"The pellet missed the vital organs." Hiroshi explained, holding Asami's hand tight.
"They also got the shrapnel out."
Asami held his hand tighter.
"So , she'll be okay?"
Hiroshi gave his daughter a smile.
"She'll be okay."
Asami couldn't help but pull her father into an embrace. Everything had calmed down since the morning when all the events happened. Lin had sent out multiple searches for the assassins that she had met in the alleyway but they had no luck, they had completely fled from the area from what she had heard. The security around the Manor had doubled which wasn't a problem for Asami, she just wanted her mother to be safe. And she was. Her medical room had atleast 10 guards around the area, two posted on each window. She was more than safe.
"How long will it be until she is able to walk again?"
Hiroshi shrugged, not even the doctors had an exact date.
"A month at most, possibly longer ."
"When can I see her?" Asami asked.
"You can see her soon. She's still unconscious though." Her father responded, moving to the door of her bedroom.
"Try and get some rest. Mako and Bolin are out here if you need them."
"Thank you father." Asami said, smiling as Hiroshi left her bedroom. She took her fathers words into consideration and slipped into bed .
<->
"Is the deed done?"
Eska looked at her brother, waiting for his response.
"Yes Sir." Desna answered. But that was a lie, he didn't know if he hit the shot right. Maybe he should've waited a bit longer until Kai had made some more flintlocks. Maybe he should've trained with Kuvira more so his accuracy was a little better. Even so, Kuvira wasn't the best shooter, neither an archer. The Guild really missed Korra for those exact reasons. She was an excellent member; such a shame she ran away.
Zaheer turned around and looked at his confused expression.
"Are you sure?"
Desna swallowed the lump in his throat and stood up tall.
"Yes Sir."
Zaheer nodded and pulled out a drawer. He grabbed a cloth bag full of gold coins and placed it on the desk.
"Your next contract is Asami Sato." He said, sliding the contract across the table. He had shown them this one before but he thought it would be easier if they both did one contract at a time. He learnt that the hard way with a certain runaway member.
The twins nodded as they pocketed the gold.
"Yes sir."
As soon as the twins shut the door to Zaheers office, Kuvira had pulled them both by the collar and dragged them into Kai's workshop. She held out a hand and they both looked at her with a confused stare.
"Pay up." She said, sternly.
"Why would we pay you?" Eska spat as she swatted Kuvira's hand away from them.
Kuvira frowned and pulled her hand out again.
"I saved both of your lives you twit. I deserve some of your rewards." She replied, just as coldly.
"Now. Pay up."
"Kuvira is this really necessary?" Kai asked, not wanting a scuffle to happen in his workshop.
"You, Shut it." She said, her palm still flat as she awaited for the gold coins to fall onto it.
"We aren't paying you."
Kuvira scoffed as she grabbed Desna by the collar and lifted him off the ground slightly.
"I helped you complete that contract. Without me, you would've ended up like Korra."
Kuvira paused as she looked him in the eye, his face full of freight.
"Pathetic."
"Okay, okay. Take it." Desna pleaded, holding his hands up as Kuvira lowered him to the ground. A smirk fell upon her lips as the twins left the bag of gold in her hands. They soon left in a hurry, making Kuvira chuckle.
"What is wrong with you?" Kai asked, utterly stunned by what he just witnessed.
Kuvira just laughed as she tossed him a few coins.
"Here, you deserve it." She said as she sat down; lifting her legs up to rest on the wooden table. Soon, guilt sat on her chest but not inside her brain. What she had just done could not be un-done and she knew that. The reputation she was building up for herself wasn't something she wanted at all but, she couldn't stop. Even the scene with Korra, what happened there? She felt like something inside of her had snapped; she wanted to hurt Korra like she had hurt her but at the same time, she didn't? Guilt was eating and pestering her from inside, she had tried to kill her friend. Someone that she considered a family member.
"You met her again didn't you?" Kai asked, seeing the guilt plastered all over her face.
Kuvira snapped out of her thoughts and glared at him.
"So what if I did?"
Kai sighed, he knew how this would end and he really didn't have the energy to argue right now. He shook his head and walked towards the door of his workshop.
"Nevermind. Good night."
He really missed Korra.
