Chapter 3. Wow! It has been so long since I updated. That is such a shame.

I hope you guys are enjoying the story.

I don't own One Piece.

By the way guys, I live in England, and in England we have pre-schools, primary schools, secondary schools, collages, and universities. And just to make things clear our main characters have just entered their second term (that is the spring term) of their third year at secondary school. Secondary schools take on kids from ages of 11 or 12 – 16 sometimes continuing until 17 or 18 (for the hard core workers).

We don't have the American mid-school / high-school thing. If kids want to go on to do extra education they go to College or Uni.

So Kuina and Tashigi are 14 years old, and Zoro is thirteen. I decided not to have a three year difference between them as they do in the cannon, but I did still want the twins at least one year older than Zoro.

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Troublesome Twins: 3. Out of depth

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After the first few almost hellish weeks it became quite evident, to those that knew the Tauko Twins, that Kuina was extremely protective of her identical sister.

Tashigi couldn't be less like her. She became known as the smart and intelligent one, and bizarrely enough since she had appeared in her sister's life, much to the thrill of Kuina's teachers, Kuina seemed to be paying more attention to what they might be trying to teach in class. Tashigi was the ideal student. She was a good listener, worked well with others, and would also help out with the students that seemed to hate receiving instructions from the teachers.

The twins' personalities melded together as their own individual skills seemed to perfectly support and encourage the others'. Kuina lived up to her reputation as a very strong, confident, and idealistic fourteen-year old. She made sure that no one might find an opportunity to think otherwise, and that no one would ever think to pick on her gentle sister. Tashigi, on the other hand, was a serious and when compared with her sister a very shy girl. She didn't make a big deal about competitions and always seemed to be willing to help someone who was having trouble with their work.

Their classmates had great fun comparing them to the yin and yang of life, Kuina being the dark and brooding evil being held back by her good and loving sister. And although Kuina might have laughed it off as idiotic it definitely appeared to be that way. Whenever Kuina was surrounded in trouble or needed help her sister could always smoothen things over for her. And whereas Kuina had been getting very bad marks the previous year she seemed to have miraculously improved.

Despite the fact that Zoro had already picked on, and beaten up the few bullies that had hurt Tashigi on her first day Kuina had been mad when Zoro had told her that Tashigi was in the nurse's office and had been picked on by the 'Buzzes'. She had then gone to find them all individually and give them all a piece of her mind, and since Kuina tended to think with her muscles they came out with more bruises than when Zoro had left them. Not much to the shock of the classroom teachers Kuina was called to the Principles office the following day and was suspended from school for the rest of the week, along with the boys that had to recover from their injuries. Kuina was let off a little as it became evident that Tashigi had been picked on which had caused Kuina to want to fight back.

Anyway the first week of school had been crap for Tashigi, and she spent the majority of her time hobbling around trying her best not to use her twisted ankle. It got better quicker than had first been expected, but Tashigi had missed out on a lot of the physical activities. Such as the P.E. and the indoor gymnastics that her mother had signed her up for.

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By the third week of term Tashigi was feeling a whole lot better, and now that she could walk perfectly fine she too could attend the afternoon activity.

Tashigi hadn't expected the gymnasium to be so big so she was very surprised when she arrived. The gymnasium had been designed significantly as a gymnasium and you could tell, with the extremely high ceilings and long running mats for the practice of floor work and tumbling. She couldn't help but admire the gymnasts that were in the class before her as they flipped on the trampoline and somehow spun their bodies round the bars in the corner, or how they appeared to fly across the floor mat with aid from their strong legs, arms, and hands. They looked incredible, and Tashigi couldn't help, but feel a little bit out of her depth. Okay that was an exaggeration, she felt like she had just learnt to swim and had then been told that had to swim five miles in the sea.

Being so out of it Tashigi didn't notice that Kuina had come up from behind her until she was embracing her in a big hug and then proceeded to swing her about as if she weighed nothing.

"So you finally decided to show up!"

"Stop! Stop. Stop!" Tashigi patted franticly at her sister's hands. "Please put me down. This is embarrassing."

