Secrets, Lies, and Love
Author's Notes: New story from the one and only Zombie Hippie. I'm going to try something a little bit different. Now, I know I usually do Pokemon or Resident Evil fanfics, but I've decided to branch out a little bit. Now, this is a Karate Kid fanfic. You see, one of my favorite movies of all time is 1984's classic, The Karate Kid, starring Ralph Macchio, Pat Morita, and Elisabeth Shue. And while I thought that the sequels were okay, I've decided to basically write a story of how I think a closure story for the Karate Kid series would go. Here's the setting. This is a Daniel/Ali story (since I thought that she should have always been Daniel's girl ever since I saw the first movie) and it takes place seven years after the events of the original movie. Now, as you remember, in The Karate Kid Part II, at the beginning, when Daniel comes to Mr. Miyagi's after his Senior Prom, saying that Ali had left him for a football player at UCLA. I've always thought that this was a huge stretch, seeing as how much Ali loved and cared for Daniel in the first one. Now, like I mentioned above, this story takes place seven years after the first movie in 1991. Daniel LaRusso, now twenty-five, is a former karate champion and veteran of Operation Desert Storm in Iraq after serving some time in the U.S. Army, when he meets up with Ali, now living with two things: an abusive husband, and a secret she has been keeping from Daniel for the seven years since they've seen each other. This is an M-rated story, for violence, graphic war flashbacks, strong language, sex, and mature themes in general, and is not a story for the faint of heart. You have been warned.
Disclaimer: I do not own The Karate Kid movie franchise. The franchise rightfully belongs to Columbia Pictures and its Sony Pictures Entertainment parent company.
Chapter 1
Dreams.
That's all that haunted Daniel LaRusso anymore. Dreams. Every time he got into bed at night, when he lay his head down on his pillow and went to sleep, he had nightmares that haunted him. And tonight, he was going to have another.
Dream Sequence… (Dream sequences will be put in italics)
Eight-year-old Daniel LaRusso stood next to his father's bed. His father had come down with pancreatic cancer, the deadliest of all cancers. The doctors had only given him a few months to live. Those few months were now up, and his father was dying a slow and painful death. It wasn't fair. His father had gotten his mother, Lucille, pregnant with Daniel when they were only seventeen and in their senior year at high school. He dropped out of school and joined the Marines, and served in Vietnam. He had seen loads of his fellow soldiers killed by the North Vietnamese and Vietcong forces. His father had been through hell. His father was very patriotic, loved America, but hated his government, and especially the last two presidents they had had. Lyndon B. Johnson and Richard M. Nixon. Both had fucked him over, as Daniel used to hear him say. And now, he was dying, not from an AK-47 bullet fired from a Vietcong guerilla, but pancreatic cancer.
Lucille LaRusso was too torn up to say anything about it. She had loved Daniel's father, even after she had left her for 'Nam in 1966. They had married shortly before Daniel's birth on December 18th, 1966. Shortly after Daniel's birth, his father had left for Vietnam, where he had served for two years, before returning in 1968, when Daniel was two years old. They got together in a house, but never had much money, due to the state of the U.S. economy at the time. But Daniel was perfectly happy with what he had. All he needed was his family. He didn't need all the fancy toys that all the other kids wanted, nor did he want them. He would always remember that one time his mother took him to a shopping mall, needing to buy Daniel some new clothes, since he was outgrowing his old ones, and they had witnessed a boy about Daniel's age, throwing a temper tantrum because his mother wouldn't buy him the latest G.I. Joe action figure. Daniel's mother had pulled Daniel aside, and told him that if he ever did that, all he would get was a good spanking and a time-out when they got home. As a result, Daniel never threw a temper tantrum like that, for two reasons. One, he was afraid that his mother would make good on her threat, and two, he never wanted or needed what the other kids were throwing tantrums about. Sure, Daniel liked to play with toys like G.I. Joe and that kind of stuff, but he was perfectly fine with having his parents and a little bit of imagination. There was one time when he wanted to try skateboarding, knowing that his parents didn't have enough money for a real skateboard, so his father went out to the garage and built him one with a piece of strong plywood and some old roller skate wheels. That gave you a good description of what kind of boy he was growing up.
Daniel stood next to his father on his deathbed. "Daniel, son," he heard his father say. "Come here and hold daddy's hand." Daniel did so. He knew that time was almost up for his father, and that there was no need for words. He just stared at his father, and said, "I love you, daddy." His father responded with, "I love you too, son." The heartbeat monitor positioned on his father's bedside night table was showing his father's heart rate falling fast. Then, it let out a long shrill beep, and Daniel felt his father's hand go limp. "Good-bye, daddy." Daniel said, before bursting into tears.
