This is my first time writing, so don't be too harsh on me, k? But this was just an idea that came into my head just before I fell asleep, and it wouldn't leave me alone. So I had to write it. Before you ask, I am not a violent person. Well, maybe just a little, but fencing is cool. :)

Chihiro was on her way to one of the most prestigious fencing competitions in the world. She had trained long and hard for this and would not leave without her first prize.

"Remember, Chihiro, don't let your guard down, go on the offensive as often as possible and watch your footwork," her coach said to her, offering her last minute pieces of advice as she donned her fencing gear. She just gave a terse nod in response to his words. She, Chihiro Ogino, the top national fencer of Japan would not be defeated. With her mask under her arm, she strode into the main hall where the competition was to take place.

"Kohaku, you had better win this tournament, or else..."

"Yes, yes, my mother will go berserk if I don't. I just have to watch my reflexes and not lose focus," Kohaku mumbled to his coach, uttering the familiar phrase that was repeated everyday during training. He felt slightly put off though, did his coach think that he, Kohaku Nushi, one of the top ten elite fencers in the world would lose to one of these amateurs? That was a definite no.

"Now, good luck and keep your head in the game," his coach said to him before clapping him on the back. Haku just acknowledged him with a curt nod of his head and walked forward into the hall.

'Let's get this over and done with,' he thought to himself as a self-assured grin started to form on his face.

The competition had soon commenced and the competitors broke up into pairs and started their warm-ups in the big hall. Chihiro looked around her with an emotionless expression. The place was full of good fencers, yet only the best fencer would walk out of here the champion. And that person would be her, she thought determinedly. No one was to get in the way of her prize, or she would take them down. With her parents here today to support her, she had to make sure to win, or goodness knows what would happen to her when she got home.

On the other side of the hall, Haku was swinging his *foil experimentally, his eyes focused on the blade cleaving through the air. The only look on his face was one of pure determination. I will win this, he thought to himself. This was just another competition. The only takeaway after this competition would be another trophy to add to his already rather large collection.

Her match had already started and Chihiro was soon beating the socks off her opponent. She lunged gracefully, avoiding the foil that was heading towards her, at the same time landing a direct hit on her opponent's unguarded side, ending the match.

"Halt! Five, zero, to Ogino."

Chihiro gave a dry smirk. One down. Now she just had to beat the rest of these no-good losers and then she was free! She lifted an eyebrow as she shook her opponent's hand.

"Better luck next time," she murmured.

Haku had already completed his match, with him emerging the victor, and was waiting for the next one to start. He lifted off the mask and shook his hair out, simultaneously reaching for the towel that hung near his bag. A girl seated diagonally behind him in the spectator's stand gave a small gasp as she caught a glimpse of his handsome, chiseled face. Haku pretended not to notice and used the towel to wipe the beads of sweat off his face. He directed a mental eye-roll at the girl. If only they were not all so superficial, then they might stand a chance. Everywhere he went, girls always paid attention to him and his looks. It got rather annoying.

But that was why he loved fencing: he got to wear a mask.

Chihiro stood patiently as she waited for the referee to announce her name for the finals. After one last opponent, the title and prize would be hers. This competition thing got a little old after a while, she felt. Where was the fun when you could defeat so many others with a mere flick of your hand? Hopefully, her last competitor would prove to be more of a challenge than the others. Boy or girl, it didn't matter who, Chihiro was better than them all.

She stood beside her chair and eyed her competitor on the other side of the mat. It was a boy. Around her age or slightly older, she guessed, judging by his height and build. As his back was turned to her, all she saw was a curtain of dark hair, with rather odd, greenish highlights where the light caught the dark strands. It hung to his shoulders and he had swept it up into a rather messy ponytail.

"Ugh, he must be vain then, to have grown his hair. So I'm up against a rather girly-guy it seems," she mumbled to herself in disgust. Either she had mumbled too loudly or she had bumped into her chair which had scraped against the ground, for the boy suddenly turned towards her and she couldn't help but stiffen with surprise. His piercing green eyes met her brown ones. She gathered what wits she had left and managed to give him a rather cold look. Or so she thought. The next thing she knew, he had walked up to where she stood.

"I'm Kohaku Nushi, but you can call me Haku. I've heard a lot about your skills, Chihiro Ogino," he said to her in a rather deep, attractive voice and offered his hand for her to shake.

"You have? Well, I can't really say the same for you. Where do you come from?" she asked in reply, grasping his hand. His hand was warm and smooth, yet firm and strong at the same time. Chihiro liked it.

'What is wrong with me? I should be thinking of the upcoming match with this weird guy instead of drooling all over him!' she scolded herself mentally.

"Well, I was born in Japan but live and train more in America." His voice really was alluring to her. She gave herself a hard mental kick and forced herself to reply. She realized then that she was still holding onto his hand and stared blankly at it before getting herself to let go of him.

"That accounts for how you know how to speak Japanese!" she blurted without thinking and blushed for stating the obvious. One corner of his lips quirked up into a lopsided, amused grin. "Sorry, I often speak without thinking. Um... the match is about to start, so you should go back now, I guess. And good luck. I'll try to go easy on you and your skills!" she smirked, her competitive spirit kicking in again as she gave him a mischievous wink before donning her mask and turning around to retrieve her foil.

