Double or Nothing: Chapter 1 (Patreon)

A Dream Relentlessly Pursued

Summer turned to winter before giving way to spring. As the snow melted with the longer days, the land awakened, bringing new life into this world. Standing there by the coast, feeling the fresh ocean breeze as the sun rose up to greet the world, he couldn’t help but reminisce on times gone by.

It’s been a year since Kuina had her accident, full year having come and gone without so much a warning. With time came change. Kuina just had her twelfth birthday and with it came the changes that everyone woman experienced. He wished that his wife was still here to help him with Kuina’s growing pains but life was rarely, if ever fair.

She was growing taller by the ages, looking more and more like her mother as the days pass by. So strong and beautiful, and almost willful to a fault. A father couldn’t be anymore proud to have a daughter like her. He was sure that his wife would be as well. Sometimes however, he wished she wasn’t so much like her mother.

“Kuina,” He called out, frowning as he heard the sound of gravel crunching behind him, “Kuina, this farce has been going on for too long,” He told her as his hands rested upon the hilt of the Wado Ichimonji, it’s white scabbard strapped to his side.

“Damn it,” his daughter cursed, earning a frown from him, before she asked him, “So the answer is still no, huh?”

Koushirou breathed in sharply before sighing, pressing his palm against his forehead, “I tolerated your request to sail out to sea despite the many attempts to force it through your haphazard and ill thought out attacks. I tolerated them because they were harmless request,” He hissed out before he turned around, gesturing at the fishing boat anchored in the protected cove, “This however?” he gritted out, eyes narrowed as he asked her, “Do you intend to sail out to sea all on your own?”

His daughter, a year older but none that wiser, stood there with a simple pack slung across his back along with a pair of bokken strapped to her waist. She neither had a true sword not a knife on her person yet she answered back, “If it means that I can be free to pursue my dreams,” their eyes filled with the same dogged determination that had lit up the day she stared asking him to let her sail the seas, “Then yes.”

As a growl of frustration escaped his lips, he asked, “Are you even listening to yourself Kuina!” voiced raised at just stupid and boneheaded her plans were. He couldn’t bring himself to calm down, not when his daughter seemed intent to die by her own hands, “Ever since you recovered from your accident, all you’ve ever talked about is your dream! Is this how you wish to achieve it? By running away and sailing to your death?”

As frustration welled up inside him, he questioned her, “Do you even have even the most basic of provisions, navigational equipment, or even simple camping tools?” Seeing her avert his gaze, he couldn’t help but run his hands across his graying hair. The boat was as bare any vessel can be. All it had was the sail on its mast and the wood in its hull, nothing more and nothing less.

Glaring at the the skiff that was just big enough for two, maybe three people, he then asked, “How did you even pay for all this?” Before raising his hand while he pinched the bridge of his nose, “You know what, don’t answer that. I don’t want to hear it!” he hissed as he turned to her daughter who blustered and fumed at his words.

With her face red with anger, she shouted back, “I paid for it all on my own!”

He found at a lost of words, shame welling up in his chest. Before he could gather his wits, she pressed on, marching forward, “While you were busy keeping me away from the dojo, away from the sword and away from my friends, I started to do odds and ends in the town!” She screamed, throwing her hands up in the air.

“Every day for the last few months, I’ve been working my ass off not only with the sword but with earning the money to get out of this god forsaken rock!” She yelled out, her voice carrying across the empty cove.

With her fingers jabbing on his chest, she hissed out, “Unlike you, the town appreciated me!” Throwing her hands to the side, she then shouted, “They were happy to see my pursue my dreams while you did everything to stop me!” before she fell silent, shaking and panting as she looked at him not only with anger and frustration, but with pleading eyes.

With tears welling up in her eyes, she begged him, “Please, just please let me have this,” her voice so silent and weak as she rubbed her eyes, “Why can’t you just let me go…”

There was silence between them as he stood there, watching her daughter as she silently cried. He couldn’t take it anymore, “It’s time for this stop,” he whispered as his hands reached for his sword. Pulling it out, he turned to the boat and marched forward, “I’m putting an end to this madness.”

