The Karate Kid | Daniel LaRusso x Reader

Chapter Twenty-Two - Training

[UNEDITED]

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

3rd Person POV

Early the next day, Daniel was back at the beach — this time alone.

He needed time alone to train. The tournament was going to be here before he knew it, so he wanted to be fully prepared for it. Most of all, he wanted to be fully prepared to beat Johnny and to win.

However, being alone also meant being alone with his thoughts. And even as he trained, his thoughts always drifted back to Y/N. No matter how hard he tried to steer his thinking away from her, he simply couldn't. Sure, he was still angry at her, but there was still a part of him that cared for her, even after she broke his heart.

It was just shortly after the break of dawn; the sun had begun to rise, creating a beautiful orange hue that brightened the sky. Seagulls soared overhead and the ocean waves swept up and crashed onto the sandy shore as Daniel stood, perched on top of a wooden post---the same wooden post that Mr. Miyagi had performed the crane kick on. With utmost concentration and determination, Daniel tried to carefully stand as straight and tall as he could, though he found himself wobbling a bit. Once he gained his balance, he lifted his left leg into the crane position, raised his arms, jumped, and kicked his right leg out.

Continuously, Daniel performed the crane kick over and over again on top of the wooden post. He wanted to perfect this move. By using every ounce of his strength, he made sure that he was going to perfect it, no matter how long it was going to take him.

As he trained, he kept on remembering Mr. Miyagi's wise words in his mind, especially the phrase: "Balance is key." That simple phrase ended up applying to every karate move Daniel did. Throughout the day, Daniel had to maintain his balance, especially when he was training on the lake.

At the lake, Daniel climbed onto the bow of the boat, like he had done before. There, on the bow of the rowboat, he stood as steady as he could and threw punches into the air. Daniel incorporated the lessons of "wax on, wax off" and "sand the floor" into his punches, recalling everything Mr. Miyagi had taught him. He did this as many times as he could, making sure that he would perfect his punches too.

Most of his morning was spent at the beach, however. As much as Daniel wanted to perfect all of his karate skills, he wanted to perfect the crane kick the most.

Later that afternoon, Daniel met up with Mr. Miyagi. Y/N, obviously, hadn't tagged along this time, which ultimately hurt Daniel a bit. But he chose to brush it aside and to focus all of his attention on training instead.

Mr. Miyagi was donning a catcher's chest protector with a bull's eye painted in the middle as well as a catcher's helmet that covered his face. Looking Daniel straight in the eye, he said, "Daniel-san. Secret to punch: make all power--whole body, fit inside one inch," He tapped Daniel's knuckles, "Here. Power, whole body, one inch. Here. Now, punch. Hard."

Hesitantly, Daniel struck a punch at Mr. Miyagi's chest, but the weak punch had no effect. Annoyed, Mr. Miyagi demanded, "What's the matter? Y/N-san can punch harder than you! Punch! Drive a punch! Not just arm, whole body! Drive a punch! Make a 'hiyaaa!' Hiyaaa! Give you power. Try punch."

"Hiyaaa!" Daniel yelled, and landed a punch right on the bull's eye.

"Once more," commanded Mr. Miyagi.