Kohaku walked back to his seat, stunned.

'That is one intriguing girl,' he thought to himself as he put on his mask. 'And her eyes are like chocolate.' He stopped himself suddenly, shocked that he was thinking about a girl, furthermore, one he was about to compete against.

"Get your head in the game!" he told himself, uttering his coach's words. He mentally prepared himself and picked up his foil before turning around and facing the mat where the match was to take place on.

The moment the match began, Haku realized that he was facing a strong opponent, as did Chihiro. He picked up his pace a notch and employed all the tricks his coach had taught him, coming up with the most complex attack sequences he could think of. He lunged, then parried, then riposted. But time and time again, steel met against steel as she parried his blows and attacked as well. Yet, neither of them could land a blow on each other. She lunged forward, feinting with her foil to the left before whipping her weapon to the right. However, he was just as fast, blocking her sword in the nick of time. Beneath her mask, she grimaced in frustration, but she wouldn't give up. Not yet. Haku was not having a better time trying to win either. 'It seems like I underestimated this girl,' he thought, before re-doubling his efforts in the hope of winning. They attacked, then relaxed back into the opening stance. They were both evenly matched and neither seemed to be able to get the upper hand over the other. The crowd watched, breathless and tense, following Chihiro's and Haku's every move.

Suddenly, both of them whipped their weapons upwards in a motion practically too fast to be seen. With a loud clang of steel against steel, their foils hit each other, both having tried to hit the other at the same time. Both of them were panting by now. Out of the blue, Chihiro flicked her foil back, freeing it, before slicing it through the air and slashing Haku across the abdomen with its point.

"HALT!"

"And the winner is... Chihiro Ogino of Japan!" the announcer shouted to the crowd who was applauding the two wildly. Chihiro gave a shallow bow to them, acknowledging their applause before turning around to accept the trophy and then gathering her belongings. She still had something she needed to do before she left. But she needed to move fast, before he left after receiving his prize.

She stalked over to where he was standing, his back towards her as he packed his belongings into his bag.

"Why did you let me win?" she accused him, anger colouring her tone. Haku turned around to face her and cocked an eyebrow.

"Let you win? You won fair and square. I didn't let you win," he replied calmly, no emotions betraying his stoic face. Yet his eyes were full of some unknown emotion as he gazed at her.

"Yes, you did! You could have blocked my last move, I know you could! But you didn't. I want to know why!" she protested angrily.

"Chihiro, I... you..."

"What?"

The next thing he did was so unexpected that she barely avoided stabbing him with her sheathed foil.

His head swooped down over hers and his warm, soft hands had drifted up to her chin, tilting it up to look into his depthless emerald eyes. "You win," he murmured to her, barely audible, before his lips descended over hers, covering her lips like a soft blanket.

The feeling of his lips on hers was such a foreign feeling, yet she could not deny that she did not like it. Instinctively, her eyes closed and her free hand had raised towards his face of its own accord. Barely knowing what she was doing, she lifted both her hands to encircle his neck. In the background, she dimly registered hearing her gear drop to the floor with a dull thunk. All she could feel was him. Haku's lips moving against hers, his warm skin under her hands. For Haku, her lips were like some steroids injected into his bloodstream. It made him feel so alive and aware of her. How wonderful it felt as she tilted her face into his hands, her lips molding against his...

They were so into their kiss that they did not take notice of the crowd growing around them. Until...

"CHIHIRO OGINO!"

"KOHAKU NUSHI!"

"STOP THAT RIGHT NOW AND COME HERE!"

They broke apart suddenly and stared into each other's eyes, stunned.

"Oops," they both murmured at the same time, and then giggled sheepishly, still in each other's embrace.

"I think my parents and coach are, uh, calling me," Chihiro told Haku, blushing a deep red.

"Um, yeah, my coach is calling me too," Haku said, removing his hands from her to ruffle his hair, embarrassed.

"Wait," Chihiro said to him, just before he turned away. "Here," she shoved something into his hands. But he barely registered it as she had given him a peck on his cheek.

"Thanks," she whispered into his ear, her warm breath sending tingles all over his skin, "for everything, including letting me win. And, it seems that your words, or lips, I should say, are mightier than your sword."

She turned around to pick up her things and ran off after another shouted 'Chihiro!' was heard. But not before giving him a wink as she disappeared amongst the crowd of people, her chocolate brown hair flying out behind her.

"An intriguing girl," he murmured to himself, looking down at the piece of paper in his palm containing her scribbled email address and phone number.

"KOHAKU! If you don't come here now, I'm going to..." the threat from his coach startled him out of his thoughts and sent him hurrying to pick up his bag.

As Chihiro walked out of the competition venue, she couldn't help but sigh and remember all the things that had happened during the competition and after. She had gotten more out of this competition than she had expected.

Suddenly, her phone in her jean's pocket started ringing. She pulled it out and took a look at the screen. An unknown number.

Chihiro smiled.

*foil: lightweight, flexible weapon people use during fencing.

Thanks for reading! :) hope it wasn't too bad. comments and criticisms are welcome. :)