“No!” His daughter wailed as she grabbed on to the hem of his shirt, pulling at tugging him even as he continued onwards, “You can’t do this! This is so unfair! I won’t let you!” she cried out, her pain mirrored in his heart. It hurts, it truly hurts, yet he pressed on, unwilling to deal with this any longer.

Raising his sword, he swung down hard, only for his daughter to grab him by the arm. The air rippled as the tiniest of cut nicked the sail. The accursed ship still yet stand and it was no thanks to his daughter. “Stop this!” His daughter begged him.

“No, you stop this!” He snapped as she threw her off him. Eyes wide, he watched her fly across the air before splashing down on the sea, rolling to a stop just before the shore.

Soaking wet from head to toe, she sat up, eyes hardened with hate. With a wordless cry, she pulled out her her bokken and charged straight at him. Taken aback, he was forced on the defensive, blocking her daughter strike.

Despite the mismatch in both size and weapon, he was made to step back. His daughters twin swords swung in concert, striking without hesitation. One strike led to another, weaving their deadly dance as they lashed out. Eyes, neck, biceps, stomach, groin and thigh, if she were to wield anything aside from a wooden sword, the results would have been deadly. Still, she only wielded that, a wooden sword.

Catching both her swords on the edge of his blade, he held firm as both of them glared at each other. Barring her teeth, she stared back at him with tear eyes, her hands shaking as edge of the Wado Ichamonji slowly bit through the tough ironwood.

With a casual push, he threw her away, but this time, Kuina caught herself mid air. Stabbing her sword down on the soft sand, she skidded to a halt as the two of them stared off. With her weapon on the verge of breaking, it was clear who would come out on top. Despite this, despite everything that would tell her otherwise, Kuina charged again. This time however, he was prepared.

Breathing in, he raised his sword, holding it firm until he saw the whites of her eyes. With a single swipe, the match was over as his daughters sword was cut in twine, the blades reduced to mere stumps no longer than mere knives. “It’s over,” He whispered as his sword passed by her harmlessly. As their eyes met however, he knew he had made a mistake; She wanted this.

“Never!” With a warcry, she threw her left sword at him, making him flinch as he reared back in surprise. Opening his eyes, he could scarcely believe it as his daughter was upon her, having leapt up to meet him; sword in hand.

He held up his blade but it was far too late. It was all over in a flash as searing hot pain flashed over his left eyes. With a cry, he lashed out blindly, stumbled back clutching the wound his daughter gave him.

With shaky hands, he pulled his back down, staring at the blood pouring down from his brow. She had just struck him, almost blinding him in the process. So overwhelmed was he he that he almost missed the sound of his daughter gasping and coughing.

Eyes wide, he stared up, dropping his sword as he reached for his daughter, “Kuina!” he cried out, panic surging as he realized what he had just done. Thankfully, his daughter was unharmed, saved for getting soaked once more. Worry quickly gave way to anger as he shouted, “You ignorant, boneheaded, ungrateful, idiotic daughter of mine!”

Reaching down to retrieve his sword, he then waded through the shallow water. Ignoring the blood dripping down his brow, he reached out to grab his daughter before dragging her to shore. Tossing her down on the sandy beach, he then watched as his daughter coughed out seawater. With barely restrained anger, he shouted “When will you realized that all I’ve done is for your own good!”

Wiping away at her lips, Kuina turned around towards him and shouted back, “Bullshit!” On unsteady legs, she picked herself up, glaring back at him as she accused him, “You’re only doing this for yourself!

He gaped at her reply, sputtering, “For myself?” he asked as he jabbed his finger at his chest, “I have done everything for you! It’s always been about you,” Covering his face and walking away, he let out a muffled cry of frustration. Turning around, he let his frustration be know as he let it out, every scrap of grief and misgiving he had kept all this time, “I’ve done nothing but make sure that your safe and well fed. Who clothed you? Who made sure that your fed? Who took care of you when you got hurt!”

