How to Tame a Wild Cat
Summary: A wild cat will claw or bite if you get too close. They are feral beasts. But every domesticated animal starts out feral. It's all a matter of taming them. This girl named Ket is no exception. Will eventually be Ming/OC.
Warnings: Character death, violence, etc. This is more or less the chapter where things get bad.
Disclaimer: I do not own Korra or Aang. It would be glorious if I did.
A/N: And I am back with chapter 4. This is probably the chapter where I start considering changing the rating to an M. I would appreciate feedback on the rating. This chapter switches view points slightly. Also, I would like to point out that at this stage, it's 8 years previous to season one of Korra.
Chapter 4
Rino was, in his opinion, a kind man. He was generous and mild-mannered and pleasant. But when people started invading his privacy, he WASN'T. So when he saw this skinny, bedraggled little STREET URCHIN going through his bins he was, understandably, displeased. Grabbing her by the scruff of her neck, he hoisted her out of the bin, exposing her dirty face and wild hair. Fixing her with the glare he reserved for the underlings who displeased him, his kept his voice relatively mild and civil - which is when people KNEW he was royally pissed off.
"And what is YOUR name, little girl?"
She stared at him with wide, terrified eyes, mumbling something. How sickeningly adorable.
"Cat? What an odd name for such a little thing like you. Well, little wild cat, it's VERY rude to go through someone's bins. Unfortunately for you, I absolutely despise rudeness." He gave her an absolutely chilling grin. "Luckily, I know exactly how you can make it up to me."
The last thing Ket saw before she was knocked out by a blow to the head was Rino's light blue eyes and wide, toothy grin leering down at her.
Groaning softly, Ket twitched as she slowly came around. Her head felt sore and fuzzy and when she wrinkled her brow she could feel the semi-dried stickiness of a trail of blood down the side of her face. The second thing she noticed after the blood was the fact she couldn't move. Her wrists and ankles were tied together.
"Good to see you waking up, little wild cat," murmured a voice by her ear, making her jerk her eyes open to stare into the blue eyes of the man who had knocked her out. Oh Spirits, what was he going to do to her? She swallowed nervously.
"And this little girl was going through your bins, Rino? Such disrespect to a person such as us... " came a voice past Rino's shoulder. Flicking her gaze to him, Ket spotted a man who looked to be in his early forties with greying hair and bright amber eyes.
Another voice snickered, behind her head where she couldn't see. "I think we should teach her a lesson. It's been a while since we've had any entertainment."
"Very true Caspa, very true... " murmured Rino. "She's too ugly to fetch a high price as a whore... To skinny and scarred. What would you suggest Zolt?" Ket paled dramatically at hearing that name. There was only one Zolt in Republic City as far as she'd heard. Lightning Bolt Zolt. The leader of the Triple Threat Triad. They said he was only the Firebender leader, though everyone knew he really ran everything. The Waterbender and Earthbender were disposable. She trembled slightly. The Triple Threat Triad were not known for their kindness.
Zolt tapped his chin in mock thoughtfulness, fixing his eyes on the shaking little girl. "...I would suggest we feed the wolfdogs," he replied with a cruel smile.
The man she hadn't seen - Caspa - grabbed her by the back of her shirt, choking her slightly as she was lifted off her feet, struggling against her bonds. "It's no use fighting, sweetheart. Not yet, anyway," Caspa laughed, bringing her to a large back room, dropping her to the floor, allowing Ket to get a look at him. He had shoulder-length wavy brown hair and large green eyes that almost gave the impression of kindness, if it wasn't for a hard cruelness that gleamed at the back. He stomped the ground and jerked his arms apart, the stone ground in front of him splitting, revealing a pit with tall smooth edges so that you couldn't climb out.
"I tell you what, little wild cat," Rino said, picking her up by the back of her neck again, holding her so she could see him properly. Her eyes flicked over his tanned and relatively handsome face, the only marks being a scar running through his right eyebrow and a gold loop through his bottom lip. "Since you are obviously sorry about what you did..." he paused and Ket felt her heart thump in hope that he would just let her leave with a split lip and a black eye. "...I'll give you a fighting chance," he continued, grinning maliciously as the young girl's face clearly showed her heart dropping. Flicking his fingers nimbly, he sliced through the ropes holding her wrists and ankles together with a little slip of water and tossed her into the pit.