<->
She was running again, well more like hobbling. The stab wound to her stomach was becoming more painful as the day went on, even though it was small it was in a place that made her life a whole lot harder . She had been trying to find Jinora all day but the guards had kept on spotting her, which resulted into another chase. Of course, it was easy to lose them but she knew her body had a limit; if she got seen again, her tiredness would get her caught.
The wall at the end of the street made Korra think twice about her next movements, it was possibly a 6 foot maybe 7 foot climb. A height that the Sato guards definitely couldn't climb up .
She made her decision, taking one final step up to the wall with one leg and springing up from there, her frenzied momentum translated into a vertical jump . She reached towards the top of the wall with her left hand and soon she was pulling herself up over the wall. She casually jumped onto the other side and rolled off into a bedlam of leaves which cushioned her endeavour, but not before offering the guards a smug smile as she continued to run away. It was over in seconds. However, her wound was starting to take a toll on her movements and she was beginning to slow down.
She looked down at the stab wound and groaned, she had lost quite a lot of blood from all this running around. She needed to patch it up but , Korra was out of options. She couldn't go to Jinora's otherwise she would run into the guards again. She would bleed out by the time she made it to Katara's. There was only one place she could go and it was right infront of her. The Sato Manor.
She rolled her eyes and begun to make the same climb she did almost every day, however this time it was really a struggle. The pain shot up her arm like fire. She cringed as this happened everytime she pulled herself up further. The pain was like needles that had been dipped in alcohol had been jammed through her skin, like her muscles had been replaced with ice and electricity wired straight into her spine. But she kept going. She climbed until she reached the very windowsill she had seen so many times.
She gently climbed through the window, hoping that the shot that Desna took a few moments ago hadn't landed on the young woman that lived in this very bedroom. Relief washed over her when she saw the woman snuggled into her thick covers, asleep.
Korra pulled the cloth covering away from her face and lifted up her shirt to see the wound again. It needed cleaning, and stitching; badly. Korra moved around slowly as she desperatly looked for anything that could help her patch this wound up that was gradually killing her.
Soon, the small woman had found herself in the onsweet of Miss Sato's bedroom, frantically searching through each and every cupboard and drawer . A smiled twitched at her lips when she found a bottle of carbolic acid in one of the drawers. She took the bottle into her hands, but her smile soon faulted as she realised that she'll have to clean her wound this instant .
She sighed, knowing that this is probably the worst idea but she didn't have enough energy to lower herself down to the ground. Korra sat down at a desk and slipped off her coat and hung it nicely at the back of the wooden chair she was sitting on. She pulled up her red stained shirt and kept it in that position by clenching the cloth in her teeth. Her fingers uncapped the bottle of antiseptic and lingered over her wound. This is going to hurt.. so much.
She took a few controlled breaths before tipping the liquid onto her wound. The antiseptic ran through the wound and Korra clenched her teeth harder onto the cotton of her shirt. Her wound sizzled and stung; like she was getting stabbed by the same knife over and over again. Before she could stop herself, she let out a small whimper. That was loud . Her blue eyes watched in horror as Asami stirred in her sleep; her eyes stayed shut as she slowly perched herself onto her elbow. Korra placed the bottle down and dashed over to the woman, clasping a hand to Asami's mouth before she could alert the whole Manor of her presence. Asami's breath quickened and her green eyes widened in total fear as she looked at the person who had silenced her. She started to struggle as she realised that the intruder's features matched to the one that was sketched onto a wanter poster. Korra Smith. The assassin that had attempted to kill her father and was probably here to kill her too.
"Please, I'm not here to hurt you." Korra whispered, restaining her by the legs with the use of her own.
"You have my word."
Asami's struggles began to die down as her green eyes found themselves returning the gaze of the intruder's. Her eyes were the colour of a clear blue sky through a broken prison wall; the colour of a perfect raindrop on a blue aster; the colour of a river hurrying to join the great ocean. Though the emotions that Asami saw swirling around in her blue irises were intensly deep, they still carried warmth . Such tiny flutters of the eyelashes with each blink told her a tale of an enchanting vulnerability, of a soft and trusting heart. This woman was telling the truth. She wasn't here to harm her .
Korra noticed that she had stopped struggling and gently removed the hand from Asami's mouth, praying that she wasn't going to call the whole Sato guard into this very room.
To her relief, she didn't. Instead, the dark haired woman just stared at her dumbfounded as Korra sat back down at the desk. Now she could really see the colour of Miss Sato's eyes. A truly beautiful green.
