Chapter Two

Johnny wandered up and down the aisles of the sporting goods store, pushing the big red cart and trying not to look as out of place as he felt.

He had no idea what he was looking for. He'd never been camping in his life. Robby had been right when he said he didn't know what a father/son trip looked like, and that was his fault. But the reality was Johnny didn't know, either. He'd never had a real father to take him on one, and God knew Sid never did. The closest he'd ever been to a camping trip was on an episode of Eight is Enough.

He was surrounded by people who could help him, but what kind of loser would he look like if he asked? What self-respecting fifty-year-old man needed help buying camping gear?

The more he thought about it, the more he started thinking the whole thing was a bad idea. He still hadn't asked Miguel if he wanted to go. He hadn't asked Carmen if he even could. And once they got there, what was he going to do? Was he going to be able to make himself ask LaRusso for help? And how was he going to talk him into doing it? He'd barely managed to convince Amanda.

"He wanted to get away for a while, Johnny. I don't know what's going on between you and Daniel, and I don't need to know, but I'm not sure following him up there is the greatest idea you've ever had."

She definitely had a point. It wasn't the best idea he'd ever had, but at that moment, it was the only one he could think of. He'd go alone if he had to, but he wanted Miguel to go, too. Not only because it might help convince LaRusso to help him with the kid if he was standing right in front of him, but also because he just really wanted to give him a couple of days off. Johnny had spent so much time worrying about how Miguel won that he hadn't even congratulated him on winning.

He knew firsthand how much it hurt to have the man who taught you everything you knew say you weren't good enough, had never been and never would be. He knew how much damage could be done by a sensei who responded with anger and violence instead of patience and understanding. And, no, he hadn't broken the trophy, and he'd never do to Miguel what Kreese had done to him, but the disappointment was still all Miguel had seen. He had to fix that.

He looked around, and he found himself standing in the fishing aisle. Fishing was good, wasn't it? Fathers and sons went fishing. Sam had said there was a lake near the spot she thought LaRusso usually set up camp, and lakes had fish in them.

"This is dumb," he muttered to himself. "It's never gonna work." Not knowing what else to do, he grabbed a couple of fishing poles and threw them in the cart.

He'd never caught a fish in his life. He'd never even tried. Something about worms and hooks and … it wasn't going to work. He had no idea what he was doing.

"Can I help you find something, sir?"

He'd done his best to avoid the earnest, eager-to-please teenagers, with their khaki pants and green shirts and red name tags, but he'd obviously failed. He probably looked like an easy mark, wandering around looking lost the way he was, and this particular kid, with his brown hair a little too long and his face a little too freckled, had zeroed in on it.

"No thanks," he said. "I'm fine." He tried to wave the kid – David, according to the tag on his shirt – off and turned away.

"Going fishing?" The kid was too eager to help, but the question still made him stop. He couldn't just walk away from him.

'Jesus, he looks like …'

Johnny took a deep breath, pushed the irritation down, and tried to smile. He was just a kid trying to do his job. It wasn't his fault he looked and sounded like someone Johnny was trying to avoid thinking about.

"Yeah," he answered reluctantly. "Camping. Taking my …" What was Miguel, anyway? What was the most accurate way to describe him? "My kid up to the mountains for the weekend."

"Oh, that's great!" The kid's enthusiasm was just too much. "So, you're looking to add to supplies you already have? Because if you're going camping, you're going to need a lot of supplies for two days."

Johnny closed his eyes. He was really trying, but he couldn't deal with it anymore. "Look, kid, I don't wanna be rude. But seriously, I just wanna get my stuff and go, okay? I don't wanna have some long talk about it, don't wanna listen to you try to sell me a bunch of stuff I don't need. I just wanna grab a couple sleeping bags, a cooler, maybe a few other things, and get outta here. Okay?"

"Oh, okay." The kid's whole face fell. Seriously, did selling camping equipment really mean that much to him? "Sorry to bother you, sir."