One week later, Daniel and his mother were at his father's burial ceremony. Some U.S. Marine Honor Guard members picked up and folded the American flag that was on his casket, while the rest of the Honor Guard fired the traditional three-round salute with their M1 Garand rifles. The Marines folding the flag came to Daniel and handed him the flag. The Marine who handed him the folded flag said, "I'm sorry to hear about your loss, son. Your father was a good man. He saved my life a few times when I was in Vietnam with him. You should be proud." The Marine gave a curt nod to Daniel, and walked off to join the rest of the Honor Guard. Daniel just stopped and looked at his father's grave. Engraved on the monument was the following:
Sergeant Andrew LaRusso
Served from 1966-1968 in Saigon, Vietnam.
Born November 12th, 1949 in Seattle, Washington.
Died January 5th, 1974 in Newark, New Jersey.
Death is nothing but the next great adventure.
Nine years later…
Daniel had just moved from New Jersey to California with his mother for her new job. It was the beach party, where he met Ali Mills, his first love. Ali had just kicked his soccer ball away, and he ran to go get it. That's when he heard the sound of dirtbikes approaching. He turned around and saw the boys who would come to bully him over the next two months, Johnny Lawrence and the Cobra Kai. It all played to him as clear as a movie on a theater screen. Johnny had just broken Ali's radio and Daniel had just been knocked to the ground by Johnny. Daniel and Johnny fought, and Daniel got his ass kicked.
The dream then shifted to Daniel riding his bike home to the apartment complex that he and his mother lived at. He heard the familiar sound of the Cobra Kai's dirtbikes, and he was knocked off his bike and rolled down to the bottom of the hill, causing a nasty cut to appear on his forehead.
Another shift and Daniel was in the kitchen of Encino Oaks Country Club, where he saw Johnny dancing with Ali. Johnny saw him, shot him a nasty grin, and then kissed Ali hungrily as Daniel watched. Daniel, heartbroken, had accidentally backed into a waiter carrying a plate of spaghetti, and got spaghetti, meatballs, and tomato sauce all over his shirt.
He was then at Mr. Miyagi's house, and saw him drunk off of whiskey. He then saw himself reading the newspaper from the 1940s, shortly after the bombing of Pearl Harbor and the entrance of the United States into World War II, and how all Japanese-Americans were being interred an Manzanar internment camp, and how he read the letter informing Miyagi of his wife and unborn son's death due to complications at childbirth. He also saw the Medal of Honor that Miyagi had earned while serving with the 442nd Infantry Regiment, for his heroism against German forces in Europe.
It was his eighteenth birthday, and Daniel had just gotten a car for his second birthday present from Mr. Miyagi, and had driven to the Golf N' Stuff, where he saw Ali again. After realizing his mistake, he confronted Ali, and, in the parking lot, just in front of the water slide that he and Ali were supposed to try, Daniel and Ali shared their first kiss together, a very warm, passionate kiss. Daniel thought that Ali's lips tasted like very sweet wild cherries, and it was a very tender moment.
He had just won the All-Valley Under 18 Karate Tournament, and he had seen Kreese defeated in a small karate spar in the parking lot by Mr. Miyagi.
He then stood in front of his wrecked car, which Ali had accidentally wrecked, and Ali informed him that she had fallen in love with a football player from UCLA. This was on the night of their Senior Prom. Daniel was heartbroken, as he thought Ali truly loved him. He broke down and cried after she was out of sight. Then, he went back to Miyagi's, pretending to be angry.
He was then in Okinawa with Mr. Miyagi, and he had just kissed Kumiko for the first time, and he had rescued that little girl from the typhoon. He then was at the old castle in Okinawa, when he saw that Kumiko was about to be murdered by Chozen, nephew of Miyagi's best friend, Sato. Daniel was able to defeat Chozen, and save Kumiko.
He then found himself getting off the plane at Los Angeles International Airport back in California. Kumiko stayed behind, as she had gotten a deal with a dance studio in Tokyo, Japan. That's when he and Mr. Miyagi used Daniel's college money to open a bonsai tree store, and Daniel met Jessica Andrews, a cute girl from the pottery store across the street. He then remembers being harassed by Mike Barnes, and being deceived by Terry Silver, with Mr. Kreese, whom Daniel thought was dead due to a lie that Silver told him. He saw Barnes breaking off the branch from the original bonsai tree that Mr. Miyagi had brought with him when he first came to the United States from Okinawa. After helping Mr. Miyagi replant the tree, Daniel then defeated Mike Barnes in order to get Barnes, Silver, and Kreese to stop harassing him. He also remembered Jessica leaving California for Columbus, Ohio.