"What are you doing in here?" Asami said, keeping her tone low so her personal guards couldn't hear.
"I'm here to protect you." Korra mumbled back, locking eyes with the woman in front of her.
Asami saw it again in her eyes, she was telling the truth.
"I don't need you." She said, sitting herself up into a more agile position.
"I have professionals around this whole manor."
Korra suppressed a chuckle from escaping out her lips as she remembered how easy it was to knock out that guard a few days ago.
"They are indeed skilled. But here I am, conversing in this room with you." She joked, earning a glare from Miss Sato.
"...professionals you say?"
"Enough." Asami said. Her hand pulled the dagger out from under her pillow , that she hid under there the night before, and aimed it at Korra.
Korra raised an eyebrow at the blade in the woman's hand. She hadn't seen that in a while.
"Are you threatening me with my own dagger?"
"Come any closer and I'll kill you with it."
"Fair enough." Korra said and picked up the bottle of anitseptic again. Her wound wasn't even close to being clean. Asami couldn't help but let her eyes wander over the asssassin that sat in her room. She looked a lot different than she did on the wanted posters, her hair was a bit shorter; and it looked softer. Her complexion was tanned, there was no doubt that this woman was beautiful. However, she didn't stop there. Her eyes travelled lower, tracing over every defined muscle on this woman's body that could easily be seen even through the shirt she was wearing. They stopped suddenly on the red stain on her shirt.
"You're hurt."
"You don't have to remind me." Korra said, lifting up her shirt again. Asami could see her muscles more clearly now, and she wasn't expecting them to be that defined. This woman was obviously fit. Korra inhaled a shakey breath as she moved the bottle above her wound again.
"Wait," Asami said, putting the dagger down. She slid off her bed and onto her feet where she strolled into her bathroom. She had no idea why she was doing this but she felt like it was the right thing to do. Korra waited patiently until Asami walked back over to her, a rag in her left hand.
"Let me do it."
Korra only nodded as she handed her the bottle of antiseptic. Asami carefully poured the liquid onto the rag and crouched down where she could see the wound more clearly against Korra's defined stomach. A deep stab wound that most likely needed stitches.
"This is going to hurt."
"Oh, I know." Korra whispered, biting hard against her shirt again. Asami took a breath before she pressed the rag against the wound. She hesitated as she saw Korra tense up at the contact but soon continued when Korra motioned for her to carry on.
"Thank you." Korra mumbled through her clenched teeth.
Asami didn't say anything as she continued to clean out her wound in which she soon finished. Her job was done, almost.
"This will need stitches." She muttered, placing the rag that was now tinted a red colour, down at her desk. She sauntered to her bathroom again and pulled out the equipment she needed from a drawer Korra didn't search. As she came back, she saw that Korra was getting paler by the minute.
"May I?" She asked, earning a nod from Korra as she lifted up her shirt again. Asami begun to stitch up her wound. She was gentle and it made the procedure almost painless . This was a lot different to when Korra last got stitches.
Once Asami had done, Korra flattened her shirt down again.
"Thank you."
"Don't mention it." Asami said , coldly as she cleared up the equipment. Her eyes went on a wander again, tracing back over to the assassin. However, her eyebrows furrowed this time. The assassin sat looking out the window, she seemed calm.. Her state wasn't like Asami expected it to be. She was expecting an intimidating figure but instead she was greeted by someone who was sweet and understanding. It was obvious by now that Korra wasn't sent to kill her but, who sent her to protect her? It was all very confusing. She adverted her eyes away from the girl.
"Why did you try and kill my father?" She already knew the reason, she just wanted to hear what the assassin would say.
"I assumed something that wasn't true." Korra responded, her gaze was now on Asami.
"Now I know the truth. And I'm glad that your father is safe." As she spoke, her hand pulled out a page and she gave it to Miss Sato.
Asami raised an eyebrow before she unfolded the page so she could read it. However, what she was reading was her own words. This was her missing diary page.
"I'm sorry that I stole it. But you made me see the truth, I was living under lies my whole life." Korra said, a small smile on her lips. Asami's breath hitched at the sight and watched as Korra started to slip on her coat.
"You should rest." The smaller woman said, she could tell that Asami was tired.
"How do I know that I can trust you?" Asami asked, folding her arms as Korra made her way over to her window sill.
"You don't." And she was gone.