Kuina is twelve when she first meets Roronoa Zoro.

The boy is loud. His voice easily carries over the noise of afternoon drills, and her father sees to the visitor. His words are too soft to hear, but the boy's proclamation - a dojoyaburi - has the students abandoning practice to eavesdrop by the door leading to the engawa. As such, Kuina has no trouble hearing the terms of the challenge.

It seems her father will be acquiring a new student.

"Kuina!" Her father calls. Kuina yanks back some of her father's students and steps through the doorway, shinai in hand. Seeing her opponent, Kuina lets out a short huff. The boy is a brat. Younger than her and a whole head shorter. This… moss head defeated the neighboring dojos? Kuina defeated them in several taryu-shiai, but she did not realize they were so weak as to lose to this pathetic brat of a swordsman.

The brat now cursing at her father. "What the hell?! You're not the one fighting?"

Koshiro does not lose his friendly smile. "Even though Kuina is a girl, she is stronger than the adults in the dojo."

Kuina fights to keep her expression neutral. She is not stronger than every adult. Kuina has yet to defeat her father, a feat she is quickly running out of time to achieve. Already, her body is beginning to change. Her breasts are growing, large enough now that she requires support during her training. No period yet, but the town doctor has told her to expect it within the year.

She's entering puberty. Soon the boys will surpass her for the simple fact that they are male and she is not.

"I am not a father that brags about his daughter." Koshiro tells the kid. Truth. Koshiro has not hidden from Kuina his wish she had been born his son. Has not hidden his desire for an heir to pass onto his dojo.

"I got it!" The kid shouts, and Koshiro invites him inside.

The kid grabs seven shinai, and Kuina stares in disbelief. Three in each hand and one between his teeth. The brat surely doesn't think he can beat her like that? If so, Kuina will have to take offense.

Kuina defeats the kid easily, scattering shinai across the dojo, and sending Moss Head skidding across wood floors. She revises her earlier assumption of their neighbors' skills. They had grown weak, if their conqueror could lose in two blows.

The kid gets to his feet, shinai in each hand. The stance he settles into is much stronger than the previous and Kuina feels her pulse quicken in anticipation. A Nitoryu user! There is a fire in the kid's eyes, and perhaps he will actually prove to be a bit of a challenge. He charges her, and Kuina brings her shinai down in a sharp blow.

The kid hits the ground. Or not.

"Stop!" Koshiro orders.

Kuina plants her shinai next to the idiot's head and scoffs. "This kid is like a boar." No skill, no finesse. All simple minded stubbornness and strength.

"I'll…" The kid says, and Kuina pauses, turning back to see the kid pushing himself up. "…train and train and train. And I will beat you!" He declares fiercely. "Remember that!"

Right. The day this… embarrassment of a swordsman defeated her was the day she would hang up her sword for good. It would never happen.

If only Kuina could believe that.

Her challenger's name is Roronoa Zoro, and he is a bull-headed brat.

He spars with her everyday. At least four times, but sometimes as many as seven or eight. When he is not sparring with her, he is training. Zoro ties rocks and slings them over a tree branch for rudimentary weights, gripping another weight in his jaws. And idle part of Kuina wonders how he hasn't shattered his teeth yet. The larger part of Kuina is far more focused on maintaining the gap between their skills.

Her period has started, only three months after she first beat Zoro. A further six months have passed since, and over a fifteen hundred matches between them. Kuina pushes herself in her training, starting at dawn and not resting until she falls into bed each night. The weather does not stop her - not rain, sleet, or snow. She trains even when her breasts ache and her stomach and back cramps and she would rather curl up with a hot water bottle.

Kuina will not let her body stop her. She can't. Not if she wants to be the best.

So she cannot lose to Zoro. Not as more months pass and his blows become stronger and the matches grow longer. Not as her father encourages her to turn to other pursuits.

The sword was Kuina's life. How could she ever give it up?

But as winter eases into spring, Kuina cannot deny that Zoro is slowly but surely catching up to her. She comes to both dread and look forward to the spars with her rival - and when did Zoro go from challenger to rival? - so she might alleviate the fear that Zoro has surpassed her.

Her only advantage is that Kuina is not a formal student of the dojo. Koshiro does not accept female students, and were she not his daughter Koshiro would never have trained Kuina. This means Kuina can train while Zoro is taking his lessons - lessons Kuina learned years before - and performing the duties expected of his as Koshiro's student.

Of course, Kuina has her own chores to complete, but they do not take her much time.

Two thousands spars, and Zoro storms off in anger. Kuina follows him, curiosity burning. A year had passed since their first spar. Kuina will never admit it, but she is impressed with Zoro's sheer tenacity. She is not certain she could continue to challenge someone after a hundred losses, never mind two thousand.

Hidden around the corner, Kuina hears water splash as Zoro draws from the well. Summer is coming, and the days are hot enough that both are sweaty messes by the end of the afternoon.

"Why?" He asks himself. "Why can't I beat Kuina?"

The frustration in Zoro's voice is painful, and Kuina holds back a flinch. Somewhere in between the many spars, she and Zoro had befriended each other, in their own way. And while she refused to lose to Zoro, Kuina never intended to hurt her friend.

