Chapter 197: Wingblade

"Anyway," Roxas broke into a grin again. "Light attacks?" He looked around, his grin falling pretty quickly. "Ah… I already killed all the Heartless in this area. The only ones left would be in the games… and that's not a good place to teach someone an attack."

"No, it's really not," Tifa agreed.

Roxas frowned, thinking hard. It was the same face Sora made.

"I could… always attack one of you," he suggested, after a moment. The grin returned to his face. "I mean, I'll try not to go too hard. Plus I've got a couple extra hi-potions!"

So they were going to duel. Well, spar, technically.

Tifa considered it for a while, too. "That could work…" she concluded, finally.

Kairi gave her a look. "You sure?"

She supposed she didn't mind sparring, but they technically didn't know Roxas all that well. And, okay, maybe she did mind sparring a little. It had always been so stupid to her back on the Islands, and doing it now seemed a little silly.

"Positive," Tifa said. She nodded for extra emphasis. "You have to train against actual people sometime—besides, the chances of anyone getting hurt are slim. If we're only doing light attacks, I'm fairly resistant to them, and I'm pretty sure they can't hurt you at all."

Tifa gave her a knowing look. After a moment, Kairi got it. She was a Princess of Heart. Pure Light. Of course it couldn't hurt her.

"Oh."

"Great!" Roxas laughed. Kairi was sure he couldn't grin wider. "Which one of you am I fighting?"

"Ah, probably me," Kairi said. It'd make sense. She was the one who was going to be learning, and if he couldn't hurt her at all…

Tifa shook her head, though. "No. Me." She smiled at Kairi. "You'll have a harder time trying to copy what he's doing if you're too busy blocking him."

"Whatever works!" Roxas laughed. He moved so he was more in the open part of the area, hunching down into a battle stance. He rubbed his hands together. "Alright… let's see… what sort of attacks do I know?" He frowned a little. "Do I know any attacks outside of my limit?"

Tifa readied herself to block, also moving out into the open. Kairi stayed where she was, keeping her eyes on Roxas.

"Oh wait! Who am I kidding?" Roxas shook his head. "Yeah I do!"

He spread his hands out in front of him, a ball of light forming between them. The ball slowly straightened out until it was shaped like a blade, then it split in two. The two blades flew behind him, joining four more blades at his back. All six of them lined up looked vaguely like wings.

Roxas grinned, a cocky half-grin, before grabbing two of the blades and launching himself at Tifa. Kairi wasn't sure how many times he hit her, but it was at least five or six. He jumped back, grabbing the next set of blades, attacking again. Then the last set of blades. Then he stood back, summoning all six of the blades again. They spun in the air, surrounding Tifa, before striking against the ground and letting out a large burst of light.

"Yowch!" Tifa shouted, though it was more of an exclamation than a cry of pain. "That could really do some damage."

Roxas immediately dug a hi-potion out of his pocket. "Here," he said, offering it to her. "That drained you quite a bit, didn't it?"

Tifa shook herself, then took the hi-potion from him. "Yeah, but only a little." She threw her head back and downed the hi-potion. "I'm fine. That looks a little advanced for a beginner, though."

Roxas grimaced and looked at Kairi. "You're a beginner?"

She shrugged. "That attack looked really cool, though!"

"Yeah, and I'm sure with enough practice you can get it!" Roxas said. "I miiiight not be the best teacher, though. But, let's see what you can do! Why don't you try summoning some light?"

Kairi took a wider stance, holding her hands out in front of her and concentrating. The light came easily, though it stayed in roughly the shape of a ball.

"Okay, good. Now concentrate. Try and make it look like a blade."

Kairi squinted her eyes, pouring her energy to it. The light stretched out, warping a few times, before taking on a blade-like shape. She smiled.

"There you go!" Roxas punched her on the shoulder, playfully. She closed her hand around the blade of light, flushing red. He'd only touched her for a second. Why had it made her heart skip so?

"It's nothing fancy," Roxas continued, like he hadn't noticed. He probably hadn't, especially if he was anything like Sora. "But it's a start, and it's still pretty cool!"

"Y-yeah." Kairi nodded.

"Well, go on! Take a few practice swings." He grinned at her. He looked just like Sora.

Kairi tried to not let it distract her, and took a few swings. She thought she was doing okay—she'd never technically wielded a blade before, but she'd watch Sora practice a million times. He'd shown her a little of the basics with his wooden sword, too.

"No no no, your form is all wrong," Roxas said. "Like this." He took the stance again, to demonstrate.

"Like this?" she asked, moving to imitate him.

