content edited as of April 11, 2011; author's notes untouched.

To those who knew her, Ziva David was always associated with the phrase "scary, ass-kicking, multi-lingual assassin." To them, she was the epitome of physical prowess, unbreakable in a fight, always the one to come out on top. She was Shakti crossed with Shiva.

Though contrary to popular belief, she had lost. Her most prominent memory of it is this:

When she was twenty-three, just starting at Mossad, Ziva David's father sent her to Japan for training. He believed in well-roundedness. He entrusted his daughter to Nanatsu No Tsuki, the Seven Moons, which, he had told her before she left, was the absolute best in the country. He also told her not to underestimate her opponents there, even though some, if not most, were younger than her (Nanatsu No Tsuki began recruiting at age eight), because they could do some serious damage and almost always fought in pairs.

The loss clearest in her mind is that to a pair of ten-year-old boys who had identical tattoos on their collar bones: a zero with a line running through it diagonally. She remembers distinctly having fallen the one with darker hair (she could not remember their names anymore), and drawing blood. The next thing she remembered is the lighter-haired one snarling at her and breaking her arm, spitting curses that she had never expected a ten-year-old to know, and dislocating her knee, all with a rage she couldn't fathom then and still couldn't fathom now. The light-haired boy then paid no attention to her (this is clear too, even though the memory of pain made it less clear than the rest) and all to his partner. Then, while she still knelt on the ground, the dark-haired boy is helped up by the light-haired one, who is, if her translation was correct, was still very angry with her, and the two walked away. The dark-haired boy, the one she made fall, paused, said something quietly to his companion, and they called someone else to help her to her feet and treat her injuries.

Needless to say, her father was upset when he was informed.

Later, the boys apologized for injuring her, and the light-haired boy said that she deserved if for hurting (the name is lost to her).

These images flit through her mind as she pretended to punch Tony in the gut, stopping her fist just before it made contact. She laughed at his howl, and at the tone of indignation he used with her for the rest of the day.

He did not know, nor did she have any intention of him ever knowing, that she wasn't unbeatable.

Author's Note: This was originally just a really tiny flashback-ish portion of what was supposed to be an epic NCIS/Loveless crossover that involved Soubi nearly getting killed, Ritsuka threatening to kill DiNozzo, and rogue agents, and featured Seven Moons as an underground but government funded organization that was really sci-fi. This was, I think, the only part that can work as a stand-alone. That not-so-epic crossover will never see the light of day, because it was, well, not-so-epic (understatement) and I deleted it. Also, I have no idea what age Nanatsu No Suki recruits. Eight is just the age I think Natsuo and Youji were when they met. And because Soubi seemed like a special case, I assumed this was the regular age.