❝ watch yourself, bimbo. ❞
PEOPLE SEEMED TO WALK ON eggshells around Ayane for the rest of the day.
She sighed as she left her fifth period class, starting to somewhat regret the cafeteria thing. Sure, the asshole deserved it. Ayane had learned that his name was 'Kyler', which made her just feel terrible for him.
As Ayane walked outside of the school, someone called her name.
Ayane turned, seeing the Sam girl from lunch running up to her.
"Hey!" she panted, holding her side. "I've been trying to find you."
The Cain girl tilted her head, untrusting.
"Why?" she asked slowly, furrowing her eyebrows.
Sam made a funny face, thinking of how to put what she was going to say. "Well, this may sound a bit weird, but- my dad told me that you were coming to our house this afternoon and so I thought I could, I don't know- give you a ride?"
Ayane glanced around, trying to think of a way out of this situation. Just then, her phone buzzed. She quickly pulled it from her pocket, hoping it was her mother here to pick her up. It was a text from her mother, however, it was Liana telling Ayane to go with Sam.
The girl looked out into the parking lot, just in time to see her mom's black car roll out of there.
Placing her hands on her hips, she scoffed and finally looked back to Sam.
"Sure. So- so you must be Sam LaRusso."
Sam nodded slowly, visibly impatient.
Ayane cursed in her head. She had done the exact opposite of what she was supposed to do. She had not realized at lunch that Sam was the girl she was supposed to befriend.
"Alright. Well- let's go."
Ayane followed Sam reluctantly to her car, still not enthralled by this idea.
The car ride was excruciatingly quiet. Ayane wanted to just jump out of the moving car and into oncoming traffic. But she remained quiet, observing.
"So my dad tells me you and your family come from Chicago. Is is different?"
"Yeah, it's pretty different. I guess you could say that the lifestyle isn't as... uptight."
Sam let out a sigh of relief. "I am so glad you think that, because... my family's not gonna be home for a couple of hours and so I invited a few people over. I hope you don't mind."
As it turned out, the 'few people' were a couple dozen.
All of the teenagers were in swimsuits and running around with alcohol. Ayane had never seen anything like it.
"I'm going to go sit with Yasmine and Moon. Feel free to get a drink!"
"I don't-"
But Sam was gone. Ayane dropped her hands in exasperation, looking around with a sigh. Her eye suddenly caught someone, and he was looking back at her. Kyler. But when he saw Ayane watching, Kyler quickly glanced away, finishing off his beer.
Ayane was the furthest out of her comfort zone she had ever been. She had never even been close to alcohol. Her parents didn't drink, and she sure as hell didn't.
So Ayane took a chair from one of the outside tables and pulled it to the corner, sitting down and pulling out her phone.
No one bothered her, and she knew why. Ayane was a pretty laidback person until she was pissed off. Which actually happened often. So maybe she wasn't as laidback as she thought.
"Ayane!"
The girl glanced up, raising an eyebrow to see who had called her name. The brunette girl, Moon, was waving her over to the pool.
"Come here!" She smiled, waving wildly.
Ayane sighed, standing up and walking over. She was very overdressed for this occasion, wearing black jeans and a black top, with a yellow and black flannel over it.
"Take your shoes off and put your feet in," Moon said, reaching up and pulling her down by the wrist.
Ayane wanted to pull back instinctively, but she didn't. Everyone felt like an enemy, to her. That was the way she had been raised.
Until they proved otherwise, no one could be trusted.
But Ayane did as she said, pulling off her favorite black Converse and setting them beside her. She pulled off her socks next, then dipped her feet in the water.
"So your dad must be in the military or something," the blonde, Yasmine, said.
Ayane looked over, shaking her head slowly. "Um, no. Why?"
Yasmine gave her a dirty look. "Because you went all crazy on Kyler at lunch. Like, he told me he was just trying to talk."
"He grabbed me without my consent," Ayane snapped, looking over at him just then. He seemed, however, to have his eye on Sam.
Yasmine laughed sarcastically. "Calm down, Feminists-R-Us. He was being friendly-"
"Yeah, I'm sure you'd know all about guys being 'friendly', wouldn't you?"
The blonde tilted her head, taken aback. "What the hell is your problem, ching chong-"
Ayane jumped up, stepping over Moon and pulling Yasmine up by her hair. Just as she was about to strike her in the face, she heard a man's voice.
"Hey, what are all these kids doing here?"
She looked up, seeing a middle-aged man and who she presumed to be his wife, standing at the door.
Ayane glared back at Yasmine. "Watch yourself, bimbo." She let her go, pushing her away.
The man walked over to Ayane and Sam, his arms raised in confusion.
"Samantha, what is this?"
Ayane kept staring at Yasmine, who was gathering her things and getting out of there.
"Oh- are you Ayane Cain?" he asked, suddenly recognizing the girl.
She nodded. "Yes. And you're... Mr. LaRusso?"
He smiled briefly, offering a hand. Ayane shook it.
"Yes. I'm sorry we had to meet on these terms. I'll be with you shortly, once I get this handled."
Mr. LaRusso turned back to Sam, upset.