The kid actually dropped his head as he turned away, and Johnny sighed. How was he ever going to ask LaRusso for help that he wasn't going to want to give if he couldn't even ask someone who was offering?

"Hey, kid?" Johnny called after him, and he turned back around. Johnny smiled. "David," he said. "I guess I … I don't really know what I'm doing. So, if you're up for it, I guess I could, ya know, use some help. Probably a lot of it."

David smiled, and his whole face brightened. "I'd be glad to, sir. If you know what you're going to be doing, I can show you everything you'll need."

Forty-five minutes and almost $500.00 later, Johnny walked out of the store with two tents, two fishing poles, two sleeping bags, a huge cooler, hooks, plastic worms, and way more camping gadgets and fishing gizmos than he'd even known existed. His wallet was lighter, but so was his mood. As he started shoving everything into the back seat and trunk of the Challenger, he decided that maybe the whole asking for help thing wasn't as bad as he'd always thought it was. Maybe, sometimes, it was the best thing to do.

And maybe, just maybe, the next two days wouldn't turn out to be as big a nightmare as he'd been starting to think they would.

"Okay, here we are."

Daniel tipped his head, indicating to Robby that they should put everything down. The cooler they were carrying together went first, followed by the multiple bags, both tents and two camp chairs that were all slung across Daniel's back. Robby was trying to pull a duffel over his head one-handed, and Daniel turned toward him.

"Here, let me give you a hand with that."

"Yeah, sure," Robby said. "It's the only thing you let me carry. Why not help me take it off, too?" Daniel pulled the strap away and put the bag on the ground while Robby straightened his sling.

"Well?" Daniel asked with a smile as he stood, winced, and then leaned back to work the aches out of his lower spine. It had been a long time since he'd carried enough supplies for two days on his back, and he was quite a bit older than he'd been then. "What do you think?"

Robby looked around and shrugged. "What am I supposed to think?"

Daniel turned to face him, surprised and almost disheartened at the apparent disinterest.

Robby smiled, amused at Daniel's reaction. He'd clearly done that on purpose. "I think it's great, Mr. LaRusso. I really like it up here. Have you camped here before?"

The smile was a good start. There hadn't been very many on the drive up. Daniel smiled back and nodded in answer to the question.

"I found this clearing about ten years ago," he said, looking up at the trees that surrounded them. "It's just this perfect little circle of nothing. I've always wanted to bring the kids here, but Sam doesn't like camping, and Anthony won't go anywhere there's no wifi." He shrugged. Amanda told him Anthony's lack of interest in father/son activities was normal, but having had no father when he was Anthony's age, he wouldn't know. He'd have done anything and gone anywhere with his father, because it would have meant he was still there.

"I'm sure he will someday," Robby said. "When I was that age, I wouldn't do anything my dad …" He bit his lip and let the sentence trail off. The topic of fathers wasn't an easy one for either of them.

"We're not far from where we were last time," Daniel said, changing the subject quickly and pointing to a small path off to their left. "The lake's right through there. Hey, that reminds me, do you swim?"

Robby shrugged. "Not really. I mean, I can, but I don't very often. Why?"

"The water is really nice this time of year. It's still a little cold, but you won't freeze in it. And it's not warm yet, either." Daniel smiled. "Thought it might be nice to jump in after an afternoon of training."

"Training?" Robby rolled his eyes and groaned. After how awkward and uncomfortable their trip had been, it was nice to get a reminder of the teenage boy he was. "I thought you said rest and relaxation!"

"No, I'm pretty sure I said peace and solitude." He couldn't stop the grin he felt spreading across his face. "And that means training."

"Why?"

"Because we always train, Robby. You should know that by now."

"But, I'm hurt," Robby protested, holding up his left arm in its sling.

Daniel nodded slowly. "I know, and I've already planned around that. Although, I did watch you take it off and play basketball in the driveway with Sam for almost an hour last night."

Robby huffed in exasperation, and Daniel had to stop himself from laughing. Damn, the kid reminded him of himself. But just as Mr. Miyagi hadn't accepted that behavior from sixteen-year-old Daniel, forty-nine-year old Daniel couldn't accept it from Robby.