He looked at her, then frowned. "No," he sighed. He moved so he was behind her, then repositioned her arms. "Feet further apart. You need a wider stance to balance yourself."

"Mm." Kairi nodded her head, straightening as well as she could when Roxas was standing right there. She looked down at her toes, to judge how far apart they were, though really she was just grateful for the excuse to look down so she could hide how hard she was blushing. Imagine if Roxas saw, or worse, Tifa saw.

She wasn't even sure why she was blushing so hard, though Roxas's proximity was probably part of it. His warmth at her back, his hands on her arms, his breath near her face. It wasn't exactly uncomfortable… but maybe that was why it bugged her. If any other person she'd met five minutes ago had done this, she'd have probably punched them. But she felt no such urge to punch Roxas. She only felt a little breathless.

"There you go," Roxas said, pulling away from her. She wondered if he felt like she did, or if it was only her. "That looks about right. Try again. It's an extension of your body, remember?"

Kairi swung again. Roxas didn't seem impressed.

"I don't know how to wield a blade," Kairi explained. She didn't look at him straight on, though that'd clue him on to her embarrassment as much as him seeing how red she was. "I've never done it before."

"I figured," Roxas said. "Hmm. Well, it's good enough, I suppose. At least your form is okay. It's not like you need to do this too much, anyway, right? This is just for show." That grin was back on his face. He seemed pretty laid back. "You wanna try something else? I know one more thing I can teach you."

"Alright." Kairi banished the light-blade.

"Do you need me?" Tifa asked. She was smirking a little. Kairi tried not to think about why.

Roxas shook his head. "Nah. This one doesn't need a target." He turned to Kairi, smiling encouragingly. "Just watch. This one's a lot easier."

He took his stance again, closing his eyes, focusing. After a second, he began to glow with light. A second longer, and the light solidified, sharpened, and then shot out of him in pillars.

"Think you can do that?" he asked.

Kairi nodded. "Think so."

She took a battle stance—falling into one Tifa had taught her, not the one Roxas had shown her. She closed her eyes, focusing her energy, thinking pillars.

She felt the light leave her, even if she opened her eyes too late to see it.

"Nice one, Xion!" Roxas laughed. He was grinning widely, definitely impressed now.

Kairi frowned, though. "Excuse me…?" she said.

What… had he called her?

"What?" Roxas said, looking confused.

"You said…."

"I said 'nice one, Kairi'."

"…oh." Kairi grimaced, looked over at Tifa. Tifa just shrugged.

Either he didn't realize it, or he's playing dumb because he's embarrassed, Kairi concluded. I wonder who Xion is, though…

"Anyway, I really need to go," Roxas said. "This was fun, though!"

"Yeah!" Kairi nodded. "And thanks!"

"No problem." He grinned. "We should, uh, do this again, yeah?"

"Ah." She chuckled, nervously. "Maybe."

"We could meet here again. Or…" He shrugged. "I've always wanted to go to a beach…"

"I live on a beach!" Kairi blurted. She blinked, grimacing at herself. "Well. My homeworld. It's an island."

"Awesome!" Roxas laughed. "We could meet up there—where exactly is it?"

"Destiny Islands," she replied automatically. She chewed her lip. What was she getting herself into? "We could… always meet here, though. And then go."

"Yeah! That'll work!" Roxas nodded enthusiastically. "Say, three days from now?"

Kairi shook her head. "I'm busy then."

That was when she was going to see Sora.

"Aw." Roxas made a face, clearly disappointed. "How about in a week?"

"I… think I can do that."

"Great! It's a date! Well, not a date. It's…" He chuckled. "Yeah."

She laughed. "Yeah."

Roxas ran off.

"What was that about, hmm?" Tifa asked. She nudged Kairi playfully, eyebrows raised.

"I don't even know," Kairi groaned, burying her face in her hands.

"You still gonna see him in a week?"

Kairi shrugged. "He seems like a nice guy. There can't be any harm in it… besides, if he's never been to a beach before…" She shrugged again. Shook her head. "I don't know…."

"What about Sora?" Tifa asked. She chuckled. "What'll you tell him about it? Tell him you have a hot date?"

"I'll- no!" Kairi glared, smacked Tifa on the arm. "It's not a date! And I will tell Sora that and either I'll make him come with me—he probably won't mind and if Roxas minds, tough. Or I'll just tell Sora that I want to be alone with Roxas, but…" She laughed, then. "Now that I think about it, I can't tell Sora not to come. It's his home too."

Tifa just laughed. "I still can't believe you just agreed to go on a date with a boy you met five minutes ago."

"It's not a date!"

Tifa shook her head and just kept laughing.