Suki hummed as she pulled on her tunic, trying in vain to remember the tune of a song that she'd heard back in the Earth Kingdom, guarding the ferry terminal. She'd been in the Boiling Rock long enough to cherish the time that they got for showers every third day. Though the water smelled unpleasant, she could admit that the heat felt wonderful on her sore muscles. Don't lie. This has been one of the few things that's better than home. Hot showers are so much better than heating up a bucket for hot water and having to scrub clean.
She hadn't had the chance to truly practice chi usage against an opponent, given the prison's policy on troublemakers, but she'd been pushing herself as hard as she could by herself. There was little else she could do while in lockup, and the long periods of meditation to become more in tune with her body ate up long hours. Over time, she'd realised that her body took more naturally to increased speed and agility, rather than the ability to shatter iron chains in a single heel strike. Not to say that she couldn't; she'd managed to create a fair sized dent in the metal wall of her cell with a solid palm heel strike.
The soft clapping of bathing sandals reached her ears, and she couldn't help but tense. She'd been lucky enough to avoid any major skirmishes so far, but a few months back Giman had gotten ambushed by Daiyu and her gang in the showers. She hadn't appreciated being humiliated by Suki all of those months back, and had chosen her time to strike well, when Suki hadn't been able to watch her back. She forced her body to relax, easing the tension from individual muscle groups with a deep and measured exhale as a trio of women entered the showers, chatting softly. She thought that she recognized one of the women as Unity, though she wasn't sure.
Suki nodded at the women as she turned to grab her shower kit, mind already miles away with her girls in their own prison. She'd been trying to reassure herself for months that they were fine, but Azula had dropped enough hints to her in her two subsequent visits to keep doubt in her heart. She idly rubbed at the small burn scars above her elbow; the characters for Earth and Bastard had been added above Fire, and each symbolized one of her Imperial Highness's special visits.
Her internal musings were interrupted by a line of pain from the improvised dagger that one of the women had tried to stab her with. She turned and saw the three women circling her, two of them between her and the door. Two obstacles between her and the relative safety of the prison commons areas. The one that she'd recognized was holding the bloody implement, which she guessed was a sharpened shard of steel wall paneling. On Giman's advice, she had a similar set of knives, though hers were safely tucked under her futon.
"You've irritated the wrong people, dirt kisser." The older woman flipped the bloody shiv in her hand, crimson spattering the walls.
"You don't want to do this. I haven't done anything to you, but I won't hold back. I'm not going to die in here. But you might, if you don't walk away right now." She traced a finger down her clearly visible burn scars. "Her Imperial Highness might take a personal interest in you, and I don't think that she'd care so much about keeping you alive. You're no one." Please back down. I don't want to do this. Don't be stupid. Her heart rate skyrocketed, and all the tension that she'd forced out of her body immediately returned, and she could feel the adrenaline thrumming through her.
The two women in front of the door hesitated. The cruelty of the Royal Family was well known, and Giman had made sure to spread the word that Suki was her special prisoner. Their leader sneered at her. "Azula would have to know who killed you to punish them, wouldn't she, ladies?" Her words seemed to steel them, and they advanced upon her, drawing their blades. Guanyin have mercy. They are that stupid.
The leader and one of her lackeys charged her from opposite sides, knives gleaming in the light. She swayed to the side, allowing the lackey's blade to bypass her entirely as her knee snapped up, slamming into their elbow. At the same time, her hand shot out and struck the leader's forearm, causing her to curse as her own knife went awry. Dropping, Suki kicked out at the lackey's ankle, twisting it and making them fall onto their side, the wind knocked out of her. The other minion darted in with her weapon, knife flashing down in an arc.
Throwing an arm between them, she unconsciously tracked the leader as her other hand grabbed the knife hand of the minion, dropping the rest of her body to the ground and flipping her over into the wall, using the momentum of the other's body to flip herself upright. She beckoned the leader and her recovering ally as the last woman slumped into silence after hitting the wall. "You can still walk away."
The other women screamed in rage as they charged her, hoping to overwhelm her. Spirits damn them. The teamwork between the two was obvious; while the leader's knife whipped up towards her side, the other knife arced down from above. Suki tried to dodge the upper knife and deflect the lower, but her foot slipped on a wet tile, and she received a score across her forearm and a deep cut on her side as the blade skipped over her ribs.
Lure her in and end it. Suki feigned another slip and the others moved in, sensing the kill. She slowly breathed out, and moved, pushing her chi through her limbs. Her hand blurred in motion, slapping the blade out of the minion's wrist with an audible snapping noise. At the same time, she kicked out at the leader, chi humming through her and launched the woman at the far wall, a half dozen feet away, shaking the wall with the impact. The woman with the broken wrist cried out in pain, clutching it to her body, as she turned her fear-filled eyes to Suki. She blew her bangs out of her face and raised her hands.
The woman's face paled as she turned and fled, a soft whimpering being the only thing that she left behind. Suki turned to the lackey, recovering her blade and stashing it among her recovered shower kit. If I have it, they won't, and it wouldn't hurt to keep a blade in my kit. She was already beginning to groan, pulled reluctantly back into consciousness. She gingerly stepped over her body as she went to the leader, looking to collect her blade and store it with the other.
Curious. I didn't think that I hit her that hard... Ice flooded her veins as she remembered the feeling of reaching out and barely tapping the woman's wrist, chi flowing through her and effortlessly snapping her wrist.
Forgoing all caution now, she collapsed to her knees in front of the unmoving woman and a shaky hand reached out for her neck, searching for a pulse.
She found nothing except warm flesh.
Desperate, she rolled her over and grabbed her wrist, hoping beyond hope that maybe she'd just searched in the wrong place, that she'd made a mistake. But she couldn't find a pulse there either, and no telltale pulse of chi. Her head rolled over lifelessly.
Suki fell back, and scurried back as her foot touched the body. The corpse. She'd done that. Haneul had warned her that this would happen if she continued in her path as a Kyoshi Warrior, but it hadn't seemed real at the time. This was real. So very real. Nausea rose in her throat, and she barely held it down as she stumbled to her feet, clutching her stomach as she fled the showers.
In the distance, a distant door slammed shut.