"Okay. Let's get our camp set up," he said, gesturing at the pile of supplies as he picked up one of the chairs. "You get the bags sorted out, and then we'll start putting up the tents. When we're done, we'll get changed and head down to the lake. It's a beautiful place to do kata."

"You gonna put me on the tree again?" Robby asked, unzipping the first of the bags.

"I guess that depends," Daniel answered. He pulled the bag off the chair, opened it, and set it down in the middle of the clearing, near where they would be building their fire pit. "How's your balance?"

"Wobbly," Robby said honestly. "I've only got one arm, ya know." He'd finished going through the second duffel and was moving on to the third. He opened it, scanned it quickly, and tossed it aside.

"Then I'm sure we'll pay the tree a visit or two." Daniel picked up the next chair and started to pull it out of its bag. He could hear Robby behind him, digging through their supplies at an increasingly rapid pace and starting to throw the bags around at a rather impressive rate for a kid who claimed he only had one working arm.

"Where's the first aid kit?!"

Daniel turned toward him again. "What?"

"The first aid kit!" He couldn't believe how quickly Robby's mood had shifted from frustrated to anxious. "It's not here. Your knee brace isn't, either. Did we bring them? They were in the SUV, weren't they?" He stood up straight, slapped his pockets and pulled out the keys. "I have to go look …"

"Robby." Daniel couldn't stand that the stricken look from earlier that morning had returned to his face so soon after it had left it. He put the chair on the ground and stepped forward. "Relax. They're here. They're in the Q7, just like I said they would be. I couldn't figure out how to carry everything in one trip, so I left them behind. It's only fifteen minutes back to where we parked, so …"

Robby turned toward the trail without another word. Daniel grabbed his shoulder and turned him back around, pleasantly surprised that he didn't have to duck a fist. "Hey, calm down."

"No," Robby said, shaking his head. "We need those. I need to …"

Daniel held his hands up in a placating gesture. "I'll go get them, okay? I was planning to go back for them anyway." He reached out, took the keys from Robby's hand, and patted his arm. "You stay here. Start working on the fire pit. The rocks I always use are just off to the side of the path to the lake."

"Mr. LaRusso …"

"It's fine. I'm the one who left them, so I'm the one who should go get them. You've got a camp to get set up." The more he talked, the wider and more panicked Robby's eyes grew.

What the hell was going on?

"I'll be gone for half an hour, tops. Fifteen minutes there, fifteen minutes back. If I'm gone any longer than that, or if anything happens while I'm gone, you call my cell, okay?"

"But …"

"No," Daniel said with a shake of his head. He leaned forward until Robby had no choice but to look at him. The haunted look in the green eyes bothered him, but he couldn't give in to it. "No 'buts.' Okay?"

Robby wanted to say no, and that was obvious. He wanted to keep fighting. He didn't want Daniel going down that trail alone. But he also knew his teacher had spoken, and if there was one thing Robby was getting good at, it was listening to his teacher.

"Robby."

"Okay," he finally relented. "I'll find the rocks. Just …"

"I'll be fine. I promise. I've been walking these trails alone for years. I won't get lost." He smiled, and he was almost proud of how hard Robby tried to return it. "I'll be back before you even notice I'm gone."

Daniel stepped past Robby and started down the trail. Outwardly, he pretended everything was fine, but inwardly, he had to force himself to ignore the fact that Robby was staring after him as he went. The comfort and ease they felt around each other had shattered again. All the progress Robby had made in the past ten minutes was destroyed because Daniel had left supplies they weren't even going to need in the car. That situation had escalated quickly, and there was nothing Daniel could have done to stop it.

'What am I gonna do with this kid?'

