actually taking a room this time." of course, with that, he'd take the room key he wanted from the bunch, and moved to head and go towards his room, though he did think of something, and turned back to others "why not let Shiro and Xion bunk together?" he said innocently enough, and headed into his room before he gave them any chance to yell at him or redact his claim on a room.

Shiro of course blinked, and after taking a moment to process what Roveth said, went bright red and yelled out "damn you Yami no Ahou! get back here!" of course, the silent man seemed to just stare on, before silently taking a key and proceeding to head to his room, not going to fight over it or any extended period of time.

Wolfwood raised an eyebrow at Roveth's antics, before sweatdropping "something i don't know about going on between you two?" he looked to Xion and SHiro, Shiro which had proceeded to eep and hide behind Axel "n-n-n-n-n-nothing! nothing at all!" Axel of course just rolled his eyes and looked on with amusement "seems Shiro has a small crush on Xion eh?" cue atomic blush and trying to find somewhere to shrink up into oblivion in pure embarrassment with Axel and Wolfwood both laughing a bit at that reaction.

Demyx seemed to chuckle a bit, but he'd then turn to Vash... who had actually been at the bar getting a mug of beer, and wouldn't ya know it... some doughnuts.  

[[XIII] Roxas]

Axel's comment had naturally caused Xion to light up like a bright red candle again.

"Keep in mind that my original offer still stands, but now might be your last chance to take me up on it," Crystal pointed out. "There's not much point in us kids hanging around down here at the bar."

"Um... no, it's fine," Xion struggled to regain her composure and frankly it was adorable. "Shiro is a good person and I don't think I'll mind sharing a room with him. That is, if it's alright with him."

"Very well then," Crystal went to nab a room key for herself and Roxas. "I'm sure Shiro will be a perfect gentleman so you two should be fine."

Roxas nodded. "Yeah, Shiro's a good guy. It shouldn't be a problem."

"Come on," Crystal took Roxas by the arm to start leading the way toward the designated room number. "Let's go check out our room and see about getting ourselves cleaned off." Oh yeah, showers were definitely going to be in order.

Isa watched with interest as Vash did indeed get his hands on some doughnuts at the bar. A moderately spiky headed dark-haired youth adorned in a vibrant yellow long-coat with a strange black bird wearing a red bandanna around his neck sitting on his shoulder while sipping some manor of alcoholic beverage from a glass happened by said person and nabbed a doughnut as he passed, taking a casual bite before then striding away like it was no big deal. "Oh, these are good Kir!" the Bandit King would say as he and his faithful avian companion continued on their way.

Isa blinked several times attempting to comprehend what he had just witnessed. Maybe the bar wasn't the right place for him tonight. He also nabbed a room key and decided to head off in that direction before anything else weird decided to happen.  

[Kuukyo_Fushichou]

of course, Axel just chuckled a bit, but like Isa, tok a key from wolfwood and headed off to bed, all the while smirking at a clearly still atomic blushing Shiro, though he seemed to be on the edges of calming down, given there was no steam from his ears this time. Demyx also took a key to go get some sleep as well, leaving Wolfwood to toss Vash a key, who caught it one handed and doughnut in mouth, though when he noticed one less doughnut in the box finally after he had emptied it, he eyed it suspiciously, before shrugging and ordered another box, which promptly got Vash shot in the back of the head with a rubber bullet by Wolfwood "stop killing my tab Needle Noggin!" he said, growling a bit, while Shiro meanwhile came up to take his and Xion's key, blushing a bit "i.. i don't mind Xion, i just didn't expect that to happen is all, i figured Roveth would've stayed outside like normal."he said with a nervous chuckle, as Wolfwood would then march off to try and drag Vash away from the bar at the moment, basically being background noises.  

[[XIII] Roxas]

"I'd say based on the number of rooms that were reserved by Wolfwood, he was probably expecting the same thing," Xion pointed out with a shy smile. "But I guess even Roveth must prefer a real bed every once in a while." At the very least it seemed to her that Roveth meant well. "And I suppose this might be a good opportunity for us to get better acquainted."