"I'm going to become the World's Greatest Swordsman!" Zoro swears. There is a weight to Zoro's words, a seriousness that Kuina has never heard from him. The sheer conviction in that statement raises the hair on Kuina's arms and neck, and a chill slips down her spine. She slips away, and tries to tell herself that she is not running.

Kuina does not finish her usual training that day, heading to the small field nearby to order her scattered thoughts. She returns home only long enough to eat dinner. Her father must notice her distraction, because he does not protest when she leaves again after.

And she is distracted. Zoro's promise has left Kuina unsettled as nothing else has ever managed. It's baffling. Zoro is a brat of a moss head, still a head shorter than her with an even shorter temper. He has never come close to winning one of their bouts. So why is Kuina so agitated?

Her pondering is interrupted by the very cause of her unease. Zoro marches up to her, a katana in each hand. Kuina stares. She's never seen those blades before. Were they Zoro's? Where had he been keeping them?

"I come to request our 2001st battle." Zoro proclaims. Unlike every match before, he does not shout. His expression is grave, and another chill slips down Kuina's spine. "For this will be our last duel. Let's end this." Kuina's eyes widen with surprise even as Zoro holds out one blade in a challenge. "Fight me with real swords!" A pause. "You do have a real sword, right?"

Does she have a- of course she has a real sword! Yes, it iss the family sword, but her father won't mind if she borrows it. Kuina smirks at Zoro. "Fine!"

The Wado Ichimonji is an unfamiliar weight in her hands. It's heavier than her shinai. Kuina takes a few minutes to warm up, letting herself become accustomed to the blade. It's a Great Grade sword, so Kuina has to take care that she does not accidentally harm herself or Zoro.

Kuina settles into her opening stance. Across from her, Zoro does the same and Kuina takes a moment to wonder at Zoro's improvement. Seconds pass as they scrutinize each other, muscles twitching in wait for the other to make the first move. A breeze ruffles their hair, blowing a leaf across Kuina's vision.

Zoro charges, an echo of their first duel. Kuina brings her sword up and down in the same strike as before. It does not land, Zoro catching her blade on his own and bringing the second up to slash at her face.

A side step and counter attack towards Zoro's weaker left side. He blocks with a grunt, and Kuina throws her weight against his. Zoro knows he cannot match her in strength yet. He jumps, allowing Kuina to send him flying backwards. Kuina stumbles forward a step but recovers, and they charge each other once more.

The duel is long and brutal. Neither of them gain the upper hand. As the match drags on, Kuina becomes increasingly aware of Ichimonji's weight. She takes to dodging and parrying rather than blocking Zoro's attacks. Her footwork is much better than Zoro's, and she wields Ichimonji with a deftness Zoro has not obtained with two blades.

They stumble apart. Zoro is breathing heavily, sweat pouring down his face. Kuina is not much better off, though she hides it better. Narrow eyes look for an opening. She can do this!

A tremor. Kuina strikes.

Zoro's swords fly from tired hands. She darts forward, sinking her blade into the grass by her fallen opponent's head. "This is my 2001st win." She pants, a grin spreading across her face.

With practiced ease, Kuina ignores the bitterness in her chest. She won their final duel. Zoro may surpass her one day, but Kuina will never lose to him.

It doesn't comfort her as much as Kuina hoped.

"Damn it! Shit!" Zoro snarls with his hands over his face. It does not hide his tears. "I can't accept this…"

Kuina should be angry. So what if Zoro lost? He could still try for his dream. "I'm the one who wants to cry because I can't accept it." She says. It's time she face the truth. The gap between her and Zoro isn't all that great anymore. Six months, Kuina guesses, before Zoro surpasses her. Kuina refuses to look at her friend, each word from her lips tasting like ash. "Girls… When we grow up, we become weaker than men. You'll probably overtake me soon."

There's a lump in the back of her throat. "You always said you'd become the best swordsman in the world. My father told me that it's not possible for a woman." Kuina didn't want to believe him. It hurts, knowing that she can't achieve her dream because of something so stupid as her gender. "I want to be the best too!" She chokes out through tears. "If I'd been born a boy…"

"You beat me! How can you say that?!" Zoro shouts, furious. "That's despicable! You've been my goal this whole time!"

What? "Zoro…"

"I'm a man and you're a woman… Is that what you're going to say when I finally beat you?" Zoro demands. There is hurt, under Zoro's anger. "As if it isn't because of my skill? As though all my hard work means nothing? Don't say that!"

She didn't mean that-

Zoro stomps over to her. "Promise me!" He says. It's not a request. It's an order, with such a weight that Kuina cannot refuse even if she wanted. "One day, you and I will meet each other at the top, and we'll battle for the title of World's Greatest Swordsman!"

And suddenly, Kuina knows. This is a promise that Zoro will keep or die trying.

How can Kuina promise anything less?

"Heh." She laughs, wiping her face dry. "Stupid, you haven't beaten me once." She turns and grasps his hand, feeling his conviction roar through her blood. "Promise."

In one life, Kuina slips on the stairs searching for her sword's whetstone that night. In this life, Kuina waits until morning. She does not slip.

And the world changes.

Yes, I know I should be working on Deep Blue Sea. But I've got this one outlined through Alabasta and it's the only story I can actually write at the moment.

Dojoyaburi - "dojo breaker" A challenge for the dojo's honor, I think. Very uncommon.
Taryu-Shiai - Competition between dojos, relatively friendly. Fairly common, I think.

Please review!