Five years later, having joined the Army shortly after the events with Barnes, Silver, and Kreese, Daniel found himself going to Iraq to help out in Operation Desert Storm. He wanted to help stop Saddam Hussein from expanding his forces into Kuwait and Saudi Arabia.
He was in the middle of a firefight. Daniel kept firing his M-16 at as many Iraqi soldiers he could shoot, killing as many as he could. But, he looked around, seeing his brothers in arms being shot and killed all around him. All just to destroy some SCUD missile sites.
End Dream Sequence…
Daniel awoke with a start, sweat running down his forehead. He had been having this same flashback nightmare ever since he got home from Iraq. Ever since he found out that Iraq had been subdued, but Saddam Hussein was still in power, Daniel had nothing but contempt for his government and President George Herbert Walker Bush.
He looked over at his alarm clock. The red digital numbers showed that it was just a little bit after three in the morning. He stretched and got up. He went into the kitchen and opened up his refrigerator. He found what he was looking for pretty quick. He pulled out a bottle of beer and took out the bottle opener. He then took a long swig and let the bitter tasting liquid roll over his tongue and down his throat. He found himself needing a bottle of beer whenever he had that recurring nightmare.
Daniel had drunk about half of his beer when he heard footsteps. Daniel quickly opened the door to the closet next to the kitchen entrance and pulled out the .357 Magnum revolver that he kept in his house for protection. He opened the chamber, saw all six bullets inside, and cocked back the hammer and took aim.
"Daniel-san." He heard a voice say. "Don't you remember that Miyagi is living with you now?"
The figure stepped out from the shadows and into the light of the kitchen. Daniel gasped and almost dropped his gun.
"I'm sorry, Mr. Miyagi." He said. "It's just that ever since I got back from Baghdad, I've been very jumpy."
Mr. Miyagi smiled. "Miyagi understand," he said. "Miyagi was same way for a while after he got back from Berlin."
Daniel sighed and put the gun back it the closet. He also kept another .357 Magnum revolver in the glove compartment of his car. The same car that Mr. Miyagi had given him for his birthday seven years earlier. Ever since Mr. Miyagi had to close down his bonsai tree store since he was getting to old to run it, and after training another student, some girl named Julie Pierce; Mr. Miyagi had been living with Daniel in his house. Mr. Miyagi was getting old, and needed someone to help take care of him. Daniel didn't want to see his good friend/former karate sensei to have to live in a retirement home, so Daniel was more than happy to take him in.
"So, Daniel-san." Mr. Miyagi said. "I know you had date earlier. How did it go?"
"Oh, you mean with that military psychiatrist that kept hitting on me?" Daniel said. "It turned out that she was trying to use me to get some big promotion at work, and that I was nothing more than a pawn to her. She wanted someone who had fought in both a personal and war environment. And since I won two karate championships in a row, as well with that fight with Chozen back in Okinawa, and what I went through in Baghdad as well, she thought that a detailed report of me would be sure to secure her that promotion she wanted. Well, it did, we stopped talking. All I can say is, "Good riddance to that bitch."
"What about that one girl who you had when you first move here?" Mr. Miyagi asked.
"Are you going senile, Mr. Miyagi?" Daniel said. "That's been over for years. I told you, Ali told me that she fell in love with some football player from UCLA and she left me for him. I mean, I still love her and all, but I had to accept a long time ago that it wasn't meant to be. Besides, I'm sure she's happy, wherever she is."
"Miyagi know that first true love never truly die." Mr. Miyagi said. "If love was true between two people, then meant to be it is."
Daniel sighed. "Mr. Miyagi," he said, trying to keep the annoyance and coolness out of his voice. "I'm tired, and I need to get back to bed. Its early Saturday morning right now, and I just want to sleep. I don't have to work again until Monday, so I would just like to go get some sleep." He then finished his beer and made his way to his bedroom.
"Good night, Daniel-san." Mr. Miyagi said.
"Good night, Mr. Miyagi." Daniel responded.
Daniel went back into his room, laid down on his bed, and fell asleep again almost immediately. He still remembered what he said to Mr. Miyagi about Ali. Yeah, he still loved her. He didn't think he would ever stop truly loving her. But he was sure that Ali was happy, wherever she was.
How very wrong he was.
End of Chapter 1
Author's Notes: Well, that's the end of my first chapter of this. If you're interested in seeing more, then I want at least three reviews, signed or unsigned. I'm also currently working on Chapter 2 for The Covenant's Revenge, since I'm on Christmas Break right now.
Until next time.
Zombie Hippie.