Suki was infuriated. She tried to keep her feelings for herself, but she could already feel her face turning red from rage. She could see the same on Kei, but the other girl was angry for a whole different reason.

Tamara locked the box back up, and with that, Suki's hope to get a real sword. Originally, she arranged with Kitara that she wouldn't request a sword, so Suki would have a slight chance to actually get one. It was her big dream since her first sword lesson, and the training with those awkward wooden training swords just boosted her desire. So Kitara's action stabbed Suki right in her heart. Even though they arranged the sword thing two weeks ago, for a whole different occasion. But Suki didn't get her sword then either, so it was still a very mean thing from Kitara to crush this chance.

"Good job picking the teams, Suki." said Tamara admiringly. "Can you explain me why you arranged the groups this way?"

"Okako is my lieutenant, dutiful enough to keep back Pema from doing stupid things. They also have similar fighting skills, so they form a balanced pair. Nirmal is the second worst fighter, but she is the smartest of us. Kitara is the second best combatant, but she is rather goofy. It came quite natural to pair them up." And Kitara now has a sword too, added Suki in her thoughts. "Asha is the weakest of us, so I had to put them into the largest and strongest group that is me and Kei."

"Wise decisions Suki. You are growing into a very capable leader of your Kyoshi Warriors." Tamara's praising words somewhat soothed Suki's mood. But they were just fuelling Kei's anger.

"What?" yelled Kei. "She just put those groups together randomly!" Tamara just smiled, and Suki took it as a sign that she didn't believe it. And that was good, since the accusation was pretty close to the truth.

"Calm down Kei." From her voice, it was clear that Tamara was amused by Kei's outburst. "If the groups are really random, then why did she keep you in her group?" Her instructor's question left Kei speechless. She bashfully buried her neck in her shoulders, powerlessly enduring the giggles of Suki and Asha.

Tamara picked up her own war fans and headed towards the door of the dojo.

"Okay girls, start searching. Be very careful out there, and if you encounter any problems, then warn me first!" And with that, Tamara left, leaving the three girls on their own.

As she disappeared from their sight, Suki's thoughts quickly returned to the sword. She actually had one, final chance to get the desired weapon: Kei. The box was tough, but Suki saw tougher things crushed into pieces by the power of the girl. And if she could somehow convince her to rip the top of the box open…

And it wouldn't be too hard to ask her either. Back when Kei arrived at Kyoshi Island nearly eight years ago, Suki was the first who accepted her and pretty much she was the one who helped her to integrate into the group. Since then, Kei had a special affection towards Suki, what Suki mostly identified with some sort of strong but rough sisterly love. Sometimes it was pretty weird – like how Kei regularly protected her from Takumi, beating up the boy badly whenever he tried to get close to Suki – but it also ensured a way to control her.

She carefully approached Kei, who was still in the middle of her failure to discredit Suki. She was pretty sure that she wouldn't get away with this without a fight, but she was ready to go down that road.
Kei's attack was so fast that Suki didn't have the chance to even see it. One moment, she was turning towards Kei, and in the next, the girl was in front of her and all she could feel is that she is falling to the ground. Suki hit the hard training mattress with her butt, but she was quite used to this and barely noticed the sharp pain.

"I see you have already taken your seat, pumpkin!" started Kei angrily. "That's good, because this will be a rough ride!" And with that, she hurled herself at Suki, trying to hold her down. Suki tried to fight back, but it was completely hopeless. Even though she was more skilled, Kei's strength and speed was inhuman, and she effortlessly swept away Suki's defence. They rolled towards the right a few times then they rolled towards the left, and finally ended up at the door of the dojo. This wrestling was only enjoyable to Asha, who just loved to witness any and all clash between the two.

Kei grabbed Suki's head and started to repeatedly knock it to the door's frame.

"Now, show me what you got, great leader!" panted Kei, clearly enjoying the situation. But her delight ended quickly, as Suki found the rope of the door's screen and dropped the heavy sheeting onto Kei's head. The girl screamed up from the surprise, and released Suki's head. She used the opportunity to wrap the screen around Kei's head and lacking a better idea, she gave her a headbutt.

It felt like giving a headbutt to a steel ball. Suki nearly knocked herself out, but somehow managed to remain conscious. At least Kei tumbled down from her, chaotically beating the air as she tried to remove the screen. This gave Suki the opportunity to stagger on her feet and gain some distance from her infuriated warrior sister.

"I'm going to kill you for this!" rattled Kei as she was removing the screen from her head.

She stood up and moved off towards Suki to continue the fight, but she had enough of this. Kei was a brute, an embodiment of raw violence, but Suki has already learnt that if she could somehow manage to survive the physical treatment, then she can easily win any fight against her.

Suki steeled herself, and took an unflinching step towards Kei. She forced out a stern face, even though her head was still jingling from the headbutt.

"Cut it out Kei!"

"Why should I, pumpkin?"

"Because I said so." hissed Suki, starring right into Kei's eyes. This was the hardest part, as standing the gaze of those black eyes was quite disturbing. Especially because of the small green rim around the pupils: it gave the feeling that the blackness somehow crept onto Kei's originally green eyes. Some said that the eyes are the mirror of the soul – if it is really true, then Kei had one malformed display for her soul for sure.

Nevertheless, her efforts worth the prize. Kei tried to stand Suki's stare, but it was clear that the attempt quickly drained away her fighting spirit. This was Kei's weakest area: a battle of wills, a clean-cut, non-physical face-off. She was strong, she was tough, but she shrunk easily under the pressure of a stronger personality. And Suki had one strong personality.

By the time she reached Suki, Kei was defeated. She just bumped into Suki and kept moving away.

"I'm glad that you finally cooled down Kei." noted Suki rigorously. Kei just growled something under her nose as an answer. Suki got it as an 'all right'.

Battles like this one were fairly common between them, and mostly represented the "rough" part of their relationship. But frankly, Suki couldn't really mind them, as she usually emerged victorious and as long as Kei was busy fighting her, at least the rest of the girls were safe. And of course being the only one who is able to defeat the bully of the group benefited Suki in various ways both as the powerful leader of the group and as the highly skilled warrior.

With the real show over, Asha jumped up to fan around both girls. Suki knew that Asha admired them greatly, which wasn't really surprising since Asha was the youngest and weakest Kyoshi Warrior and Suki and Kei were the oldest and strongest, respectively. She first jumped into Kei's back, putting her arms around her neck.

"You are so strong Kei! You are the mightiest warrior of the world!" said Asha joyfully.

"Why not, I like that." Kei was smiling, but her voice was full with spite. "But if you don't stop strangling me, then you will have a first-hand experience about how mighty I am."

"You should totally carry me on your back for the rest of the day!" giggled Asha. She was rather unaffected by Kei's menace.

"Really? And why should I?" It seemed that Kei was just moments away from throwing Asha out from the dojo through the roof window.

"Because you are strong!" Asha waited a little with the punch-line. "And because I said so!" And with that, she rolled down from Kei before the older girl could catch her. Luckily to her, Kei didn't feel the need to waste her superior speed, so she could get away. She ran right to Suki, and hugged her.

"And you are so brave Suki! Beating up Kei and all that!" Kei just stuck out her tongue towards Suki upon hearing the mocking. Maybe she was a bully, but she knew how to lose.

"Come on girls, we should start the searching." said Suki. "The northern part of the island is the biggest, and I want to finish looking before the day is over."

The three girls left the dojo, and headed north, with Suki at the lead, Asha in the middle, and a grumbling Kei at the end. They just barely missed the large shadow that slipped past behind the dojo.