It seemed that the Moogle had accompanied Isa to his room for the night, possibly to give Shiro and Xion that little bit of extra space to themselves. Isa, for his part, didn't particularly seem to care as long as the Moogle kept quiet and didn't disrupt his sleep. The Moogle could briefly be found tallying up the day's earnings, much of which came from Crystal's habit of loading up on recovery items to remain fully stocked, but there was also a favorable influx of synthesis materials dropped by those Behemoths that still needed to be sorted to determine whether or not the Moogle could make anything useful for his new friends.


Crystal had the first go at taking a shower once she and Roxas were secured in their room at the Inn. A visit to the guest laundry room was probably going to be in order to sort out her clothes, but she did eventually emerge draped in a cozy bathrobe with a towel wrapped around her hair, feeling much more relaxed now that she had cleaned off some of that desert grittiness. Then, while Roxas was taking his turn with the shower Crystal got changed into some loose-fitting black and purple pajama shorts with a stylistic dragon design that sort of resembled Bahamut on them along with one of the usual silver colored tank tops.

Roxas finished his shower and emerged a little while after wearing his own comfy bathrobe for the time being. Crystal went to hang up her already discarded bathrobe as well as the towel she no longer needed on top of her head before returning to the room to sit back down on the bed. There was just the one bed, of course, being as Wolfwood had reserved single rooms for everyone originally and that arrangement hadn't changed simply because the two of them were going to be sharing the room.

"So, I'm a bit curious after what we went through today and I was wondering if maybe you would show me some of what is in those tactical notebooks you're always studying," Roxas decided now seemed like a good time to ask especially since it might help to alleviate some of the potential awkwardness of the present situation.

"It's a little embarrassing," Crystal confessed as she obliged in bringing out one of said notebooks. "I mean, the information is solid, being built off of what I've learned from other reference resources and my own experiences, but I'm really not a gifted artist."

"That's fine with me," Roxas smiled as he took the notebook to begin flipping through the pages. It was filled to capacity with handwritten notes in very neat handwriting and doodled representations of, in this case, different types of Heartless. Incidentally, Crystal also has one for Nobodies and has most recently begun compiling one on the Unversed. "Geez, I thought I dealt with a lot of Heartless when I was running missions for the Organization. You've really seen a lot of action, haven't you?" Roxas actually sounded a little bit sad about that because he knew that for at least some of that time, before she had met Shiro, Crystal would have fought many of those battles alone.

"Well, I can't just let the Heartless run wild," Crystal admitted. "I've seen what can happen when there aren't enough Keyblade Wielders to neutralize their threat and I won't let it happen again. Each and every world has its own unique varieties of Heartless too so it's been a constant learning experience to be able to anticipate how best to fight them all."

"You take really good notes," Roxas smiled again in appreciation. "Have you shown these to anyone else?"

"Not really," Crystal shrugged a bit. "Like I said, it's a little embarrassing and I've mainly kept them for my own reference. Besides that, Shiro fights pretty much purely on instinct so you're the first person whose even asked to see them."

"Well, I think that Master Yen Sid, King Mickey, and probably Riku would be very interested to have a look at these," Roxas pointed out. "You have a lot of data here that I don't remember seeing in Master Yen Sid's tower."

"I guess that will be something else to think about when we drop in to visit Sora," Crystal agreed somewhat hesitantly.

"..." Roxas chuckled in amusement because it so happened the page he was now on had an angry chibi doodle of Anti-Sora on it. "I forgot you actually had to fight him when he was like that."

"It wasn't easy making him snap out of it either," Crystal reminded him. "You should know, though, since you were still trapped inside his subconscious at the time."

