Disclaimer: I blame marathons of Karate Kid movies on TV for making me writing fanfic of it, haha.
Story: Working in the restaurant across from the Cobra Kai dojo, Danielle LaRusso's mom decides to sign her up. Being the only female, Danielle has to learn to deal with overprotective Cobra Kai students and a crush on her sensei.
Set as a genderbent AU of the first Karate Kid movie.
Spoilers: Yeeeessss. Yes, yes, yes. Beware?
Warnings: Age difference, initial racism towards Asians, excessive drinking, some violence and language, PTSD, gender roles and gender expectations, societal expectations…
Pairings: John Kreese/fem!Daniel, one-sided Cobra Kai/fem!Daniel.
White Crane
Chapter One: The Road That Could've
"It isn't so bad, right?"
Danielle looked at her mother, and if they hadn't both been LaRusso women, she would have taken her chances on the streets. The apartment building was old and cramped, and she was already missing her old home.
"I hate it," Danielle grumbled. "I want to go back. Why'd we have to move?"
Lucille sighed and ruffled her daughter's hair. "We moved here to California because I got this new job, baby. Don't worry, you'll get used to things soon. It won't be so bad then."
Danielle highly doubted that.
And Lucille knew that too, hence how she could feel herself agreeing with her daughter to herself as she exited Rocket Computers, disbelieving how they'd gone bankrupt and she was now jobless and having moved for no reason.
Just then, a woman came running out of the building across from her, screaming to high heaven.
"I quit, I quit!"
A man came flying out of the building, which Lucille figured out was a restaurant called "The Orient Express."
"You can't quit. You're FIRED!" The man screamed just as loud.
Lucille blinked and then a wide smile spread across her face. She glanced at her watch. A minute until noon and the lunch rush.
There was no way she wouldn't get hired.
Don't get her wrong. She felt bad for the woman and the fact the other probably was jobless now too…but it wasn't her problem and she didn't know her. What she did know was that the company she was supposed to work for had filed for bankruptcy and she didn't actually have that shiny, new job she'd been promised and had moved all the way to California for, with her upset, teenaged daughter.
So she was going to get herself a freaking job to make this sucky day not suck as much, even if it meant working at a restaurant as some waitress.
Thankfully though, as she came in and brightly handed in her conveniently there résumé and asked for a job, she wasn't going to be a waitress. She was going to be a hostess, which was marginally better than what she thought she'd get.
She had a feeling Danielle wouldn't be pacified by the new turn of luck Lucille had somehow gotten.
So she worked through the day, occasionally worrying how Danielle was thinking and how she was going to take Lucille getting a different job. At the end of her shift, successfully handling the customers and earning a grateful bout of thanks from the owner (who had been the man rushing out after that lady), she was leaving the restaurant when the building across from it caught her eye.
The Cobra Kai Dojo.
Karate, huh? Danielle had been really getting into that lately…Always with a karate book in hand and trying to emulate the pages and teach herself. Maybe she'd be happier about the move and being here if Lucille could sign her up with the place.
Deciding to go take a look at the karate dojo, she finished crossing the street and found the door to it, hesitantly entering it. Inside, the lights were still on, but it was almost empty of anyone, minus a tall man who was cleaning up the room.
"Hello?" she spoke out and then the dirty blond-haired man turned to her in surprise.
"Hello, is there something I can help you with?" he asked her, smiling slightly.
Relaxing a bit, Lucille gave him a bigger smile in return. "I hope so, yes. I'm Lucille LaRusso. You see, I just moved into the area with my daughter and she hasn't been happy about the move. She does like karate though, so I was wondering if you taught here and if you were accepting new students? And what the prices were for lessons?"
Though caught off guard, the man (quite handsome in Lucille's opinion) recovered quickly.
"I'm Sensei John Kreese," he introduced himself. "I do accept new students. As for how much lessons are…" he hesitated and Lucille felt disappointment build up. "Lessons run from $125 every two weeks to $135 monthly."
Lucille knew she looked disappointed, but she hadn't expected Sensei Kreese to speak up quickly though.
"But we have financial discounts available at around $95 a month. 8-87 if she stuck around after class to help clean up and…uh…chores. I mean, help out with whatever needs to be done around here," he ended the offer lamely, sounding unsure.
Lucille felt her lips twitch up a little. She had a feeling that that wasn't an actual official pricing, but it was nice of him to have made up the offer. She could actually go for that price though…
"That would be great!" she accepted, feeling relieved. "Danielle, my daughter, she could definitely do that, help around with whatever you need. When should she come in?"
"She could start tomorrow, if she'd like," Sensei Kreese told her and Lucille thought that maybe Danielle might finally be a little more happier about this move. "The only other thing I'd add on is that the class is currently all males, so if she's alright with that, then everything should be fine."
Lucille wanted to wince. She wasn't sure how that was going to go down with Danielle, but hopefully not too bad.
"I think she'll be fine," Lucille answered him, trying not to sound so uncertain. "I work across the dojo at The Orient Express restaurant, so I can send her here after school."
