AkuShi

AkuShi is the het ship between Lea/Axel and Xion from the Kingdom Hearts fandom.

Canon
Axel and Xion were good friends through Roxas. Roxas befriends Xion while Axel is away in Castle Oblivion and thus Axel is initially unsure what to think of her when he returns. He worries, feeling that Roxas might have replaced him with Xion. However, when she asks if they can be friends, Axel says yes and Xion reveals her face to him. Axel sees Xion as similar to Kairi, in the same fashion that Roxas sees her. Axel and Xion would eat sea-salt ice cream on the station tower in Twilight Town along with Roxas after most missions.

There is a point when she disappears and Axel helps Roxas find her in order to make him happy. She could not use the keyblade for a while after that, so Axel helps manipulate Saïx in order to cover this up. Later, Roxas has some issues with interacting with Xion so Axel gave him a lecture about "pressing the right and wrong buttons". Xion eventually learns the truth about herself and decides to leave the organization. Axel goes after her and eventually manages to retrieve her.

He later learns of Xemnas' plan to have either Roxas or Xion absorb the other and is torn on which one to save. When Roxas leaves the organization, Axel finds Xion and once again brings her back after she complains that Axel is selfish and does whatever he wants. Xion is eventually absorbed by Roxas and as she is fading away, she says that she enjoyed being friends with him and Axel. After this happens, Axel sulks in his room and laments about the fact that this had to happen. By the next day, all of Axel's conscious memories of Xion have faded.

Eventually Xion is recreated and becomes the final member of the Thirteen Seekers of Darkness while Lea, Axel's original self who was recompleted sometime after Axel sacrificed himself to save Sora, becomes a keyblade wielder and the final member of the Seven Guardians of Light. The reformed Xion meets with Lea and Kairi in the Keyblade Graveyard. However, her identity is shrouded by her hood. Xemnas arrives, and orders Xion to kill Lea. He believes, since they were once friends, this will cause Lea the most pain. Sora steps in, and convinces Xion not to go through with it. When Xemnas punishes Xion by knocking her and Sora to the ground, her hood falls off. Lea's memories return upon seeing her face, and he calls out to her by name. As Xemnas makes the move to kill Xion, Lea grabs helplessly at his leg in an attempt to restrain him. Xemnas fights back by stepping on Lea's arm. Thankfully, the part of Roxas that was locked away in Sora's heart is set free before Xemnas can deal the final blow. Roxas arrives in the Keyblade Graveyard, and saves the pair from Xemnas' attack.

With Lea now injured, Xion tells him to rest. She tells him that Roxas will fight in his place, due to his injury. After the fight, Lea, Xion, and Roxas officially reunite with each other, collapsing into tears and a hug. Lea jokes that he should have brought some ice cream, calling back to their days on the clock tower. After this, Lea, Xion, and Roxas are seen side-by-side for the rest of the game and the Re:Mind DLC. At the end of the game, the trio are seen finally sharing more ice cream together on the clock tower.

Fanon
AkuShi is a mildly popular pairing in the Kingdom Hearts fandom. It is not quite as popular as RokuShi, AkuRoku or LeaIsa, but it still has a decent amount of popularity. Some fans ship Roxas, Axel, and Xion interchangeably, referring to them as the Sea Salt Trio. Due to the amount of ship tease that Roxas received with Naminé in Kingdom Hearts II, some fans like to pair Axel with Xion in order to give the both of them a love interest. However, Kingdom Hearts: 358/2 Days and Kingdom Hearts III gave Roxas more ship tease with Xion than with Naminé. Naminé, in turn, started receiving more ship tease with Riku than with Roxas. Because of this, AkuShi has began to lose some of its popularity, with many of its former shippers opting to start shipping RokuShi and/or LeaIsa instead.

Fandom
FAN FICTION
 * Axel/Xion tag on FanFiction.net
 * Axel/Xion tag on FanFiction.net

Variations

 * Sea Salt Trio refers to the ship between Roxas, Axel and Xion