3/2/ 13- I did rewrite this chapter. Just so everyone knows the newest chapter should be up in a couple of days.
This chapter is based around Michael and his daughter Autumn and how they are living in another universe. It has been five years after the last chapter so his daughter is eleven years old. I know this story is a little odd but I hope that everyone enjoys this chapter.
Five years later-
Michael's dream
I was running down a dark street unsure of where I was heading but I knew I had to get away from Oroku and Jasmine, they were trying to take my baby girl away again. Both of their laughter was echoing from everywhere around me. They would not leave me alone. Taking a turn down a dark alley their laughter finally stopped. Letting myself breath, I relaxed a little bit, hoping that I escaped.
"You think it would really be that easy to get away from us?" I heard Jasmine's soft, silk like voice behind me. I turned around and saw her smiling at me. Her straight blonde hair was glistening in the moon light, it made me want to go and hug her but I stopped myself, I knew this was only dream.
"I thought it would be but like always, you proved me wrong." I told her with a smirk. Before I knew what was happening, the alley and Jasmine melted into nothingness. There was no noise or color in the darkness; I walked around trying to figure out what was going on. A head of me I saw two people, getting a closer look I saw that it was my kid and Yoshi.
"Hey! What are two doing here?" I asked, not stopping the smile that pulled itself onto my face. Neither of them turned towards me, looking closer I saw that they both looked like hell. Cuts and bruises were all over their bodies and they both looked like they could barely stand.
"Kid?" I whispered, stepping closer, I tried to put my hand on her shoulder but it went right through her like she was a ghost. I ran over to Yoshi and tried to get his attention but the same thing happened. Looking between the two I felt useless to them.
"There you are! You filthy vermin!" Oroku said in his booming voice, stepping out of the darkness. The look in his eyes was that of pure hatred. He grabbed his sword by his side and ran at Yoshi, with every intention to kill.
"Move Yoshi!" I yelled, while jumping to push him out of the way but I went straight through him and hit the ground. Yoshi didn't react to me or anything, he just stood there, like he was waiting for death. Oroku pierced his sword through my brother's stomach. I felt my blood run cold; this bad dream had quickly turned into a nightmare. Oroku let go of his sword and both it and Yoshi fell into the blackness, it seemed to swallow them whole. I crawled over to where Yoshi just was, to stun to stand or speak. Oroku's voice was what brought me back.
"Your turn to die!"
I picked my head up to see him kicking my daughter in the stomach with all his strength. She didn't scream or maybe she didn't have time to before the darkness swallowed her as well. I pounded the ground, tears falling down my face. I didn't even notice Oroku until he was standing right in front of me. I looked up and a sword was being positioned right on my neck, the cold steal against my skin made me shiver. I closed my eyes, not having the strength to fight back.
"You shall pay for your lies." I looked up and saw instead of Oroku standing there ready to end my life it was Yoshi with hatred in his eyes. An overwhelming sense of guilt over came me and I could not help the scream that tore at my heart.
"I'm sorry!" I shouted shooting up in bed and gasping for air, I felt like I couldn't breathe. Beads of sweat were rolling down my face and neck, along with tears, wiping my face with the back of my hand I tried to take a few calming breathes but that didn't do anything to help. Reaching over with a shaky hand for my alarm clock I saw that it was four-twenty, five minutes before I normally woke up. Putting it back, I rubbed my forehead trying to rid my mind of what I had just dreamed. It only took me a few minutes to make me realize that the nightmare was not going away any time soon and the sooner I got up and moving the sooner I could distract my mind from it.
Walking out of my bedroom and to the bathroom down the hall, I looked in the mirror. My eyes were blood-shot red, my long brown hair was everywhere, and it looked like I hadn't slept for a few days. Taking a few deep breathes I splashed water on my face hoping to wake me up a little bit, lucky it worked.
The dojo needed to be cleaned for my kid's training session before she went to school so I went ahead and got that done before I started breakfast. Thankfully I got the dojo prepped and ready as well as the food before five-thirty, which was the normal time for my kid to make it down.
At 5:35 I had a feeling that she was not going to get up on her own so I headed back upstairs to get her. As I made it to the top of the stairs I noticed a small stream of light coming out from underneath my daughter's door.
'Is she up?'
"Kid, you up?" I asked. Opening the door a little I peered inside and saw that her bed was empty, I felt my heart race a little from fear that my nightmare had been real but then noticed she was a sleep at her desk, not that was rare but after my nightmare I was not in the mood to deal with that today. Walking over to her without making a sound, I looked over her shoulder and saw that she had fallen asleep on top of one of her many books for the second time that week.
