"Again."
Sun Li ducked and whirled on her toes in an intricate dance upon the cool stones of the salon's floor. Her limbs flowed effortlessly through the forms that had been drilled into the memory of not only her mind but her very muscles. She could perform them in her sleep, but practice was never to be shunned. Little Sister, her teacher for the day watched each movement with cold, blank eyes that revealed not a single thought to her pupil.
A long slanting beam of sunlight lit the floor like a stage where Sun Li finished the form. She held the position for long moments, softly panting in the humming silence of the June afternoon. While she awaited her mentor's decision her attention was drawn to beyond the great windows that allowed a glimpse of the bay. Brilliant green leaves and grass seemed to burn with vibrant life in the mellow gold of late afternoon.
The yearning to get out in that sunlight and run with other children her age nearly overwhelmed the young girl with its intensity.
"Good." Little Sister's voice struck across Sun li's face like a hard slap, bringing her back to reality. "Again, but with the blade this time."
A flickering of rebellion slithered in Sun Li's belly but she denied it a voice and picked up the specially made, wide sword that was her chosen weapon. At least it would be a break from the tedium of purely physical practice she'd been enduring all day.
Every inch of her body ached with a fire made every move tortuous, yet she didn't allow that pain to distract her from her purpose. Finish the exercise. Finish it well. Finish it and be done so she could get out into the beckoning afternoon for at least a few moments today.
She came to the end of the practiced dance with the sword and let her tingling arms fall to her sides. Her wrists felt like they'd been beaten like the rugs that ran the length of every hall in Uncle Chee's house. Her breath bounced harshly from the high ceiling and stark white walls.
"Sloppy. Again." Little Sister took up her own sword and moved to close with Sun Li.
Sun Li's shock was quickly eclipsed by anger. The rush of rage gave her extra strength and quickness that belied her state of sheer exhaustion.
When Little Sister brought her sword to bear, Sun Li dropped her weapon and ducked under the swing. She came up inside of Little Sister's guard and flashed a brief smile at her teacher before bringing her open hand down on the older woman's wrist with all her strength. Little Sister's weapon hit the floor with a metallic clang and thud. Her surprised eyes were comically wide in her usually placid face. Sun Li moved lithely on her feet, swung her leg out in a kick that sprawled her teacher on the floor.
She stood over her prone teacher who could do no more than gape in dismay at her typically complacent student.
"No. Not again. I am done."
With a hot emotion that felt like elation in her throat, Sun Li strode towards the open doors that led onto the patio. All day she'd wanted to get out and into the sun. The day had called to her with the voice of a siren and she'd carefully ignored it. Until now. The sun was about to set, but she would still feel the sea wind on her face today, she would walk the streets like a normal person and mingle with those people out there who had no idea what transpired behind these walls.
Surprisingly enough, Little Sister didn't try to call her back. Perhaps she understood the deep desire to be out. Perhaps she just was too shocked. Perhaps she would merely wait until Sun Li returned and enforce a terrible punishment.
Sun Li did not care. The city called.
The cobbled streets cooled rapidly under Sun Li's slippered feet. With the slow sliding of the sun beyond the far horizon cool breezes that originated far away upon the ocean slipped between the crowded buildings and touched Sun Li's still sweat soaked hair. The walk to the wharf had not dispersed the tension that rode across her shoulders or eased the upset that made her heart throb incessantly.
She was giddy with freedom. She had the entire city to roam and no ulterior motives to her wanderings. She could freely watch people and not have to plan their murders.
A small laugh slipped from her lips as three rough looking boys near her age shoved and pushed their way around a corner next to some kind of drinking establishment. What manner of mischief were they up to, she wondered. Even as the thought crossed her mind she was following the sounds of their laughter.
The alley was narrow and darkened with each step into its depths. Trash littered the walls and the skittering and squealing of rats could be detected by her sharp ears. Doubtless they were fighting over some juicy bits of garbage for their supper.
Revulsion was not her first response to this thought. Rats merely were. The thrived in the gutters of every city, even her precious San Francisco. Their existence did not rob her of the romance of the coming night.
Slipping along the wall, Sun Li followed the trail of the young toughs she had followed this far.
They had stopped before reaching the other end of the alley, and were crouched down around something she couldn't see.
"Dunno, Acey... looks like junk ta me." The smaller of the boys took a poke at the unseen object on the ground with what appeared to be a short length of steel pipe.
"I sez we can get a good three bucks for it... that'll buy a lot of burny," A shaggy blonde boy voiced his opinion in a voice that suggested he was the one in charge.
A small silence as they poked some more, the third boy remained silent but his dark skin marked him as a Negro boy in this city of immigrants.
Burny? Sun Li puzzled over this word for a long moment before the memory became clear. Burny was a powdered drug that people put up their noses. Uncle Chee said it was the most profitable narcotic to peddle due to the fact that so many young upper crust types had a taste for it. They'd do almost anything to attain their dosage.
She eased closer, straining to see what was holding their interest so tightly. For burnies to have this much focus was amazing from what she'd been taught about the drug. They should be vibrating in their holey shoes with barely restrained violence. Something had to be incredibly interesting for it to hold them so still.