Sheathing his sword with a huff, he marched to shore before grabbing her by the scruff of her neck and pulling her up to his feet, “This, this can’t go on forever,” He muttered darkly as he started dragging, intent of getting his unruly daughter back home, “You can’t keep on dreaming about impossibilities and expect to achieve it through sheer will and effort alone,”

“No!” Yet his daughter fought on, pulling and tugging at his grip, “Let me go! Just let me go!” She begged, beating away at his hands until he got tired. Letting her go, he watched as she stumbled down on the ground.
Silenced descended down on the hidden cove as she laid there panting. He let her catch her breath, letting her gather herself before he whispered, “This has to end. Stop chasing this impossible dream.”

He could see it in her eyes, her mind already turning as she was about to argue once more but he cut her off, refusing to let her have a word, “I can’t watch you throw away your life just for this? To be the strongest? And for what?”

“You can’t, It’s impossible,” He whispered, shaking his head as he looked over his daughter, “No matter how hard you try, no matter how hard you wish, you can never achieve this dream, Kuina so please, just give up.”

Of all the words the he had thrown and of all the strikes he had made, none had hurt Kuina more than those three words. Seeing her hopes crushed in her eyes was almost too painful for him to bear but this needed to be done.

Her pain however would fuel the anger in her eyes as she slowly stood up. “You don’t know what I can or can’t do,” She hissed out a she picked herself up, “or how far I can go!” She shouted before that anger melted away as it gave way to weariness, “Why can’t you just believe in me?”

Frowning once more, he felt the all too familiar buzz of annoyance building in his chest, his anger returning in full force as he shouted, “I know what you can do because you are my daughter!”

“Then how about Vice Admiral Tsuru!” Kuina argued, “Hell, how about Big Mom! They’re strong, so why can’t I be like them?” she asked him.

“Because You are not them!” He screamed before the flame in his chest started to sputter and dim, leaving him but a empty husk as he looked up to his daughter, “You’re just… you. My sweet, fragile daughter…” Breathing in to center himself once more, he sighed as his shoulder sagged, “It’s time for you to face the real world Kuina, it’s time for you to lower the sword and maybe take on sewing or gardening.”

“Liar,” His daughter replied, tears once more flowing down her cheeks as she spat out, “Come on, say it. Say what you truly mean, tell me I can’t achieve my dreams because of what I born as. Tell me I can’t be the strongest because of what I am! Tell me!”

Shaking his head, he turned away, “There will be challenges you can’t overcome,” He told her as he stared up at the open sky, watching as the News Coo flew over head, “There will be people that will be stronger, more fearsome and ruthless beyond measure.” He recounted, remembering the faces and names of all the people that shook the four seas.

For his daughter to stand before them and fight them, he just simply can’t, “You can never beat them, much less overpower them,” Looking back at his daughter, he whispered, “There are monsters out there, monsters that will not hesitate it ripping you apart. They will be waiting, waiting for anyone foolish enough to challenge them.”

“Then let them wait,” His daughter replied, gazing up to him, red eyed yet with a determination that burned brightly, “You say that I can never overpower them, then I’ll outfight them,” She declared, “If I can’t out fight them, then I will out think them,” Walking towards the water’s edge, she picked up her two swords as she turned back to him, clutching them tightly in her fist, “If I can’t out think them? I’ll simply have to keep on fight till they drop.”

Sheathing her sword, she told him, “No one is ever truly ever invincible. So long as they breath, so long as their heart beats, they can be defeated,” staring into her eyes, she then promised, “I will overcome them. I will prove to everyone that ever doubted me that they were wrong about me. I will be the strongest.”

As he stood there, staring into his daughters eyes, he finally realized; she was never giving up. With a shuddering sigh, he asked her, “What are you wiling to give up just to achieve your dream Kuina?”

Without a moment of hesitation, she replied, “Everything,” Her mind was set and there was nothing he could do. The only person that could ever change her mind now was herself and that was something he could not accept.

Closing her eyes, he felt the weight of the world settle on his shoulders as he spoke the words he never thought he’d tell his own daughter, “So long as you hold on to this dream of yours, you are no longer welcome in my house,” He casted her out of his household. She will have nothing but as he opened his eyes, he only saw a woman accepting this very challenge, “And so long as I stay standing, you will never get off this island, do you understand?” He asked and he nodded.

Gathering her things, she walked past him and into the forest, away from the house that she grew up in. Watching her form disappear into the woods, all he could think off as he stood there was what had he done wrong with raising her?