It was obvious the nightmare was still messing with Robby's head. Daniel had let him drive, in the hopes that having something else to concentrate on would break the last of the dream's hold on him, but it hadn't worked. He'd been shooting panicked glances at Daniel the whole time, almost like he was afraid he was going to disappear from the passenger seat. He hadn't mentioned it, thinking it best to let Robby wrestle his own imagination into submission. Add the outburst at finding the first aid kit and knee brace missing, and the near-panic attack he'd had at the thought of Daniel walking back to the car, and maybe he'd been wrong about that.

What could he have possibly seen in that nightmare that was so bad it was still scaring him? Robby was one of the strongest people Daniel had ever met, but for the past four hours, he'd been nervous, jumpy, and clingy. None of those were words Daniel would have ever associated with him, especially the last, but it was true. Robby was acting more like a toddler with separation anxiety than a sixteen-year-old boy, and he had been behaving that way from the moment he'd woken up. He couldn't stand to let Daniel out of his sight. It was so bad that Daniel was almost positive he was being followed.

There was a sound behind him, and he turned his head, expecting to see Robby standing there. But there was no one. There was nothing behind him but the trail and the trees.

He shook his head and turned back around. Trying to think of ways to get Robby's head back on straight was apparently making him start to lose his own, and that wasn't going to fix anything. All it was going to do was ruin their weekend.

What could he do to help Robby win a battle with his own mind? How did he teach him not to give into fear, the way Mr. Miyagi had taught him, when what he was afraid of wasn't even real? How could he help him?

"When you feel life out of focus, always return to basic of life."

He had to smile at the words. Mr. Miyagi still had a way of giving him the answers he needed.

Daniel had done it hundreds of times, when he'd felt himself or his life spinning out of control. He hadn't done it in years, but he couldn't deny that he probably needed it just as much as Robby did. Maybe, if he couldn't get Robby out of his own head, the answer was to take him deeper into it. It was worth a try. Reassuring him wasn't helping, and indulging him was only making things worse.

The hair on the back of his neck stood up, and he felt as if eyes were boring into his back right between his shoulder blades. He spun quickly. He'd already opened his mouth to say Robby's name when he realized that, just as before, there was no one there.

"This is getting ridiculous," he muttered as he turned and resumed his walk down the path.

He saw the roof of the SUV just ahead, through the trees, and he sped up his pace. He'd get the first aid kit, he'd get the damn knee brace, and he'd get back to Robby as quickly as he could. The sooner they got started, the better it would be for both of them. He'd get Robby straightened out, and hopefully, that would be the end of it. Neither of them could keep going like they were.

Their weekend on the mountain was supposed to be about balance and bonding, not fear and frustration.

He heard something else behind him, a soft, shrill call that almost sounded like laughter, but he shook his head and made himself ignore it. It was just the wind, or a bird, or some other perfectly normal sound of nature he usually wouldn't have even heard, let alone paid attention to. He was letting Robby's paranoia infect him, and he was on edge for absolutely no good reason. He'd checked twice, and he wasn't going to do it again. He knew there was nothing there. He'd tell himself that the whole way back to camp if he had to.

How was he supposed to teach Robby to focus if he couldn't even do it himself?

He rolled his shoulders, took a deep breath, and pressed the button on his key fob to unlock the doors. He tried to ignore the feeling of being watched, but the skin was starting to crawl up his back, and he couldn't shake it. Grateful there was no one there to witness his stupidity, he glanced across his shoulder as he leaned into the back seat of the SUV.

Nothing. No one.

Gritting his teeth at his own idiocy, he grabbed the first aid kit and knee brace from the floorboard angrily, slammed the door, and spun on his heel. He was stronger than that. He had to be. Robby needed him to be. He had fifteen minutes to get his bearings, and maybe less than that, as quickly as he was walking. The entire episode was ridiculous, and he felt like a fool. He had to regain control of his mind, and he had to do it soon.

If he didn't, that damn nightmare was going to drag him under, too.

After a much shorter, easier, and way less expensive stop at the grocery store, Johnny's brand new cooler was fully stocked with everything he could imagine needing for two days in the woods. Hot dogs, ketchup, mustard, Doritos, peanut butter and jelly, bread, marshmallows, candy bars, Pop Tarts, and Dr. Pepper. He bought the last because that Mr. Pibb stuff Miguel liked was actual crap, and he wanted to get the kid drinking some real soda.