"Give us some entertainment, little wild cat," he purred, falling back beside Zolt to watch. Caspa snickered, lowering his arms, a section of the pit wall lowering, a low growl echoing from the small room joined to the pit. Wolfdogs.
Ket whimpered, backing up against the wall, clenching her hands into fists as the first of the starving animals slunk out of their home, sniffing the air. It was easily as tall as Ket and must have weighed as much as a full-grown man, coated in shaggy grey fur on the majority of it's body, though there was a streak of black running along it's underside. It was followed by two other slightly smaller wolfdogs that were silver and white. All three of them looked hungry and had drool hanging in thick strings from their open jaws, showing their rows of gleaming fangs.
The Alpha turned it's head to Ket, locking his eyes on her. The human wouldn't make much of a meal, but when you were hungry food was food. And this skinny little human was definitely food. Slowly he started to slink towards the trembling meal, not wanting her to run and make what little meat there was on her tough just before she died. Letting loose a feral snarl, he jumped towards her, intent on clenching his jaws around her tiny throat.
And that was when Ket punched her arm forwards, sending a pillar of rock from the floor into the wolfdog's stomach, sending him sprawling back into the other two who yelped in surprise. Swallowing, Ket raised her fists, determinedly. If the Triple Threat leaders wanted entertainment she'd give it to them, but she was NOT going to die today. She hadn't come so far to be put down at the final hurdle, and she was going to prove it.
One of the smaller wolfdogs that had been knocked over was back on her feet, and was growling lowly, her hackles raised. She crept towards Ket cautiously and once she was within reach, swiped at her, claws extended. Jerking back quickly, Ket stomped her foot into the ground, sending a boulder shooting up from the floor straight into the wolfdog's jaw, making her reel back, whimpering in pain.
The final wolfdog, the smallest of the three, had slunk up behind the surprisingly difficult meal while her elder tried to deal with it. Snarling as her friend was knocked back, she pounced. Whipping around, Ket kicked up a chunk of rock and punched it into the wolfdog, sending it flying back into the wall. Panting, she shook slightly as all three of the feral animals advanced slowly, each of them only slightly injured. How much longer she'd be able to keep this up, she didn't know.
"An EARTHBENDER?" Zolt hissed, and Rino paled slightly. Zolt hated it when a benders had to be killed - they had 'superior blood' to non-benders and it was such a waste to spill such precious liquid. "Why didn't you tell me the girl was a bender?!"
"I-I didn't know Zolt, I swear! She never did any Earthbending, how could I have known-?" Rino stammered quickly, halted by Zolt's hand.
"Shut up and get her OUT of there," he growled, narrowing his eyes at Caspa and Rino. They scurried forwards, Rino pulling water out of the air and smacking back the wolfdogs, lashing it around their throats and tugging them away from the barriers Ket had formed to keep them away from her, tossing them with some difficulty back in their cave. Caspa quickly slammed shut the hole in the wall as Rino reached down to fish Ket out of the pit. Pulling her up, he held her in his arms like you would a small child, petting her hair gently. If anything this just terrified Ket more.
"Little Cat, why didn't you say you were a bender? You would have saved us all this trouble," Rino chastised her gently.
"I-I d-didn't think it would m-matter," Ket mumbled.
"Of course it matters," Zolt said, stepping forwards. "Now you have a use other than just food for my pets. Tell me, what's your name and how old are you?"
She swallowed. "My name's Ket, Sir, and I'm 12 years old. I came here looking for my Mama, after my Papa died."
Rino's eyes lit up. "No family, hmm? I'll take care of you, sweetie."
"I don't think so," Caspa said with a scowl. "She's an EARTHbender, not a WATERbender. By rights she's mine!" He didn't particularly want the little brat, but he HATED losing turf to Rino.
"No, I found her, she's mine," Rino retorted, tightening his grip on Ket. It might be interesting to have an Earthbender working directly for him - not to mention it would piss Caspa RIGHT off.
Zolt growled, sounding horribly similar to his 'pets' just below the floor, Rino and Caspa stopping their complaining immediately. "Rino. You keep the kid. Caspa, you train her," he levelled his glare at Caspa, making sure his decision was accepted. "And not half-assed like you did with some of the last ones, teach her properly."
Rino put Ket down, crouching so he was eye level, looking her over. "Hmmm, I was right... Too ugly to be a whore, however well people might pay for your young age... How would you like to collect money for me? It's really very easy." He glanced at Caspa, smirking slightly. "And if Caspa can train you well, you can be a fighter in out tournaments... I'm sure you'd earn me a lot of money there," he grinned, his tone making it sound like all of this was a good thing, almost like it was a game a child would like.
