Disclaimer: I own absolutely nothing featured.
"Pride comes before the fall."
It was strange how one's rival could also be your best friend, the blue-haired girl mused as she made her way home, a large smile on her face as she carried Wado Ichimonji close to her side. The green-haired boy in question, Roronoa Zolo, and beaten up anyone in swordsmanship until he had met her at her and her father's dojo and thus had started a heated rivalry.
Although during that time, Kuina had always believed that Zolo would quickly surpass her as they grew - just as her father had said. According to him women were not meant to be sword fighters, and it had been that logic that had made the girl grow worried about her future and what she would do when she would be forced to lay down her sword. She wanted to be the greatest swordsman one day, after all.
It wasn't until tonight, with the two thousand and first battle with Zolo dealing with real swords for the first time that she was finally filled with a pride for her own gender. Zolo's words had made her realize that just because she was a girl and he was a boy it didn't mean they couldn't grow stronger together as they grew.
It was all in the will power.
As she entered the dojo, she slid the sliding door closed behind her silently before eyeing Wado at her side. She slid the blade partway out of its sheath and stared intently at the blade. It was in need of sharpening, she decided. It was something she had taken upon herself to do performing on their family sword as of late, after all and it had been awhile since the blade's last sharpening.
She silently trotted up the steps, her light footsteps filling the night's silence as she smiled. The wet stone in question was atop the large shelves before the staircase. She stepped atop the stool she had so often used, reaching up high on tip toes to retrieve the wet stone. She wished her father would keep it lower on the shelf more often...
The stool began to tip as her feet were on the edge and Kuina's eyes widened as it continued to tip, throwing her back and in the direction of the stairwell. She took a deep intake of air in surprise, ready to scream as she fell backwards.
As anyone who has had a frightening experience out of their control will tell you the moment went by too fast for Kuina to be sure just what had happened.
One moment she was tottering over, pain erupting in her body as she hit each stair and the next she was laying at an awkward angle upon the floor. Her vision grew blurry as her body began to shut down quickly from her snapped neck. A million and one things flashed by in her dying mind but only one thought was in her consciousness as she died that night.
'I'm so sorry, Zolo.'
Her father found her broken body minutes later, having jerked awake at the sounds, the Wado Ichimonji at her side.