And if he'd stopped at another store and bought some refreshments for himself that Miguel wasn't going to know about, what did it matter? He wasn't planning on spending the weekend drunk, but sometimes, certain situations called for a little liquid courage, and he knew himself well enough to know that he was walking into one.

He knocked on the apartment door softly, both wondering why he was nervous and pretending he wasn't. It was pretty late in the morning to be taking off for a camping trip, but he hadn't had much choice.

"I'm not looking to pick a fight with the guy, Amanda. I promise. I just need to talk to him. That's all." She hadn't believed him, and that had been obvious. "It's important. I wouldn't be asking if it wasn't. Please. Where is he?"

She'd thought about it for a few seconds. He didn't know how or why, but he saw it on her face, the moment she decided to trust him. "He's in the mountains somewhere. That's all I know, I'm afraid. I've never gone with him, and I've never asked. That's his place." His heart sank in his chest, and he sighed.

"Oh. Okay. Well, thanks anyway." He dropped his head and started to turn away.

"But Sam knows." He stopped turning and looked back at her over his shoulder. "It's not far from where he trains. Let me … I'll go wake her up, okay? She can tell you where he is."

It had taken Sam almost half an hour to stop trying to give him GPS thingies he didn't know what to do with and just describe some actual landmarks he could use to find his way. It had taken her another fifteen minutes to give him clear enough directions to keep him from getting lost. Then he'd gone to the store, spent way too much time and way too much money buying way too much stuff, and then driven back to Reseda Heights.

So he was showing up at Miguel's at 9:45 on a Saturday morning to take the kid on a spontaneous camping trip. Nothing weird about that at all.

It was Rosa who answered the door, and he smiled. Rosa liked him, and he knew it. Hoping to both maintain that and work it to his advantage, he did his best to greet her in her own language. "Bueno diaz, Rosa."

She smiled at him broadly, amused. "Buenos días, Johnny." She spoke the words slowly and clearly.

He felt himself blush at the obvious errors he'd made, and he looked down at his feet. "Right. Sorry about that." He'd have to get Miguel to actually teach him some Spanish before he tried that again. "Hey, is Carmen …" He lifted his head and smiled when he saw her standing behind her mother. "Buenos días, Carmen."

Unlike Rosa, who was looking at him fondly, apparently touched that he was making an effort, Carmen was almost laughing. "Good morning, Johnny." His cheeks were on fire. He'd just told himself he needed to learn what to say before he opened his mouth, and he'd gone and made himself look like an even bigger idiot, anyway. "What can I do for you?"

"Um, actually, I … well … I wanted … I mean, is …" He swallowed hard, took a deep breath, and tried again. "Can I take Miguel somewhere?"

The laugh fell from her face, and she blinked at him in silence. Rosa turned and walked into the living room, leaving them alone to talk, and Carmen stepped forward.

"I've been thinking about it, and I haven't really been the best sensei this week. I know. And I promised you I wouldn't do that again, and I'm really trying. But, I think maybe, if we leave the city, ya know? Just me and him. It'll give me a chance to talk to him, and then, we can finally get around to celebrating that win he pulled off. I haven't done that with him yet."

The blank look was replaced by an expression of deep disappointment. She took another step forward, leaned in, and said softly, "Do you think celebrating is the right word?"

"Um …" Okay, so she was upset about it, too. He didn't know if that made him feel better or worse. "I'm guessing no?"

He'd noticed the looks she'd been giving him for the past few days, but he'd been too wrapped up in his own problems to figure out what they meant. It was obvious she was proud of her son for what he'd done, for how far he'd come and how much he'd learned in the months since he'd been training, but underneath that, she also shared Johnny's concern and disappointment in how he'd achieved that victory. And now Johnny was standing in her door saying that behavior was worthy of rewarding. She was as worried as he was, about all the same things.

