A/N- So, I just watched Karate Kid :P This popped in my head and suddenly this guy is my favorite character in the movie! I know, but hey, that's me.
Enjoy the story!
Staring out at the night sky was something I did often, whenever I felt the need to think. The moon would shine down on me from my place on the roof of my family's large home. Stars surrounding the large orb of light, a symbol of hope in my life. It always has been. No matter what happens to me or those surrounding, the moon always shines, never dims. It disappears sometimes, as the earth orbits, but if you look closely enough you can still see its outline. Eventually, it always comes back as bright as ever.
Many might call this a weakness. Looking to the moon for hope and sitting out here under the bare sky, looking so small against the background of the entire heavens. They might say that the moon is nothing, merely stealing light from the sun, just a rock pretending to be strong and magnificent. I wonder, though, if it is really a bad thing to depend on something greater for your light. Is it really such a weakness to know that you are not the best, and to simply humble yourself and reflect the light that comes from the true power source? The moon does not claim the light as its own, it does not try to out due the sun, yet it also does not mourn its place in the world. It accepts its place with honor, sharing the light of the sun at night, showing others the hope that has been given to it.
Perhaps these kinds of thoughts are not welcome in my world. In fact, I know that they are not, but should I try to push them away? Should I force myself to sleep when the dark comes, and continue on as if everything is fine during the day? I'm not so sure I can do that. Not for much longer.
Sounds of yelling disturbed my thoughts, forcing me to leave the peacefulness of my thinking place, and stealthily make my way back inside the window of my room I had climbed through to get out here. I did not wish to do this tonight, my eyes burned at the thought of it, but there was no way I would sit by and do nothing. Never again. I was trained for this. I could do it, have done it before. This was the reason I had decided to progress so far in martial arts, to dedicate so much of my life to learning the skill. Still, doing this, it was not something I enjoyed.
"Stop! Please! Why do you do this?!" A woman's voice pleaded, the cry loud and broken. No one in the house stepped out to help her, not the men paid to protect her from intruders, not the many servants paid to carry out her needs. No one ever helped her in these times, they were too afraid. Too afraid of the man who now beat her.
"Shut up! You should learn your place, woman!" He yelled, his hand outstretched in not a fist, but a practiced knife-hand strike. This man was Chinese, yet he was not small. His body was trained and athletic, yet he wasted his skill now on doing something like this. I found it revolting, yet day by day, I could see myself turning into him.
Catching his arm before he could lay another blow to my mother, I glared at him, my voice low and void as I simply told him stop. His eyes hardened dangerously, becoming wild and insane looking. This did not surprise me, I was used to such things by now, his transformations from the calm and serious business man he was in public, to the abusive madman he was now.
"Your son is just like you. Thinking to be the hero, protecting a coward as he disrespects his own father." The man spat at my mother, venom in his voice. He tried to wrench his arm from my hand, but my grip was firm, my body better trained.
"You are not my father." I told him calmly, twisting his arm back and pushing his hand painfully toward his body, he grunted and backed up, but he did not cry out in pain. This man was stubborn, he would try his hardest not show any weakness, though both of us knew how the night would end. It happened the same way every time I caught him trying to harm the woman who had birthed me. The first time I had stood up to him had been eleven years ago, when I was three years old. He had beat me brutally, and it was then I decided to put so much effort into my martial arts training. I had excelled quickly, and by the time I was six I finally beat him. The man had been shocked, and had not attempted to harm my mother for almost six months. After that time had passed, he began again, and I beat him again. Nowadays he was gone most of the time, but occasionally he would come home. During these visits he would restrain himself, but eventually I would find him like this. Drunk, and beating his own wife.
"How dare you?! Do you hear him? The great Cheng, protector of the weak and pathetic." He shouted madly, suddenly whipping out his right leg, aiming for my groin. My face stayed calm, having seen the attack coming far before he had proceeded to go through with it. My free hand caught the leg, twisted it, and pushed it forward. I lifted my leg in a much more practiced manner and landed it swiftly in his gut.
"I do not claim to be a protector, but I won't stand by and let you do this to her. I am a bully, slowly transforming into the monster that you are. I know that, I always have, but now I am going to attempt to stop it. Before, I thought there was no chance for me. However, I have recently discovered something that might give me a chance to be honorable, while still being able to stop you from doing this." I told him calmly, thinking back to the match I had recently lost to the Parker kid. It had opened my eyes to something different, and I had immediately left Master Li and asked permission to become a student of Master Han.
A small smile came to my lips as I remembered the shocked expression on Master Han's and Parker's faces when I had shown up to sincerely apologize and beg a menteeship. After a few moments, Master Han had given me a small, warm, smile and bowed in the traditional Chinese manner, saying "It would be an honor." It had then been my turn to stare in shock. Eventually, me and Parker snapped out of our dazes and the other boy had simply asked if this meant I was going to stop beating him up. I had smiled and answered him yes, gaining a shrug and large smile in return from him. He had proceeded to ramble on about how 'awesome' this was going to be, and that they were going to 'rock it' as the 'epic ninja trio.'
"You… will never be able… to escape… what you are." The man in front of me panted out from his position on the ground, making my growing smile fade as I snapped back to reality. He was glaring at me with angry eyes, holding a look of rage and arrogance even as he scrambled to stand at my feet.
"Wrong. This," I said sternly, gesturing down at him, "is not me. I am not you, and I never will be."
Normally I would finish with a kick to his face, blacking him out. Now, though, I simply helped my mother up and took her gently to her room. I stayed there with her, wiping her tears and tending to the few wounds he had been able to make before I got there, until she fell asleep with a quiet 'thank-you' on her lips. Her room was separate from the man who called himself my father, but I slept on a couch by the door to be safe.
Going to sleep, I wondered if maybe soon… there would be a life for me different from this. A way to keep my mom safe always, without having to worry when my father would suddenly decided to attack. No matter how many times I beat him, he always came back. Perhaps soon, I would find a way to stop it. Or maybe I would have to live like this for the rest of my life, or at least until the man was too old to do any harm. Even so, I will still be forever grateful. I had a peace now that had never been known to me before, I had a happiness I had thought impossible for me. My future was brighter now, knowing that I had a choice, that I didn't have to grow up like that monster.
I fell asleep with a small smile on my face, looking forward to the next day, where I would go to school and meet with my friends, old and new. Almost all of us had left Master Li, and we now spent our time trying to enjoy life, all going to Master Han's house after school to learn of a different way of living. All of us had home lives that were far from perfect, but we were learning how to deal with them while still holding honor, we were learning how to live with light in a world of darkness. We were changing, and that was all I needed to keep me going.
A/N- Hehe, so what do ya think? Love it? Review! Hate it? Review! Anything in between? Review! Please! Go Cheng! Lol