"Okay, calm down. No need to be so uptight." She stopped and turned her sister round so she was facing her. Kuina was grinning and Tashigi could feel the enthusiasm coming off her. "Isn't this great! This is by far the best thing in the school! Aren't you glad you can come today?"

"Yeah well, they told me I had to." Tashigi sighed feeling very out of place in the gymnasium. This was not her forte. Running, leaping, good hand-to-eye coordination, strength, flexibility… it would be better for everyone if she just sat on the bench. And why did she have to wear such tight fitting clothes?

"Hey, don't look so down Tash." Kuina said patting her on the back. "You never know, you might even like gymnastics."

"I doubt it, and everyone here looks so thin." She sat down along with her sister on the nearby bench, and tried covering her thighs with her hands, waiting for the previous gym session to be over. Why was she the only one who was embarrassed to be here? Everyone else looked like they were having fun.

"Not the ones who are actually good at gymnastics. Anyway you will slim down eventually." Kuina patted her sister on the back.

"That sounds great." Tashigi said rubbing her cold hands together to try and warm them up.

"Don't even think about it." Kuina said bluntly. She rummaged around searching for something in her backpack, "Ah, here it is." and she held it out. "Have a little bit of chocolate."

"I feel so nervous I can't even think of eating."

"Hhm! Why are you nervous? There is nothing to be nervous about." Kuina sighed at her sister's worried expression. Biting the chocolate bar in half she then stuffed the other half into her sister's mouth before she could protest.

"You can thank me later." She said, and walked off making her way over to the group of people she usually hung out with in the gymnastics class.

Tashigi sighed not quite sure what she should do or who she should talk to, and wishing not for the first time that maybe if there wasn't anyone else around then she might give some of the more difficult apparatus a try. Giving a glance around the room she noticed that everyone in the next class seemed to be in their own particular groups. There seemed to be the really slim, and beautiful looking girls that appeared like they could do anything that they put their minds to, next were the girls that were doing cartwheels, and handstands in the corner as if it was as normal to them as walking. Then a group of girls and boys that looked like they didn't like anyone else apart from themselves, there was the group that her sister was in which seemed to look very athletic and care free, a group of guys that seemed for more interested in the phones they were holding and laughing at an occasional mistake made by someone in the previous class, and then a few single people sitting around like herself that just looked bored of waiting but at home in the gym.

Tashigi had heard that the gymnastics team was quite intense and hadn't wanted to join up, but her mother had told her that it would be good for her. Normally, Tashigi found it hard to make friends, but being in the gymnasium felt more alien than anything else in the school. And why did it have to be so cold? What had been her mother's reason again? Oh, that it would be good to be in the same class as her sister.

The buzzer sounded and the other students left, and Tashigi put her glasses away in her bag. Like sea of muttering zombies the next group of thirteen and fourteen year olds got up and made their way down the stands to the mat in the middle of the gymnasium.

"All right!" the instructor, Miss. Yasmine Swan, spoke up looking over her new class with forced enthusiasm. "Are we all ready to get started?" There were a few grunts of acknowledgements as most of the students pretended that they didn't want to be there, but were in fact looking forward to it. Yasmine did the register and then started with the warm up.

The warm up lasted a good ten minutes and by the time it had finished Tashigi was definitely feeling warmed up.

Out of the corner of Tashigi's eye she saw Zoro walk in through the gymnasium doors followed closely behind by his friends, Johnny and Yosaku. Or were they his servants? One might make a guess that he wasn't all that interested in entertaining his friends as they always seemed to support and do everything for him whether he asked for their help or not.

"What time do you call this?" Yasmine asked the late-comers as they dumped their stuff down by the stands.

"It wasn't our fault! We were detained by Mr. Bones." Johnny grumbled.

"We love your class, Miss. Swan." Yosaku added. "You're my favourite teacher!" He rushed down to the floor-mat and bowed very graciously before her.

"Okay that's enough." Miss. Swan said faking irritation, she turned aside to pick up the register again and ticked off their names. "I want all three of you to do a five minute warm up on this side of the mat and then come and join the rest of your group." Turned back to the rest. "Okay guys into the next room!"

The next room hadn't been something that Tashigi had noticed before, it had blocks of plastic-like material-covered foam piled up on one other in the corner, there were long beams that seemed to be set to different heights, a pair of suspended rings in the other corner, and another floor mat that seemed to have multiple chalk markings on.