And she didn't even know about Kreese.

"I just, I wanna …" He glanced down at the floor again, then lifted his head and looked her straight in the eye. "I wanna help him, Carmen. Maybe he's a little lost right now, but everybody gets lost sometimes, don't they? I think it might, maybe, do him some good?"

She was openly skeptical, and it showed on her face. "You still haven't told me where you want to go."

"Camping," he answered quickly, gesturing back at the Challenger. It looked convincing, stacked to the windows with gear and food the way it was. "Up in the mountains. There's this place up there, with a lake, and I think maybe … I'd just really like to take him up there. Just for the weekend. We'd be back tomorrow, late in the afternoon or early evening?"

She finally started to look like she was considering it, but she wasn't convinced yet.

"I know he made … no. It wasn't him. It was me. I'm his teacher. His behavior on the mat is on me, and maybe I taught him some wrong things without meaning to, and I know I made a mistake, and I'm sorry. But I think I know how to fix it. Please."

She tipped her head slightly. "I don't know, Johnny."

"Carmen, please. Let me try. Let me help him. Please."

She stared into his eyes, and he felt like she was trying to read his soul. He guessed she liked what she saw, because she nodded her head firmly and turned to yell across her shoulder. "Miggy!" When he didn't answer her, she tried again. "Miggy!"

Miguel appeared at the end of the hallway, still in his shorts and rumpled t-shirt, his hair sticking up every-which-way. "What, Mom?"

"Get dressed." She turned back to Johnny and smiled. "You're going camping with Sensei Lawrence."

Daniel stepped back from the tent and dusted his hands off on his jeans. "And that's it," he announced. "We're done. Good job."

Robby's smile was genuine, and it made Daniel happy to see it. The last of his tension, which had been fading throughout the two hours they'd been working, evaporated. They looked around their camp, surveying the work they'd done, the fire pit Robby had built, and the tents they'd put up together. Their chairs were set up around the fire, their sleeping bags were laid out, their clothes were in their tents, and their food was safely packed away in Daniel's.

"Now what?" Robby asked, once more the excited kid he'd been when Daniel had first asked him if he wanted to go camping. "You want me to light the fire so we can make the hotdogs?"

"Not yet," Daniel said with a smile. "I want to show you something first. Follow me."

He turned and started down the trail toward the lake.

"Already?" Robby asked, with more than a touch of disappointment in his voice. "We don't even get lunch? Or a break?"

"Don't worry," he told him. "This isn't going to take long. And we're both going to feel a lot better when we're done."

Robby's confusion showed on his face. "What are we doing?"

He could have explained, but it would work better if he showed him. And before he showed him, he wanted to tell him the story. "There are a few big events in everyone's life that they look forward to. First date, first kiss, your senior prom … Everyone thinks about them, even the guys. Everyone wants them to be perfect, right?"

"I guess," Robby mumbled. "I'm not going to have a prom, so I don't really know."

"Oh, yes, you will," Daniel promised. "But that's a discussion for later." Robby looked slightly taken aback at the declaration, but Daniel wasn't ready to talk about Robby's school situation yet. "Anyway, these things are supposed to be highlights of your life. They're these big milestones that everyone has, and everyone wants to look back on them as good memories. I was no different."

Daniel turned around and started walking backwards, still talking. He was aware enough of his surroundings that he wasn't worried about tripping. "My senior prom started out fine, but by the end of it, my girlfriend had wrecked my car, and she'd dumped me for another guy, and when I went home to cry to my mom about it, I found out we were moving to Fresno for the summer."

Robby winced in sympathy. "Ouch."

"Yeah. What was supposed to be the best night of my life became one of the worst in barely an hour. And I was a kid, I was sixteen, I thought the whole world was ending." He turned back around as they approached the shore. "So, of course, I go to the one person I know will understand everything about my teenage angst and drama. My sixty-year-old sensei."

Robby smiled. "Mr. Miyagi, right?"