Ket swallowed. Considering she'd almost been fed to wolfdogs for not being a bender, she didn't see much of a way to refuse them. So she nodded. Rino laughed like a delighted parent.
"There's a good girl! Let's go get you cleaned up and we can sort out where to put you," he said, leading her out by the hand.
As they left, Ket glanced back at Caspa and Zolt.
"What are we going to do about the wolfdogs? They need feeding soon or they'll start eating each other," Caspa asked, folding his arms over his chest.
Zolt shrugged. "I don't care. Find someone who's missed their third payment. We need someone to be made an example of."
Caspa nodded. "There's a man who runs a dumpling stand who's a couple of days late. We can toss him in there tomorrow."
Ket paled, shuddering. Oh Spirits. What had she agreed to join?
True to his word, Rino had taken her to a run-down apartment that one of his 'employees' lived in (he wasn't taking her to HIS home, don't be silly) and had cleaned her up. Ket stood there in a towel, shivering from cold as her clothes were being washed.
"You don't look half so ugly with all that filth scrubbed off you," Rino informed her, looking her over again. "Now, there's just a few more things to do, and you'll be officially one of mine..." He glanced into the back room. "Tekko, do you still have that 'Welcome Pack'?"
Tekko - the man who owned the apartment, a Waterbender of about 30 with the same gold hoop as Rino - shouted affirmative and came out a few minutes later with a dirty white box. Setting it on the table, he opened it, showing several sharp-looking needles and a clear packet of gold hoops.
Suddenly Ket didn't feel as though this Welcome Pack was all that welcoming.
Cupping her face, Rino traced his thumb over her bottom lip, stopping on the corner where his piercing was. "Just think, Ket," he murmured. "This is like giving you a family. This shows you all belong to me." Stepping back, Ket saw Tekko wiping alcohol along the needle point and a gold ring to sterilise them. She swallowed, letting out a tiny whimper, pulling the towel tighter around herself. This was going to hurt.
Grabbing her chin to keep her head still, Tekko clamped a hoop in his teeth so it was ready to follow the needle through her lip. Pulling her lip out, he slid the needle through the delicate flesh. Ket cried out and tears pricked at her eyes but she didn't try to jerk away. The alcohol on the needle burned like fire, but she didn't want a gash like that through her mouth.
Tugging the needle out, a thin trickle of blood following, the gold hoop followed the new path through her lip. It was wider than the needle and had been wiped with the alcohol too, and it felt like her lip was being ripped open so she shouted out again, but Ket refused to cry, silently repeating her promise to herself, clenching her fists into her covers, nails digging right through and into her palms. Never give them the satisfaction.
Rino smiled as Tekko pulled away, brushing his thumb over the spill of blood from the new piercing. He studied it for a moment before licking it off the pad of the digit. He had always been fascinated with blood. As a Waterbender, the ultimate control of someone came from the ability to bend the water in their blood. Something so common and yet could bring about such weakness if it was tapped into properly. He smiled, sliding his hand down to Ket's throat before gripping it tightly and pinning her to the wall where she choked and tried to squirm away, forgetting her modesty as her hands gripped the one around her neck, trying to pull it away. Flipping a blade out of his sleeve, Rino held it in front of Ket's face, making sure he had her attention.
When she stopped moving to stare with wide-eyed terror he gently, almost lovingly, traced it around the lid of each eye as she tried not to blink for fear he'd spear her eye by accident. The Waterbender leader grinned and pressed the knife deeply into the flesh above her right eye, where his scar was. Blood quickly welled up and streamed down her face, making her close her eye against the flow, though the other stayed open in a silent expression of pain.
He held the knife there, in her skin, for a few agonisingly slow seconds before jerking it away, a spurt of blood flowing from the wound. Leaning in, he ran his tongue along her cheek, tasting the precious red liquid that spilled from what was going to be her newest scar. Purring slightly he dropped her to the floor in a trembling, gasping heap, turning away as she weakly grabbed for her towel, pulling it back over her thin form.
"Welcome to the family, my little Wild Cat."
A/N: And BAM. This is where the action kicks off. The next few chapters are going to be about Ket's life with the Triad. Reviews and feedback are appreciated, thank you!