Glancing over at her book shelf I saw a rather thick book, walking over I got it and raised it above my kid's desk. Making sure it wouldn't hit her I let it fall and with a loud 'BANG' it made my kid jump and fall backwards out of her chair. She sat up and rubbed the back of head.
"Good morning sunshine." I told her. She looked up at me with a sleepy expression.
"Morning dad." She mumbled while she yawned. I crossed my arms and looked down at her with my best 'fatherly' look. She stood up and sat her chair back up right.
"You stayed up late again reading your books again." It wasn't a question, it was a statement. She sighed and looked up at me with uncertain eyes.
"Yeah but I was at a really good part in this book and..." I raised my hand to stop her and pinched the bridge of my nose to keep myself calm. Looking back at her I saw that her stare had not wavered.
"Just be down stairs in ten minutes and be ready for your ninjitus lesson."
"Hai sensei." She whispered.
I hadn't sat back down to the table before my kid was down stairs and dressed for practice just as asked, in gym shorts and a t-shirt. We ate breakfast in silence, I didn't know why; maybe it was because we were both too busy in our thoughts to voice any out loud.
"You need to get this kata right!" I yelled a little louder than what was needed but after my nightmare I was determined for her to get this move. It is a rather difficult move Musha Dori, she's supposed to use her elbow to hit her enemy in the stomach to faze them and then use a spinning back kick to either knock them out or at least send them flying a few feet.
She looked up at me from where she had fallen. With her long, wavy brown hair falling out of its pony tail and her blue/greenish eyes a blazed with emotion she reminded me of her mother, I felt a small twinge of fear go down my spine, I closed my eyes and let out a calming breath but it did not help calm my mind in the least.
"Do it again!" I ordered. She nodded and got up without a complaint even though I was working her ragged. With shaky legs she once again she got into a fighting position, she jabbed the dummy in the stomach with her elbow, she had that part of the move down pat, but she used too much force so when she went for the spinning back kick the dummy came back and sent falling to the ground.
I winced and tried to get my anger and fear under control but every time she messed up it only made my nightmare all the more real. That she could get hurt by Oroku or anyone else because I didn't train her enough like I should have. The nightmare was still fresh in my mind and this was not helping it at all.
"One more try and then you can go get ready for school." She nodded determination and spirit burning in her eyes, she was ready to get this move right but sadly she failed again. With her head hung in shame she left the dojo without a word.
Sighing, I decided to go ahead and put up the dummy we were practicing with, unhooking it from the ceiling I looked down at all patches my kid had caused. My daughter was a gifted ninja but she sadly could not control her strength when it came to fighting. And I knew that I was pushing her past her limits today but I knew she could handle it.
"I'm going down to wait for the bus." She called, closing the front door before I could say anything. I winced and rubbed the back of my head, I knew that she was upset with me; she always gave me a cold shoulder when she was, and I knew I deserved it too.
After I had put the dummy up and had the dojo ready for the class that I taught later in the day, I went down stairs, locking the door behind me, to work on my universal portal. Sitting down at my work bench I looked back and forth between the blue print and the actual thing I was building. The plat-form looked right and so did the lasers that were connected on the sides but the wiring was the most difficult part. Sighing I laid my head down on my desk, one thought going through my mind.
'If I have any chance of getting us back to my universe in one piece I have to get this damn thing working.'
Grabbing my tool box I walked over to the portal and started working on some of the wiring problems. One of the things that I always kept hidden from everyone was my genius, even Yoshi and Jasmine never knew I was smarter than average and I planned to always keep it a secret. My genius was the only reason my kid and I were even in this universe. The night before I escaped from my own universe to come to this one, I had it programmed to bring both me and my daughter to the New York City of this dimension.
It had the same physical aspects of my own universe, the people looked the same, the sky is blue, and the grass is green. The only key difference I must say is that this universe doesn't have the same heart and soul of my own home.
The house phone started to ring before I got too lost in my thoughts, running back upstairs I didn't reach before it went to voicemail.
"Hey Michael, I was just calling to let you know that I ordered some new fighting dummies and that they will be delivered sometime later today. No need to call back I just wanted to let you know, talk to you later."
I stood by the phone; he said not to call back which I was glad to hear because I was not in the mood to talk to my boss. Don't get me wrong he was a nice guy. After saving him from being mugged he gave me a job teaching ninjitsu in one of his many dojos across America, he even let me build a home onto the dojo but I was still a little stiff from my nightmare and I didn't want him to worry.