Sun Li craned her neck, trying to peek over the blonde's shoulder. A sudden rush of air on her left alerted her a moment too late to avoid the attack.
While she'd been focusing so intently upon the street kids one of their compatriots had snuck up on her. Disgust in herself held her still for a brief moment as the larger kid's arms circled her.
"Lookie what I gots, fellas!" Her captor's voice was deeper than the others' which contributed to her thought that he was older than the other three. His arms were corded with long, narrow muscles that didn't help to remove the near starvation look in his general carriage.
The boys stood without hurry, confirming her suspicion that they'd planned the whole thing.
"It's a little Chink-Chink girlie," the blonde boy remarked, shoving back the lank length of his filthy hair. "What's a little Chink-Chink's int'rest in the likes a' us?"
The grip around her arms and chest was a loose one, deceptively loose. She'd been grabbed by one young man who understood how to fight and win. She would wait, wait for an opening and take it when it was offered.
"C'mon China Girl... fess up. Who hired you ta follow us?" The leader was getting a little aggravated with her utter silence.
Sun Li blinked her luminous eyes at the ruffian and shrugged as well as possible within her human bonds, "No one hired me, Acey."
He blinked at the use of his name, "Then why're you snoopin' in our bizness? The Mongers don't much like someone showin' int'rest in their boys."
"If you are The Mongers then I'm deeply apologetic. I merely wished to see what fun was happening." The word fun came from her lips with a stiltedness that didn't go unnoticed by Acey. Poor he might have been, but stupid he was far from.
He took a long moment to think through his options. The girl was pretty, maybe she needed a man. Maybe she needed someone to manage her interests as the case may be. He was up for that. In fact, he was raring to go. The last year he'd spent running with The Mongers had taught him that the best money came from the whoring side of crime.
The young gorilla that was holding Sun Li relaxed his arms a bit since his boss had apparently decided not to beat the girl. That was his mistake.
Quick as an oiled snake Sun Li slipped under his arm, turning on her toes in a mirror of a move she'd practiced hundred of times within the walls of the salon.
"Hey! Ooof!" Her quick hands blurred into a flurry of powerful strikes that landed along the boy's ribs and stomach. His undernourished body was no match for her trained strike. He collapsed, wheezing faintly against the wall behind them.
Acey's wide eyes leapt from his partner's pained and gasping face to the girl who'd done him in so adeptly. She stood utterly still, hands once again innocently at her sides. She regarded him with glittering green eyes that gave him the creeps now that Gordie didn't have hold of her. He realized she stood as tall and straight as he did, and those delicate looking limbs within the simple cotton clothes were stronger than he'd expected.
"You do not need to shackle me to speak with me, Acey." Sun Li loaded her tone with as much sarcasm as she could and was satisfied with the boy's flinch.
The small black boy that had been looking on silently moved forward from the shadow he'd taken refuge in. He moved on cat's feet, gliding on the cobble and dirt ground with an unnatural grace. His large brown eyes were even darker in the twilight of the alley, and Sun Li found herself drawn to their depths snared by the uncommon wisdom she could see glimmering there. This one was remarkable in a way that the others were not. This boy had strength, the kind that came from within and was only reflected in his outer shell.
"What do they call you, girl?"
Her nerves tingled and tightened almost painfully. She could sense a bridge being crossed. A bridge that was invisible but all the larger for its ephemeral quality.
"China. I am China."
The moment was shattered by a bray of laughter from the boy who she'd first heard speak.
"Oh, 'maginative!"
"Shut up!" Acey snapped loudly. "Just shut it, Mikey. She's all right."
"Tell that to Gordie..." the boy dubbed as Mikey muttered before subsiding.
Sun Li's world narrowed down the mere five feet between the walls of the alley, her nostrils flared with the stench of rotting garbage, her skin felt grimy with the scum of salty air drying to a layer of grit on her body. The future beckoned with long bony fingers that she could feel skittering along her arms, tugging at her wrists and drawing her forward from the gutter she now stood in. The filth around her body didn't seem to matter to this vision of the future.
Herself as a fine warrior, upholding a worthwhile cause and triumphing to greatness despite the claim of her uncle upon her very soul. Her wading through opposition to free loved and trusted companions. Her arm raised with sword clenched in one tight fist, drawing the lifeblood from worthy opponents and those who must die.
It was a glorious vision and she had no idea why it came to her now, in this pitiful alley. What her future could be. What ideas she could forward.
She could make a difference. She could be a hero.
"Yes." The little black boy agreed with her unspoken thought. "You could."
Acey waved his arm at the boy, "Hush a second, Has. I'm thinkin'." He squinted at the still poised figure of Sun Li... China now. "How much you want to work for The Mongers, girlie?"
China answered slowly, but certainly. The words feeling right on her tongue as she said them. "I already have a master, Acey. But I'd be most honored to be called friend."
He took a long time answering, looking to the boy he called Has for some kind of sign. The ebon skinned boy nodded, once.
"I think I might be honored meself, China."
He spit in one hand and held it out to his new ally. She carefully mimicked the move and they shook on it, Has looking on approvingly.
"Welcome to the outside, China."