Chapter Text
Sora kept her word and trained harder than any boy at the dojo. She was soon able to beat many of them…but never Kuina. No matter what she tried or how hard she trained, she was taken down over and over again.
Two years into her training, the day came when Sora could, without fail, defeat every boy at the dojo. She also triumphed over many of the grown men who studied there or came through on a visit. But it made no difference to her spars with Kuina.
In the two years, Sora had even moved up to using two swords. And still, the other girl maintained her undefeated record. It was infuriating! Especially because Kuina still mocked her.
There were times that Sora thought she would soften. When she put up a particularly good fight in their spars before her loss, or when Sora beat another of the boys or men at the dojo, she would almost swear she saw a slight smile or a nearly fond look on Kuina's face. But, if there was one, it was quickly beaten back, and she was never sure that she saw it at all. To all appearances, Kuina still thought of her as a weak little girl, and made sure to tell her so after every loss. And she could not defeat her to prove otherwise, no matter how hard she fought!
Kuina was her hero, her cherished rival, and one of those she most respected. What could she do to get even a bit of that same respect back?
“Maybe a spar with real swords will show her how serious I am,” Sora thought. “I can prove what I can really do in a fight.”
Kuina had seemed distracted by something when Sora originally approached her, but she was quick to accept her challenge. If only she had accounted for how much heavier real swords would be compared to her practice ones! Another humiliating defeat later, and Sora couldn’t take it anymore.
“Damn it,” she sobbed into her hands. “This sucks!” In her shame, she could not even look at Kuina, and she couldn’t stop her tears.
“First, I lost again, and now I’m humiliating myself, crying like a little girl.” She thought. “Kuina will never respect me now.”
“Yes it does.” Kuina said, with something dark in her voice. “You should be crying. In fact, I should be crying as well.”
“What are you talking about?” Sora asked, her shock and confusion having broken through her tears.
“You see, when girls grow up, they become weaker than men. If you can’t even surpass me, what hope do you have? Even those boys in the dojo will catch up to me soon.” Kuina’s voice was steeped in bitterness, and she was refusing to look at Sora at all.
“It surprised me that Father took you in for training at all. Maybe he wanted me to have a reminder that even though I am so far ahead of you, at the end of the day we are the same.” She gave a laugh that was totally devoid of humor.
“You are always saying that you want to be the world’s strongest swordsman. Face reality! My father told me that a girl could never be that. I know that…but…but it’s so frustrating!” Kuina could no longer hold in her tears. “I also want to be the world’s greatest swordsman. If only…if only I had been born a man!”
Sora stood up, and screamed. “Don’t be whining like that after you beat me! That’s not fair! You’re my goal!” She could not believe how this amazing fighter could belittle herself like this, could make light of the both of them and the work they had done.
“So what if we’re both girls?!” she screamed. “We’ve both beaten every boy who has challenged us, and we’ve only been getting better.”
Sora harshly scrubbed away tears. “Boy this, girl that! If I beat you someday, are you going to tell me that there’s no real victory because I only beat another girl? Are you gonna say that kind of stuff if you do get beaten by one of the men someday? Would that make you quit? Is that going to be your excuse?!”
She glared harshly at Kuina, who had stopped crying to stare at her in shock. “You act like none of it is skill! You’re insulting all the hard training I’ve been doing, that we’ve both been doing! So don’t say that stuff!”
Sora marched up to Kuina and stuck out her hand. “Promise me! Someday one of us will be the world’s greatest swordsman! We’ll compete to see who gets there!” She grinned fiercely, “And boy or girl won’t matter at all. We’ll prove it to all of them!”
Kuina finally gave a smile. “You dummy. You’re so weak.”
She reached out and grasped Sora’s hand in a tight grip. Sora laughed and squeezed back.
Loudly, and with one voice, they both vowed, “It’s a promise!”