I sighed and walked back down stairs to work on my portal until my class showed up.
"We'll stop here today; we will work more on this kata tomorrow." I told my class with the best smile I could muster. My class consisted of college and high school kids, with a few older people thrown in, so I didn't have to worry about taking it easy on anybody. Most of my students were not even close to my kid's level even though she was far younger and that helped ease my fears a little.
I was just started to clean up when my cell started to ring.
"Hello?"
"Hello, Mr. Hamato, this is Mrs. Kat, your daughter Autumn's principal. I just called to let you know that you're daughter is sitting here in my office, she is being expelled and I was hoping that you could come get her?"
"What did she do?" I asked, trying to keep my voice calm and even.
"She hurt another student while protecting one of her friends, it will be simpler if you just come here and I'll explain everything."
"Okay, I'll be right there."
The drive to school took longer to get there than usual but that was probably just me, I never had a phone call from school telling me my kid was in trouble. Pulling into the teachers' parking lot, I calmly got out and walked inside. After telling the desk lady what I was there for she pointed down a long hallway and told me that the principal's office was the last one on the right. Thanking her I made my way down and walked right on in.
Mrs. Kat looked away from her computer and gave me a small nod to the vacant seat beside my kid.
"Hello Mr. Hamato, please sit and I will be right with you."
I nodded and sat down in the chair. Looking over at my kid, I saw that she was looking at me and trying her best not to smile, for whatever reason she was in trouble for I knew that she didn't regret it at least not as of that moment. I looked back to her principal and cleared my throat.
"Mrs. Kat, if I may, what did my daughter do to get expelled?" She finally turned away from her computer and leaned over the desk with her hands folded together.
"She broke the arm of another student, Mr. Hamato." I felt all the color in my face fade away. Mrs. Kat sighed and leaned back in her chair. "Now I understand that it was in self-defense, she was protecting another student from being picked on but there is no call for anyone to go to that extreme. I am afraid, Mr. Hamato that I will have to expel your daughter for two weeks."
"I understand Mrs. Kat; you're only doing your job." I told her with my best smile, hiding how upset I really was.
"Thank you for understanding Mr. Hamato but there is something else." I nodded, my smile gone.
"I do not care what you teach your own child but I would prefer if I never saw anything of this nature in my school again." She glared at me over her glasses. "Do I make myself clear?"
"You do but there is something you need to know as well. I am teaching my kid how to protect herself and other people and if she thinks that she needs to do just that then I suggest that you let it slide because there is no way my kid would hurt another person without a good reason."
Mrs. Kat looked up at me with wide eyes; I lead my kid out of her office before she regained her ability to talk. Neither my kid nor I said anything for a while, nothing but the sound of the motor between broke the silence.
"I finally got that kata you taught me this morning." My kid told me, breaking the tension. I looked over at her and saw she was giving me a small smile, I felt my blood run cold with anger.
"Why did you do that Autumn? You know better than to use anything I teach you on someone weaker then you!" I yelled. She glared up at me, her pale face turning a bright red color.
"I know that! But he was picking on Sam and couldn't just sit there doing nothing! I didn't even know Musha Dori was going to work!" She turned away from me, crossing her arms.
"I didn't even mean to hurt him that badly daddy." My daughter whispered, looking over I saw a few tears sliding down her cheeks, which she quickly wiped away. I sighed and loosened my grip on the steering wheel. Pulling into our lane I shut off the car and sat there in silence.
"Look…I know that you didn't mean to hurt the kid that badly but…" I reached over and put my hand on her shoulder, she looked up at me, the anger and tears were gone. "You need to realize that in a fight you need to learn when to pull your punches."
"Okay daddy." We got out of the car and as I walked up to the front door I noticed a few large boxes.
"These must be the new dummies the boss ordered. Hey kid, unlock the door and help me with them, if you don't mind." She nodded and together we got them all inside and lined against the dojo wall.
"Why don't you go get dressed for training practice and I'll get one of these ready so you can break it in." My kid gave me a small smile and headed upstairs. I got out one of the new dummies and hung it from the ceiling, my student walked in a short time after with a blank expression and kneeled in her spot; she was preparing herself for whatever I had in store. Walking in front of her I looked down at her.
"I understand that you protected someone weaker then you but you also broke the arm of someone weaker than you as well, am I correct?" At this point and time, we were not father and daughter, we were sensei and student.
"Hai sensei."