"Yeah, he wouldn't listen to me at all," Roxas admitted. He went to go get changed into his own pajamas, hanging up the bathrobe now that he had no further need of it. "Heck, not even Kairi managed to get through to him." He sat down next to Crystal on the bed. "You knew, didn't you, when I reappeared on the island that I wasn't exactly Sora's Nobody anymore."

"I did have suspicions, yes, but there wasn't any tangible proof and even if there had been, there wasn't any reason anyone would have believed me," Crystal responded. "As far as you all were concerned it was the first time any of us had even met. Well, Sora would have believed it, but he'd fall for practically anything so that doesn't really count."

Roxas set aside the notebook, placing it on the nearby bedside table, and then pulled Crystal down onto the bed with him. Crystal was a little surprised at first, but managed to relax again easily enough. "You've always seen me as my own person, even when I didn't have the presence of mind to believe it was really true."

"That's because I tend to see people for who they truly are," Crystal smiled looking back at him. "And you made a very strong impression."

"I've seen the real you too," Roxas pointed out. "When you aren't busy trying to save everyone you're actually very sensitive and sentimental. You love to soak up the natural world and you're happy to enjoy the simple things in life. It's refreshing to see and you're especially beautiful when you let yourself be happy without feeling like you need to hide it from the world."

Shiro would probably still take the lead in the category of atomic blushing, but at this precise moment it was Crystal who had attained the luminescent blush.  

[Kuukyo_Fushichou]

Shiro thought about it, eyeing down the hall at the moment, rubbing his chin a bit "possibly, though Given the mention of the whole desert night thing, i guess it must get quite cold compared to the desert heat outside.. eh, i'll just chalk him up for being weird." he said with a shrug as he chuckled "anyway, you go get a shower first." he said, handing the keys over so she could take that shower first "i just need to get Shiroi Senko into Roveth's room, since he's in he can keep an eye on my Chocobo partner." he said, proceeding to go do that, and so he could dig through his pack for his sleeping lion and dragon PJ pants, and his blue 'i have E-ranked Luck and i Cannot Lie, i die way too Easy' and a picture on the back of a man in blue tights holding a very familiar Red Spear from within Shiro's Marble.

thankfully being the gentleman Shiro was, he'd wait outside the entire hotel room completely for Xion to finish her shower once he was done getting Roveth to look after Shiroi Senko and be dressed, since he was not about to get into any hijinks involving bathrooms, walking in like a dumb protagonist, and being forever labled a pervert when he's not one at all.  

[[XIII] Roxas]

Xion would of course take her shower and dry off to get changed into her own pajamas, a simple night shirt and shorts combo with stylized illustrations of small versions of Carbuncle, Moogles, Cactuars, Chocobos, Tonberries, and Moombas all arranged in a plush pile. Very definitely an ensemble Crystal had helped Xion to pick out.

"Okay, I think I'm all set now," Xion announced as she came back out after her shower and went to get situated on the room's only bed. That was probably the one thing she hadn't really stopped to consider when they were deciding on the room assignments. She wasn't too worried though as Shiro was, as Crystal had promised, behaving like a perfect gentleman. Sure, he did seem a bit stiff and stressed out by it, but it was apparent to Xion at least that Shiro fully meant to make a good impression and didn't want to cause any trouble, even being as accident prone as Crystal and Roveth often made him out to be. Also, given the time she had spent with the Organization, Xion was somewhat used to being around boys, especially given that the alternative was Larxene... and she wasn't entirely sure about Marluxia. And, of course, being as her best friends are Roxas and Axel, well Shiro should be no problem at all. The could probably get along just fine.


Roxas leaned in while Crystal was still distracted by the sudden burning of her cheeks and kissed her. That seemed to snap her out of it as she cast aside the embarrassment she felt at being complimented to kiss him back without hesitation. They broke it off, somewhat breathlessly, not too long after, rolling onto their backs and finding each other's hand to clasp between them.

"You know, you're a bit devious," Crystal couldn't help but smile.