"That's right. Mr. Miyagi. And, I'm standing there in his backyard, in my powder-blue tuxedo … don't laugh! It was the 80s. And I looked fantastic." He admired the effort Robby put into not laughing, and when he failed, Daniel laughed, too. They'd reached the lake, so Daniel stopped and turned to face him. "Okay, it was ridiculous," he admitted. "Word of advice – no matter how pretty she is or how much she begs, never wear powder-blue ruffles. But the point is, that morning, he showed me one of the simplest, but most important, things he ever taught me. He called it the basic of life. And I'm going to teach it to you."

The look on Robby's face changed from amusement to interest, and Daniel knew he'd made the right decision. Feeling confident in his teaching abilities for the first time since he'd woken up that morning, he pressed the palms of his hands together.

"He taught you to pray?"

Daniel smiled. "I asked him the same question, but no. Not praying. Breathing."

"Wait, he taught you to breathe?"

"He taught me to breathe right." Daniel closed his eyes and drew in a deep breath. As he exhaled, he pushed his hands above his head. He inhaled again, and moved them back to his chest, then exhaled and pushed them straight out in front of him. Another inhale, and back to center.

He opened his eyes to Robby's slightly confused expression.

"Why don't you just do kata?"

Daniel smiled and let his arms fall to his sides. "This isn't about balance. It's simpler, more, well, basic. It's about focus. It's more immediate, and not as complicated, but it's pretty powerful. When all you're focused on is breathing, when you center your mind, everything around you changes. You can hear your own heart beating. You can feel the world around you sharper and clearer than you've ever felt before. It clears your mind, but it also puts you in touch with it in a way I can't really explain. Before long, you realize everything that's bothering you, or distracting you, or confusing you, is starting to make sense. You can take your life back when you feel like it's gotten out of your control." He motioned for Robby to move closer. "Come on. You try it. You'll see."

Robby slipped his sling off and let it hang at his side. He stood, facing Daniel, and pressed his hands together. Daniel closed his eyes again and concentrated, felt each breath moving in and out of his lungs, and let his arms move without conscious thought. Even after all those years without it, the movements were still comfortable and familiar. He knew Robby was watching him, just as he remembered watching Mr. Miyagi the first time. He could feel him studying Daniel's movements, comparing them to his own, making the adjustments he needed to compensate for not being able to fully extend his shoulder. Daniel knew the moment everything clicked into place, and he turned his thoughts inward when he heard Robby's breathing slow down and even out.

Daniel went deeper into his own mind and let go of the anger, frustration, and anxiety he'd allowed to take hold of him that morning. He could hear the wind blowing through the leaves around them, the squirrels chattering and the birds chirping. A wave of relaxation crashed into him, and he let it pull him under. The mountain and the lake appeared in perfect clarity in his mind's eye, and as his focus sharpened, so did the vision.

Then, suddenly, he became aware that somewhere close to them, something felt wrong. There was an empty place in the trees, with no movement and no sound. He concentrated on it, listening, breathing, and that hole in the birdsong began to change. It got darker, heavier. Scarier. Something was there, something that didn't belong. He tipped his head and tried to pinpoint exactly where and what it was.

He kept breathing, feeling his hands move, listening to his own exhales in concert with Robby's, and the evenness of the sound told him Robby hadn't felt it. He tried to pull back into his mind, reached for the peace he'd been so close to finding, but the hair on the back of his neck was standing up again. Something – someone – was staring at the middle of his back. He could feel it like a physical touch. He shook his head and kept going, tried to ignore it and stay focused, but the wrongness of it only got stronger.

A stick snapped behind him. His eyes shot open, and he spun around, his hands raising instinctively to defend against the threat he expected to be standing there. The line between his mind and reality was still blurry, but the contrast was jarring. He blinked several times, not believing what he saw and half-thinking he hadn't opened his eyes at all.

It was only Robby's soft, "Dad?" from behind him that convinced him what – who – he was seeing was real.

"Hey, LaRusso," Johnny said. "What's up?"