"Alright everyone time to split up into groups." She barked out a few other orders, and everyone seemed to instantly move off to do what she had instructed. When they had all left she then turned to speak to Tashigi. "Since you couldn't start with us on your first week I'm going to take you through some of the basic routines myself and from there we can access what level you need to start off in."

Tashigi felt a wave of relief come over her.

"Have you ever done gymnastics before, Tashigi?"

"No."

"Alright, well let's get started."

The next half an hour Tashigi received basic training and although she couldn't see very well and felt absolutely rubbish at whatever she did or tried to do, Miss. Yasmine Swan always seemed to have something positive to say to help her improve.

Miss. Swan eventually got her to join in with what Tashigi could easily tell was the not so good group, as they focused on achieving unusual balances and stretches on the beams. Tashigi was surprised by how hard it actually was despite it looking so simple, and she fell off quite a few times. Once that exercise was over they went back into the other room to apparently use the trampoline, which again proved to be a lot more dangerous than Tashigi had first given it credit for.

The Trampoline not only had holes in it (it was a woven mat), but was also extremely elasticated making Tashigi feel like she could go flying off in any direction at any moment. But between the breaks for the tramlining Tashigi could watch the far better group doing flips over the horseboxes and seeing how brilliantly they could perform their floor routines. And she got to witness just how good both her sister and Zoro where at this sport.

They were both flipping amazing.

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Once the last session had ended Tashigi decided to stay back and wait for her sister that had been taken to the reception by Miss. Swan along with a few of the other girls that Tashigi assumed could only be to talk about a few upcoming competitions.

She was left in the main gym waiting with a few people until gradually the numbers swilled down, eventually it was just her and Zoro left. Tashigi hadn't really spoken to Zoro since the first week and wasn't at all sure how she should approach him or even start a conversation with him. He was alone now. It would be the best time to talk to him.

"So, um… Zoro?" Tashigi stumbled out her words.

"Uhhuh?" Zoro mumbled with his eyes closed.

"You looked really cool today."

Really cool? What am I saying? That sounds so stupid.

"You think?" he lifted up an eyelid to look at her.

"How do you flip on the trampoline? You make it look so easy."

"Just practice I guess and making sure all your leg and core muscles are tight."

"Is that it?"

"Well," he sat up. "It's just a lot of small things that you forget you're even doing when you practice a lot." He looked straight at her. "It's your first day in here isn't it?"

"Yeah, but I'm really rubbish." Tashigi felt embarrassed and started twirling the ends of her hair around her finger.

"Well that shouldn't come as much of a surprise everyone starts out that way."

"I can't imagine anyone being as bad as me."

Zoro scowled and stood up. "Okay, get up." He said, pulling Tashigi back over to the trampoline.

"Wait, what?.. why?.. What are you doing?" she said as he climbed up onto the trampoline. "We're not supposed to on here when Miss. Swan isn't in here."

"So what, who's gon'na know?"

She allowed him to pull her up onto the much bigger trampoline and then sat down on the edge as she watched him show her some apparently easier moves. Eventually he stopped and encouraged her to join in.

"Why don't you sit in the middle of the tramp in 'this position.'" He said and sat down and demonstrated it for her. "And the game is you can't break out of that position until I stop bouncing."

"Is it safe?"

"It's fun. You'll like it."

She did as he asked and although at first terrifying she didn't mind after a while as Zoro seemed to know what he was talking about and would stop bouncing if he saw she was looking worried.

"I just can't believe you've never been on a trampoline before." Zoro said as they got back off it and walked back to the main entrance. "I thought my dad was bad, but you have had a deprived childhood."

"I just chose to do different things." Tashigi said, still feeling a bit shaken up and muscle sour from all the exercise she had done in one hour.

"But you like it right?" Zoro said turning away from her to run at the second pair of rings that were suspended in the main hall. He grabbed ahold of them and rotated slowly on the spot as the rings swung back and forth. He turned himself upside down so he could look back at her. It's alright if you want something more exciting to do."

"ZORO!" Suddenly there was a thunderous noise that sounded down the corridors and them shot itself into the room.