"Well, you kinda are too," Roxas had to laugh at that. "Still, I guess Axel probably rubbed off on me. I mean, I learned most of what I know from him during my stay with the Organization." His tone became thoughtful. "There must have been someone who showed you how to get by, right? I know you didn't just appear somewhere random with no memory, but you still had to learn the ropes of living in this era. I'd like to hear about it."

"Okay, that's not too hard a story to tell," Crystal agreed. "There's this island archipelago on this world called El Nido and on the mainland there was an orphanage that burned down in a fire sometime before my arrival there, but the orphans were all still living together and taking care of one another and that was when I met their leader, a girl who calls herself Kid, who had just founded the now notorious band of thieves called the Radical Dreamers. It was the start of a beautiful and oftentimes chaotic partnership, but we got along great because we weren't inclined to trouble ourselves with needless questions. We just did whatever it takes to survive. And in the process we had some pretty great adventures."

Crystal would go on to tell Roxas all about the zany hijinks that ensued as they searched for treasure up to and including the fabled Frozen Flame.  

[Kuukyo_Fushichou]

Shiro would enter the bedroom, not really as stiff or as stressed out, it seemed he was calming down somewhat from it, he just probably needed that shower as he set up his shirt for being used, and took his usual showering materials and pants he planned to wear "i'll be right back" he said, heading into the bathroom for a nice long shower himself, it seemed he had been quite stressed, but it was about other things, the one bed issue he'd deal with later, either way, while he showered he couldn't help but think about the morning after they woke up and all how cute Xion looked sleeping near him, sure, it brought a blush to his face, but then he looked down to his body with a sigh, tracing a few of his scars on his stomach and chest ~most would consider these more rugged on me, but i can't help but feel they remind me of my failures in the past...~ he thought to himself, especially one particular star-shaped scar over his physical heart, something he got during one of the worlds before he met crystal due to getting involved in something which led to him gaining his ideal of saving everyone he could, not as a superhero of sorts, but as just himself, and chuckled a bit to himself mentally ~heh... hope we meet again, Hound of Ireland.. maybe we could trade stories about our bad luck sprees.~ he thought, before continuing to shower himself.

shiro, once he had finished his shower, would at least get thoroughly dry to put on his pants and other unmentionables, before heading back into the bedroom proper while drying up his hair slowly a bit, almost minorly forgetting that Xion was in the room, but at this point he didn't mind, even if the awkward questions about his scars came, especially the star-shaped on on his chest and matching one on his back.  

[[XIII] Roxas]

Xion had caught a glimpse of Shiro's scars at the inn on Treasure Planet, but he had covered himself up before anyone could really call them into question. Not to mention they all had been terribly flustered and embarrassed after Roveth's comments when he had found them in so many different awkward positions in that room at the time. Now seemed like as good a time as any to possibly ask about that, particularly since the matching star-shaped scars on Shiro's chest and back made it look like at some point he had to have been impaled with something straight through the heart and that raised a lot of questions about how he was even still alive.

"You look like you've definitely seen more than your share of conflict, but I do have to wonder how you even survived the wound that could leave a scar like that," Xion decided it was best to be blunt about it. It was a very improbable matching set of scars. There must have been a very interesting story behind it.


Roxas of course listened thoughtfully and with considerable amusement to Crystal's rather fascinating story about her adventures. She was actually a rather good storyteller so it was easy for Roxas to envision the places and people Crystal described even though he had never seen them personally. It was also no surprise to learn of all the trouble Crystal had gotten into and all the equally brilliant attempts made to get herself and the other children out of it. Of course, it was still rather funny that Crystal took more pride in being a thief than in being a princess, but listening to her stories Roxas could sort of understand why that was now. She had done more to help people by being a thief than she had ever done by being a princess. And it sounded like it was way more fun too.  