"Class usually starts on weekdays around 4-5, so she'll probably be early then. If she does come in early, I can have her help set up the place with me and catch her up to where everyone else is in the class."
"Perfect then. She'll see you tomorrow, Sensei Kreese!"
They exchanged last minute information, she quickly filled out a form, and then she was off to go home to her currently miserable daughter and hopefully cheer her up with the news.
When Lucille LaRusso finally left, John thought he might have been a little off balanced at the moment from the encounter.
New students was pretty rare, so that in itself had been an unexpected overture from her. But then to say it was her daughter who wanted to attend…
Well, it was going to be a different change of pace at least.
He had only taught boys, and before that the men in his old army unit. It wasn't like his dojo specifically excluded girls…it just had never had any, and girls weren't usually interested. And after a while, it was just assumed it was an all-male dojo.
And then there was the whole pricing thing. He did offer discounts through financial aid, but the whole $87 deal wasn't actually a real thing. He'd kind of came up with that on the spot, as well as the helping out around the dojo. He'd just felt…bad about the money thing, especially when he'd seen her face.
Usually, he was the hard-nosed, strict and unsympathetic kind of character, but he'd always been kind of softer for the women, and between Mrs. LaRusso and the daughter he had yet to meet, it hadn't been that hard to make him try to bend rules around.
His phone rang and he saw the Caller ID. Rolling his eyes, he answered it with a sarcastic "Can I help you?"
"Don't be mean, John!" his old friend Terry Silver mouthed out to him. "You know you love me."
"Whatever," John grumbled. "What do you want?"
"Hmph, Mr. Grump. Anyway, just checking we still on for beers tonight. I need a normal outing, where I don't have to deal with lawyers or old guys annoying me about stocks and decisions I make about my own company."
John headed towards a door in the back of the dojo next to his office and went in, spotting his bed and dumping his jacket on it. "If you wear your suits, I'm sitting as far away from you as possible. And if you wear an ascot with it, I don't know you."
Terry laughed at the other end of the phone. "Jeans and a shirt then."
John actually released a relieved sigh. Terry really did have a strange sense of fashion sometimes, as well as wearing suits to places he really shouldn't. Like the bar they frequented at together somedays.
That's why, as he entered Jerry's, he was doubly relieved to find that Terry really was wearing a regular shirt and jeans combo. He slipped into the seat next to Terry and ordered a bottle of beer, before greeting his friend with a shit-eating grin.
"Glad you're not looking like a priss today," John told him.
"I don't look like a priss," Terry huffed. "I look sharp. Professional. Women love me in my suits."
John scoffed, but didn't say anything. He took a sip of his beer.
"So how's the dojo going?" Terry asked, sipping at his glass of whiskey like it was a glass of wine. John nearly snorted.
"It's fine," he focused on the question. "Kids are learning to be tough shits and not back down. Make sure not to underestimate their enemy."
Terry nodded. "Sounds good to me."
John hesitated then. "I, uh, got a new student today. Well, a mother came in asking about classes."
Terry sat up in excitement. "Oh yeah? That's good, ain't it?"
"Yeah…But, uh, it's going to be different. Strange maybe."
His friend furrowed his eyebrows. "Different? Strange? What the hell you mean, John?"
"I've got a female student for the first time," John said wryly. "I haven't met her yet, but she's starting tomorrow."
Terry stared at him. "…You're shitting me, right?"
John rubbed the back of his neck. "Nah. I got her coming in tomorrow, probably early enough that she'll help me set up the dojo before the boys come in."
Terry whistled. "That is something new. I don't know. Can you do it?"
"What do you mean 'can I do it?'" John asked defensively.
The other man held up his hands. "You teach pretty rough, John. It's pretty gruff on the boys, because you've styled yourself and your teaching more military, so how're you going to handle a girl into the mix? Can you teach a girl?"
"Yeah, I can," John said hotly, and damn it he would. Maybe he might have to retool his teachings a bit, but he was sure he could teach her.
Terry held up his hands higher. "Okay, okay! I got you. It'll be really weird though, right? I mean, I know we've got women in the military. There are girls taking martial arts lessons in other places or boxing too, but it's rare around these parts and you and the dojo don't have any experience in that at all."
"I can do it," John said again, reassuring more himself.
The hell. It seemed like serving in Afghanistan was much easier.
Terry patted his back. "Don't worry about it. I bet you'll do fine, John. Anyway, tomorrow you're being thrown into the water, so it's not like you have any choice but to sink or swim then," he ended cheerily.
John glared at him. Some friend.
Still, he did feel a bit of doubt creeping in again, and he actually wasn't so sure about teaching Danielle LaRusso his brand of karate.
And he hadn't even begun worrying about how the boys would take to having a girl in their midst, and learning alongside them.
He groaned.
"I'm doomed," he muttered.
Terry snickered at him.
Started 1/25/16 – Completed 2/2/16
A/n: See what I did there? ;D Yeah, I think I'll up the year for this fic, so it'll be modern setting (aka it's around 2015). I hope you guys liked this idea and first chapter! Please remember to leave a review!