kitana | marcus lopez arguello

chapter 1

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i. flashbacks

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San Francisco, 1981, Training Room

Kitana flipped her opponent on his back and twisted his arm until she heard a satisfying *crack*. Master Lin usually let her train with the Monks since the other students are much older and the Monks are professionally trained.

"I DID IT UNCLE LIN! DID YOU SEE THAT?!" she screamed joyfully. "Yes I saw and you did amazing, Kitana." he answered contently.

He observed the Monk which was now laying on the grounbd, his arm bent at an ungodly angle, the one slowly making it's way through the skin. Master Lin quickly dismissed him before turning back to Kitana.

"Okay, now you're able to disable your opponent but how will you kill them? Now we'll go ahead and teach you some deadly combat skills, to kill your opponent in a matter of seconds without alarming anyone that might be nearby."

He could see her eyes start to sparkle whenever he talked about killing or assassinating someone, which is a little bit scary but very helpful for the most part.

"Okay so the first move you will learn how to do is the neck-snap. It isn't really a skill but it is easy and efficient. Okay so before we go over to immediately killing someone, I think you should practice with one of our dummies. Which one would you prefer?" He asked with a slight grin.

"Oooooh can I train with Kevin today?" she asked excitedly. "Yes you may. NINA CAN YOU BRING KEVIN THE DUMMY PLEASE?" he shouted in the directon of the teacher's changing room.

After a few seconds, a lean and delicate woman came running into the training room, a dummy under her left arm. "This one Master Lin?" she questioned with a small and high pitched voice. She was visibly intimidated by Lin. "Yes this one, put it on the mat and leave us please." She didn't say another word but quickly laid the dummy onto the training ground and hurried out of the room, closing the door behind her.

"Now to master the neck-snap you need to take your opponent's head into both of your hands, right hand on top and left hand on the right side of the face in the chin area. Got it? Good. Now twist the chin to the left and the top to the right."

*crack*

"Did I do it?!" she asked still holding the dummy, whose neck was now in a very ill-looking position, in her arms.

"Yes you did. Great job Kitana" he told her with a content smirk playing on his face. "Wohoooo!!" the dummy was now laying on the floor while the girl danced around on the training ground. Lin couldn't help but chuckle at her behaviour. When she stopped he decided to speak again.

"Okay I think that's enou-" he noticed a small flame appearing in the palm of her hand. "How did you do that?" he asked hurriedly.

"I- I don't know" she quickly said. As she saw the little flame her eyes went wide and Lin quickly walked over to her to look at her hand.

"Do you know what you just did?" he asked after the little flame went out. She shook her head with a frightened look on her face. "Can you do it again?"

"I- I don't know... What was that Uncle Lin?" she asked with a slight tremor in her voice. "We'll find out mija, I promise."

That afternoon he assembled all the teachers in the big office and told them what happened. He could see a few stunned faces and a few that looked like they thought he'd gone mad.