Meanwhile, Mrs. LaRusso came over and introduced herself.
"It's so lovely to meet you, Ayane! I love your name, by the way. Do you hear that a lot?"
She shrugged, plastering a smile on her face as Mrs. LaRusso led her inside.
"Not until I moved here, really."
Mrs. LaRusso nodded. "Well, you can call me Amanda. I've never been a fan of Mrs."
Ayane laughed a little, nodding in agreement.
"Would you like anything to drink? A snack, maybe?"
"No," Ayane shook her head, "I'm okay."
Amanda tapped her nails on the counter.
"Okay. Well... I'm so sorry you had to meet us under these circumstances. Sam has never done anything like this before, I don't know what's gotten into her."
Ayane was not sure how to respond, so she remained silent.
"Daniel is so excited about your training, though. He was absolutely thrilled when he talked to your dad, because he's been itching to get back into the dojo. He's excited to have someone to spar with."
That excited Ayane. She had a lot of anger to get out, and hitting someone was just what she needed.
. . . .
AFTER THE LARUSSOS GOT their family issues settled, Daniel finally focused his attention on Ayane.
"I am so excited for this," he said, walking through the house with Ayane following.
"How much do you know about karate?"
Ayane shrugged as he looked at her. "My dad has taught me about all of the martial arts. I mean, taekwondo always came first- but- I think he's pretty passionate about karate too."
Daniel opened a door, revealing a room that could instantly be recognized as a dojo.
"That's good. It's good to learn the history behind the art. Well," he turned to her, grinning.
"Welcome to your first karate lesson."
Daniel and Ayane entered, the girl looking around. She was impressed, and she could tell karate meant a lot to Mr. LaRusso.
"Your first lesson is probably going to feel pretty... vanilla. But it's best to get the basics down pat and stored in your memory before we move on to the complex stuff."
Daniel had changed into exercise clothing, while Ayane remained in her school clothes. It didn't make a difference to her.
"But first, out of curiosity... I wanna see what you can do."
Ayane nodded slowly. "Okay. What do you want me to do?"
Daniel thought for a moment. "Alright. Show me your kicks. Come on, you can hit me."
Ayane sighed, then realized she still had her shoes on. She slipped them off, leaving her in socks and stepping onto the mat.
Daniel readied himself into a position of defense, holding his hands up.
Ayane did the same, touching the mat with only the tip of her toes. Then, she planted her left foot and swept a low kick, making contact with Mr. LaRusso's shin.
He was caught off guard by the kick, moving as fast as lightning. Daniel stumbled, chuckling a little.
"Are you- are you okay?" she asked, leaning sideways.
"Yeah, perfectly fine," he waved off, straightening up. "You're as fast as lightning, kid."
Ayane shrugged. "I guess that's why I'm so good."
Daniel nodded, laughing a bit. "Alright, show me the other kicks."
She got into position again, rocking back on her left heel. This time, her right leg came up to Daniel's midsection. He blocked, pushing her leg back.
Quickly, Ayane swung her leg around, spinning in the air and bring the other around toward his head. Daniel blocked it with his forearm, just in time.
"Whew, kid! You've got some serious danger with those things."
Ayane smiled at the compliment. She was not used to hearing those. Ennis was not exactly the type to hand those out.
"From what little knowledge I have of taekwondo, you primarily use your legs. Right?"
Ayane nodded curtly, folding her hands behind her back. "Kick first, punch second."
"Never heard that one before," he muttered, shrugging.
"Alright, well the first thing you need to know about karate; defense. All about defense. I never strike first, and I don't expect my students to, either."
She did not respond to that, glancing at the ground. Ayane did not exactly have a healthy relationship with self control when it came to hitting things.
"You're a strike first kind of person, aren't you?" he asked, narrowing his eyes.
Ayane tilted her head, making a so-so motion with her hand. "I'm sorry. That's just- not the way I was taught."
"It's fine, it's fine. Every sensei has a different method of teaching. I promised your dad you'd be home by eight, so we don't have a lot of time to go into extensive training tonight. But I want you to practice some things."
Ayane nodded, listening as Daniel began explaining what she would later identify as Miyagi karate.
. . . .
MR. LARUSSO DROPPED AYANE off at her home, not too far away from his own home.
"You did good today, kid," he said as she got out. "Remember to go over those exercises. I'll see you tomorrow."
Ayane nodded, then quickly added, "Oh! Thank you, Mr. LaRusso. I think karate it beginning to grow on me."
Daniel nodded back, then drove off.
She sighed, suddenly wishing she could have stayed at the LaRusso's. They were so much less uptight, so easygoing.
God, it would have been a dream.
Instead, Ayane went back to her own shithole of a home. Well, it didn't appear to be one, but Ayane knew what lie inside.
Her monster of a father and her bitch of a mother.
And as time went on, Ayane would begin to see that it was them she was really afraid of.
More than anything, or anyone, else.
NOTES!
not me feeling guilty for giving my own oc a shitty home life,, it ees what et ees i suppose
also her training with daniel is going to make for an interesting dynamic because miss girl is clearly cobra kai material.... i guess we'll see 😉