The Ex Assassins

The offer

I stretch after waking upon the bed in the jail cell I've been in for the past week. I've been getting daily visits from Shira because of my arm, which is slowly healing. It is early morning, from what I can tell from the barred window, because the sun’s not out yet. I sigh and untangle myself from my blanket. I stand and make my bed, like I have done the last six days. The cell is lit with candle light from the hallway.  I'm lucky there are actual walls between the cells.

I lightly jog in place to warm up my muscles before doing some stretches. I start my training workout. I do twenty squats. I plant myself in a fighting stance and do four rounds of twenty side kicks per leg. Once done with that, I walk over to the wall on my right and do a handstand with my front facing the wall. I do fifty push ups like that. I do a backflip so I'm standing up again and drop down into a plank. I hold that for a a good ten minutes. I rise up and do mountain climbers for another ten minutes. I stand and do it all over again. After the second round I need a drink.

"Hey Guard! Is it ok if you get me a cup of water? Please, my throat is dry." I ask as I lean against the bars of my cell looking at the guard. He smiles lightly shaking his head and chuckles.

"Yeah I can get you some water." He states as he walks off.

I smile and walk back to the middle of my cell and flip up in a hand stand. I lift my right arm up and out to the side. My hair is sprawled out on the ground from me being upside down and sweat drips down my body as I hold that position until he comes back five minutes later and taps on my cell door. I push off and flip to a standing position and walk over to him.

"Thank you." I say as I take the mug from him and start drinking the contents.

Once done drinking all the water I grab the bars with my right hand while balancing the mug on my ankles as I lift my legs parallel to ground and hold them there. I was shaking a bit and still sweating.

"So how long are you gonna keep this workout everyday thing up?" He asks as he leans against my cell and looks at me over his left shoulder.

"Oh I dunno. It gives me something to do. It's better than getting lazy and losing my mind." I state between my breathing. I lift my legs up a few more degrees making my abs tense and show more under my tight black crop top.

He chuckles and leans his head back against the bars. "You know you're strange. You're the first person I've had to guard that's so easy to lose track of time talking to. Also, you're the first who’ve turned themselves in." He stared up at the ceiling.

I kick the mug into the air releasing my hands from the bars and do a somersault. I stop in a crouched position with my right arm out. I catch the mug as it comes down. I stand up and walk to the bars and hand him the mug just as Shirayuki comes down the stairs with her herbs in her arms.

"Hiya Shira!" I greet with a smile which she returns.I walk back to the bed so the guard can let her in. Once she's in he closes the door.

"Hi Akari. How's your arm feeling today?" She asked politely.

"It feels fine like it does everyday." I respond as she unwraps it revealing a bloodied cut.

"You opened your wound again." She sighed in disappointment

"What? I get bored, and plus it's half of my usual training." I whine out making her laugh. She cleans my wound, puts ointment on it, and re-wraps it with clean wraps.