A World Of Grey (Legend of Korra)

Chapter 30

Her expression fierce with concentration, Asami pushed past the burn that rippled through her core. Locked behind her teeth as she lowered her back slowly down to the mat, the growl she produced was almost feral. If her abdominal muscles possessed their own voice, they would have been screaming.

The bag packed with sand and sitting across her shins weighed close to thirty pounds. Her legs were held up off the floor, knees tucked so that her thighs were at a right angle to her calves. Each repetition consisted of Asami tightening her core and reaching up to touch her hands to the side of the bag, afterwards lowering her body to the mat with controlled form, keeping her spine straight as she lay flat. Her exhalations of breath were sharp and pronounced. Every last motion that produced each crunch hurt.

The constant pain that accompanied each motion intensified as Asami approached the end of the third and final set. Her core burned in protest, driven through a relentless workout over the last thirty minutes. Her body almost gave out on her when she asked of it two more repetitions, but Asami gritted her teeth and narrowed her eyes, glaring straight ahead at the bag across her legs.

The natural instinct once the exercise was complete was to flop down unceremoniously on the mat, allowing her chest to heave in a desperate bid for air. Asami, however, settled her heels on the ground at the edge of the mat and brought her hands down to her stomach, focusing hard on controlling her breathing. Her ribcage steadily expanded outwards, her stomach rising as she swelled with inhaled air before slowly letting it escape through her lips. Repeating this several more times, Asami reclaimed a degree of control over her pumping heartbeat and the steady ache that pulsed through her body. But she was not yet done.

Inviting another burning ripple to flash through her, Asami lifted her torso off the mat beneath her and distributed her weight onto her hands. With a grunt, she pushed herself up onto her feet and began to shake and roll the accumulated tension from her limbs. She pulled at the tank top plastered to her flesh with sweat. Her eyes turned towards the dark, faded punch bag hanging from a bracketed stand near the corner of the room. Asami readjusted the plain, fingerless gloves she wore as she walked over to it, flexing her digits as she pulled the fabric taut over her hands.

She shook her hands briefly, bouncing lightly on the balls of her feet before bringing her arms up in front of her, tucking her chin as her right fist rose to protect it. Her left arm was held more loosely, her hand unclenched. Asami lowered her weight and positioned her feet to maintain her balance, all the while keeping her eyes on the heavy bag. Her gaze was hard and narrow, the warm light of her eyes extinguished in favour of something cold and sharp. Her mouth was pressed thin, jaw tight. The chains from which the bag hung rattled with Asami's first blow.

She exhaled audibly each time her fist surged forwards into the bag. Asami held nothing back, moving around it in an improvised semi-circle. Swift jabs, her fist precise as it darted forwards and back again; scything hooks, left and right, her form never slipping; powerful body blows, her strikes sinking hard, deep and leaving the exposed skin of her fingers smarting. But she never let up, instead fuelling each punch with the sting incurred by the last. Her brow and neck were soon warm and slick, droplets of perspiration beading above the bridge of her nose.

Asami threw a hard left elbow, accompanied by a sharp exhalation. The chains above her rattled loudly. Moving on the balls of her feet, Asami aligned herself and threw another, her elbow slicing through the air and into the bag. She followed that up with a fierce body blow, slamming her fist into the man's stomach. Her lips peeled apart to reveal clenched teeth as she turned her hips into a second and third, delivering the blows in rapid succession, hearing the man groan, seeing him lurch and crumple, feeling his flesh yield to her power. She sliced her right elbow across his chin, eyes ablaze. And then she drew back her left arm, preparing to smash her fist into his gut.