"You must learn that with every single person you save that you are also hurting someone else in the process, which cannot be avoided, do you understand this?"
"Hai Sensei, I do." Walking over to the new dummy I had hung up I looked down at my pupil, who had turned around to face me.
"You must also understand that you have to get your strength under control." She nodded at me. "You are going to practice Musha Dori on this dummy until you perfect it, then we will move on to your control." She nodded, standing up she bowed to me and walked to the dummy, getting into a fighting stance, she had a fierce look in her eyes, just her mother. I shook my head and walked to the dojo door.
"I will be back in a few hours to check on you." I closed the dojo door and headed to the basement. It wasn't until I closed the basement door behind me that I wasn't able to hear the dummy being beaten to a pulp.
I was covered in small burns and cuts from the wiring I was trying to get done before three hours were up. Putting away my tools and blueprints, I headed back upstairs to check on my kid and see how much progress she had made.
Barely any noise was coming from the dojo unlike when I had headed down stairs three hours ago. Opening the dojo door a bit I peered inside to see my student hit the dummy to hard with her spinning back kick, before she could even land one foot back on the ground the dummy came back full force and sent her falling face first into the floor.
I winced and watched as she pushed herself back up onto shaky looking legs. Her movements were sluggish as she walked back over to the dummy but her eyes reminded me of myself when I was her age, full of determination and fire.
She jabbed her elbow into the dummy's stomach with more force than was needed before she could even get her footing right for the spinning back flip the dummy came back at her once again and sent her falling to the ground right onto her right shoulder.
My student tried to push herself up but she fell back to the floor. I was about to go in to tell her to stop but before I entered she punched the floor in an angry manner that made me stop in my tracks.
"Why can't I get this kata?" She whispered angrily. My heart broke a little for her but at the same time I finally understood why she couldn't get it.
"You're heart isn't in your strikes." I explained, she spun her head around and looked me. Her eyes were glistened with tears and her pony tail was long gone, so her hair fell down around her but looking at her I knew that was the last of her worries. Wiping her unshed tears away she stood and looked up at me.
"I don't understand." I guided her back over to the dummy. Walking behind it, I looked at my student with a serious expression.
"Imagine that you are in a situation that you are protecting me from someone who wants to hurt me, would you go to any lengths to do that?" She nodded. "Then imagine this dummy is that person and you have to defeat them to save me."
Her expression turned into one of pure hate, her eyes were a darker shade then normal and she got ready to attack. Stepping back I watched as my student jabbed her elbow into the dummy's stomach, she spun around and hit the dummy straight in the chest. The dummy broke away from the chain that was holding it and was sent flying into the wall.
I stood there dumb founded, a grin spreading across my face. Looking back at my kid, she was standing in a daze unsure what to think, she looked at me, completely in shock.
"Congrats my student, you just mastered Musha Dori." I smiled. Slowly a smile pulled itself onto her face, her eyes lighting up with excitement.
"I did it! Yes!" She cheered loudly and jumped up and down. She pulled herself back down to earth and bowed to me.
"Thank you so much sensei." Still smiling I walked over to her and put a hand on her shoulder, she smiled up at me, unable to hide her happiness.
"You are quite welcome." I pulled her into a hug and held her tightly.
"I'm so proud of you." I whispered.
"Thank you daddy." My smile started fading and I stepped away from my kid and looked at her with a serious expression.
"There is one thing you have to understand. You were blessed with an amazing gift but you must learn to control it more, both in your mind and body. Do you understand?" She nodded.
"Hai Sensei." Smiling down at my kid, I ruffled her hair up and chuckled.
"But we'll work on that later, why don't you go relax and I'll pick this place up."
"Sure, thanks daddy." She said while running upstairs. I smirked and walked over to the dummy and saw that I would have to fix the chain. Placing it with the other new dummies I looked around and saw that there was nothing else that really needed to be done so I decided to mediate.
Closing the dojo doors, turning the lights off and lighting a few candles I let my mind wonder but sadly it always went right back to my nightmare. I sighed and gave up on mediating but my thoughts kept wondering.
'That nightmare is not leaving me, it must be a sign. I need to have my daughter trained and ready to protect herself before the portal is complete. I gave my word that I would be back in sixteen years and I plan on keeping my word. The only thing I can hope for my daughter is that she doesn't go down the same road as her mother or myself.'
I hope that everyone enjoyed the rewrite of this chapter. I know that this story may seem confusing now but some of it will be made clear in the upcoming chapters. And like always reviews are welcomed. :)