[Kuukyo_Fushichou]

Shiro had looked up from his hair drying, and idly adjusted the towel to hang loosely from his neck, giving off a small, almost nostalgic smile " actually... this scar is one of the few i don't see particularly as my failures of my ideals, but as the fact that i got this when meeting my soon-to-be teacher and his allies." he would then take a moment to gather his thoughts and recall that day "it was under a moonlit night that i landed in a courtyard at a high school, just as a 'war' for a very powerful object had started to happen, unfortunately, one of the rules said there could be no witnesses to it, and the moment i laid eyes upon the blue haired man as well as his opponent, i was dead, they didn't notice me, but someone else - My soon-to-be mentor, and the blue-haired man chased him, i followed, and just before my soon-to-be mentor would've been skewered by the cursed lance the blue haired man wielded, i pushed him out of the way and took the hit to my heart instead." of course, he sighed, chuckling "later on i had heard that his ally once things got calmed down, had actually managed to revive me just before i died fully, but due to the nature of the spear, the wound never really healed right, leaving the scars on my chest and back that you noticed." he sighed a bit, chuckling "i didn't even realize i had been revived until i woke up from passing out thinking i just passed out from blood-loss thinking someone healed me and not revived me, it took my mentor and her ally, who i returned the gem she used to revive me, to tell me what exactly happened after i was impaled." he shrugged a bit "after that, i pestered them to teach me some magic then to defend myself, and that's where i learned Tracing, as well as a few other small things."  

[[XIII] Roxas]

"It sounds like you were pretty lucky to make it out of that alive," Xion observed. "So then, I'm guessing this was something that happened before you met and began traveling with Crystal?" It was also very strange to her how Shiro talked about it like it was something he was proud of rather than the life-threatening incident it actually was. If Crystal had been there she would have been worried for Shiro's safety and the situation probably wouldn't have been taken so lightly. Xion knew that much was true. It seemed a very odd thing for Shiro, or really anyone, to be sentimental about. Not that she was one to talk. Back when her existence had threatened Roxas she had backed him into a corner to force him to fight her so that at the very least he could carry on existing a little while longer before returning to Sora. They had been leading very different lives back then and Xion knew that her sacrifice back then had hurt Roxas deeply. And, as strange as it was, she was very glad for this second chance to set things right. Xion was also very glad for the positive influence that Crystal seemed to have on Roxas. He truly deserved to be happy and he was very fortunate to have met someone who could so easily accept him for who he is. Truth be told, Xion was a little bit apprehensive about finally meeting Sora in person, although she knew it would be best to get that over with as it would ultimately clarify everything that had happened.

And then there was Shiro. The mysterious young man who at a glance was kind and thoughtful, but who also suffered from what seemed to be the worst luck imaginable. And he spoke so casually about nearly losing his life, as though his own death would be of no consequence. That didn't seem right to Xion at all.

"It might not be any of my business, but you shouldn't risk your life so casually," Xion spoke up again after a slight pause. "It's really not fair to the people who care about you."


Roxas was now being treated to the story of how Crystal first arrived on the world of Hollow Bastion sometime before its restoration into Radiant Garden and her first meetings with the residents there. She described how Leon was like a surrogate father figure, but then he kind of acted that way toward pretty much everyone, including Cloud. She also described how she learned a few thieving tricks from Yuffie, which naturally bothered both Cloud and Leon to no end given that it typically involved using them for thieving practice. They seemed pretty welcoming toward outsiders so it made sense that Crystal had grown fond of them and made regular visits to Radiant Garden even after the Heartless ceased really being a problem for them.  