"Shi…" Zoro didn't finish what he was about to say or get off in time before he was bombarded with what Tashigi thought looked like a human cannonball.

"I missed you Zoro!" A boy with dark black hair hugged the other as they hung upside down for a few seconds before Zoro let go of the hoops and felt flat on the mat.

Zoro wrapped his arms around his soon to be very bruised head and yelled. "What the hell are you doing here Luffy?! I thought you had gone back to live with your dad."

The boy called Luffy sat up and scratched his head apparently unaffected by the landing. "Well he said he wanted me over for the holidays and that I could be taught doing home-school-stuff,… but Gramps said he didn't want me to be taught crap so he brought me back here." He then noticed Tashigi. "Hi Kui!" He stood up and embraced her too swinging her around before putting her back on the ground. "I missed you too."

"That's not Kuina."

"Huh?" Luffy frowned back at Zoro as if he had lost his brains.

"My name is Tashigi, I'm Kuina's twin sister." Tashigi said holding out her hand to the strange young boy.

"Wow!" Luffy gripped her hand and shook it firmly. "That's so cool! You're like the exact same as her. No wonder Zoro likes you." He grinned back at Zoro not noticing the glare of daggers he was receiving back. "I wish I had a twin." He continued talking to Tashigi. "That would be so cool. Is it fun!"

"Um, well it's different." Tashigi wasn't quite sure how she should respond.

"Do you like pretend to be her sometimes and then not get punished for things?" Luffy grinned as if he had just thought up the most ingenious and original idea ever, and Tashigi started to wonder if he was all there.

"Oi!" Kuina's voice could be heard coming from the doorway. "What are you two goof-balls doing now? Just leave them be Tash, their idiots."

At that Luffy decided to drape his arm over Tashigi's shoulders. "Yeah! Well, Tash is my new best friend. So who's the idiot now!"

"I thought you had moved away." Kuina said as she closed in on the group and pulled Tashigi away from Luffy. "You were supposed to move out of the country right?"

"Yeah, but Grandad brought me back." Luffy nodded. "More important though. Why do you have a twin? Where did you find her?"

"I found her with my mother."

"I didn't know you had a mother."

"Yeah well now I do and both mum and dad are married." Kuina said.

"Cool. Wait, that means living together right?"

"Right."

"Just leave the girls be Luffy can't you tell they just want to leave." Zoro interrupted them.

"NO!" He moved to the other side of Tashigi. "Tashy and me are friends. Right?" He grinned at Tashigi.

"I don't even know you yet, though." Tashigi wasn't quite sure how to respond to this. He was just being so weird.

"What makes you guys think Tash will want to be friends with you anyway. She is way to smart for you guys."

"What did Yasmine want to talk to you about Kuina?" Zoro said starting a new conversation.

"It was something about a national competition." She sighed. "Do you think you will be able to afford to go this time Zoro?"

"Don't be ridiculous. Dad would never pay for me to go."

"That's a shame." Tashigi added. "I bet you too would be really good."

"I would be awesome!" Luffy announced.

Tashigi laughed. They were all quite an interesting bunch. She didn't quite get their humour from time to time, but they seemed decent enough. But that wasn't all that surprising.

Something that was surprising to her was how she noticed Zoro come up alongside Kuina to walk with her, how he nodded and agreed with what she was saying, and how he grinned so easily when Kuina jabbed him in the ribs.

Did Zoro actually like Kuina? Tashigi smiled to herself and thought that maybe just maybe that it might be a very good thing for her tom boy sister. He was a perfect match for her, and she was a good match for him.

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Well, I hope you guys like it. I might rewrite it some time, it doesn't feel as good and complete as it should do, but overall I think it turned out okay.

I don't ever remember reading many One Piece fanfiction stories about sports or activities that are generally considered normal, and for me Gymnastics was the norm not Kendo. So I decided to make one of their sporting activities Gymnastics. So, please refrain from dissing it just because it isn't in the cannon, or because it isn't considered normal like all the other AU stories seem to be. I am trying to come up with something more original for my story.

If you have any suggestions that you might like to see happen please leave me a review.

I hope you enjoyed the story. :D

Abi Skywalker.