Kabu/Raihan

Pairing
Pairing:	Japanese: キバナ×カブ (Kibana x Kabu) English: Raihan/Kabu
Alternative name(s):	Japanese: キバカブ (Kibakabu) (KBNKB) or カブキバ (Kabukiba) (KBKBN) English: Kibkab, ZaoshenShipping
Gender category:	Boys' Love; Yaoi; M/M; Slash
Fandom:	Pokémon
Canonical?:	No
Prevalence:	Popular for Kabu, Common for Raihan Popular overall
Archives:	n/a
Other:	n/a
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Kabu/Raihan, known mostly as Kibkab, キバカブ (Kibakabu), KBNKB, カブキバ (Kabukiba) and/or KBKBN, is a popular ship in the Pokémon fandom. It pairs Kabu (Kabu) and Raihan (Kibana), the Fire-type gym leader and the Dragon-type gym leader from Pokémon Sword and Shield respectively.

Popular Tropes & Fanon

• Height Difference: Raihan is taller, Kabu is shorter.
• Age Difference: Kabu is older than Raihan by at least a generation (20+ years), though by how much exactly is unclear in canon.
• Opposites Attract

Subjects of Fannish Interest & Meta

-Shipping Name Origin

Unlike the majority of other Pokémon pairings, there is currently no commonly used -shipping name for Kabu/Raihan as of 2025. ZaoshenShipping, coined by Kyuu-Tales for the Neverending Romance ship name list on 02 December 2019, is considered its "official" name, but this name isn't used by shippers.

Example/Notable Fanac

Examples Wanted: Editors are encouraged to add more examples or a wider variety of examples.

Fan Fic

Kabu/Kibana | Raihan search query on Archive of Our Own

• the bright way round by orphan_account, ^{Archived version} (2019-20), After Leon's defeat, Raihan feels lost and adrift without his rival, having to reconsider his goals and his future. Luckily, Kabu is around to take him on an emotional detour he doesn't expect.
• it only has to mean what we want it to mean by BinaBina, ^{Archived version} (2025), Kabu knew from experience that friendship was where the line stopped for him. The kinds of love most people looked for were beyond his capabilities to provide, and he'd long made peace with that fact. Getting kissed by one of his friends out of the blue would normally worry him—he knew the pattern well, of losing someone dear as he failed again and again to give them what they wanted—but this time, things were different. Raihan was different.

• Send Nudes by BeetleQueen (2019), rated Explicit. The gym leaders are out for dinner together after a long day. Raihan accidentally sends a certain fiery member of the group a compromising photo; how will Kabu react..?

Fan Art

• Fan Art by devxoid, ^{Archived version} (2024)

General Fanworks

Meta

• (...)If I had to guess I'd imagine that the thing that made them obvious to Jfen is that they're reciprocal gap moe characters(...) by agoddamn, ^{Archived version} (2019), on the translation of Kabu's character with fans from Japan to the west in relation to Raihan's.

Wikis

• キバカブ on PixivEncyclopedia
• カブキバ on PixivEncyclopedia

Zines and Doujinshi

キバナ×カブ, ^{Archived version}, r-12 and/or r-18 doujinshi on toranoana (archived version circa. April 2025.)