[Kuukyo_Fushichou]

Shiro blinked, and looked over to Xion ,while pondering her words, before chuckling " i guess it's just how i am.. i tend to put others lives before mine, that makes me not feel my death be worth mentioning." he shrugged a bit helplessly "as for remembering the moment fondly, it may have been a bad time due to my luck never being great in the first place, but i did live through it, and i got to meet friends and allies as well as my mentor, who helped.. i guess forge me, after being completely hollow for so long... and yeah, this was definitely before i met Crystal, given she's never seen the scar either, it was a lapse of judgment on my part of not wearing a shirt back at Treasure Planet, because i knew she'd fret over seeing it." he sighed, stretching a bit lightly while resuming to dry his hair "though.. on risking my life... if no one will risk their life to save people.. then who will?" he simply posed that question, while glancing back over to her "that's why i fight, i fight for those who can't defend themselves. i fight to save those innocent of the goings on of the evil within the darkness, i don't strive to be a hero like my mentor, i just fight to save what's in front of me."  

[[XIII] Roxas]

"Yes, I'm sure she would have if she hadn't been preoccupied with Roxas," Xion agreed that Crystal would have been very concerned about those scars on Shiro if she'd had the presence of mind to take notice of them at the time on Treasure Planet, but Shiro had narrowly managed to dodge that bullet because Crystal had been distracted. Shiro was way more complicated than Xion could have imagined. Even with everything they learned from Roveth and the bits and pieces she had heard from Crystal on the subject of Shiro's warped perspective, it was still shocking to hear him talk like his own life held less value than the lives of other people. It was all the more shocking because the way he said he clearly didn't realize there was something wrong with that way of thinking. "It's fine to want to save people, but treating your own life as though it's somehow less important than everyone else's isn't fair to the people who care about you," Xion spoke sadly and from her own experience. "It might seem like sacrificing yourself is the only way to save someone else, but it doesn't always work out how you want it to and the loved ones you leave behind will be devastated by the loss."


"You've met so many people and traveled to so many places it's amazing," Roxas commented as Crystal started to snuggle up next to him apparently having grown tired while recounting her many adventures to him. "I'll admit I'm a little surprised that out of all those people somehow I've become so important to you."

"It might sound strange, but when I was by myself in Twilight Town I could look up at the clock tower from almost anywhere in the town and on most days there was a mysterious boy up there who seemed to be watching over everything. It was somehow comforting and made the town seem a bit less lonely," Crystal told him. "Oftentimes you had Axel or Xion up there with you, sometimes it was even all three of you, but you were there practically every day. There was a part of me that really wanted a chance to meet you because you seemed interesting, but at the same time I thought it was a bit too weird to be thinking like that. Obviously that part won out and I kept my distance like an idiot."

"You did almost miss your chance," Roxas agreed. "But it was probably for the best. If our paths had crossed any closer back then it would have only gotten you into trouble with the Organization. And I'm actually glad you were able to stay off their radar as long as you have." Roxas gently wrapped his arms around Crystal to hold her close. "And because of that we were finally able to meet under more favorable circumstances."

"That's definitely true," Crystal wrapped her own arms around Roxas to return the hug. "These circumstances are way more favorable."

That sentiment managed to get Roxas blushing a bit. He was comfortable though and it seemed that pretty soon they were both going to be drifting off to sleep at this rate.  

[Kuukyo_Fushichou]

Shiro had pondered it, before sighing as he finished drying his hair, and put on his sleep shirt while moving to put the towel away in a clothes hamper nearby as he rubbed his neck "well, if it were any time before i met Crystal... i'd have to disagree with you, because before i met her.. everyone outside of my mentor who, oddly enough, was distorted as well, were already dead." he said, looking down "that's why i have all these scars. they were from trying to save those close to me and my failures, because once i was down... it was pretty much over. Sure, i'd manage to make the jerks who killed them pay... but it didn't bring them back." he would look towards the ceiling, with his eyes shadowed "and after one particularly unlucky world... i landed in that world bathed in black fire, black, cold, unforgiving fire, that seemed to go on forever, corpses burning... it was the height of when i guess the emotions and soul of the one known as Shiro Musouka were burned away, leaving the hollow shell and distorted mess of him left behind." he softly moved to lay down gently "bits and pieces of my old self are coming back, this much is true... but.. it'll be a long time if ever before i let myself be selfish about my own life again..."