"I'm gonna take off, I wanna meet the bus," Sachiko said the next morning to her parents as she slipped on her shoes and grabbed her dojo bag. Saturdays were Kyo's weekend day at the dojo, and Hajime and Sachiko had always attended class on that day as well; that way, Sundays were free for the whole family to spend together at home. With there only being three of them at home now they could probably afford a little more flexibility, but even in her most angsty teenage moods Sachiko usually had to admit she liked the ritual of family Sundays.

Typically, Sachiko and Kyo would walk to the dojo together on Saturdays. But her friends' bus always got in earlier, and she wanted the chance to talk to them. Emi only attended the first of their two Saturday morning classes, so Sachiko's choices if she wanted to catch all four of them were either before class started or waiting until Monday...so before class it was.

It wasn't like it should take all that long, anyway.

"Have a good morning, Sachiko!" Tohru called cheerfully. "I'll see you at lunch!"

"See you in class, Sachi," Kyo said, grinning at her, and Sachiko grinned back. Kyo taught three classes on Saturdays, and while his first was a kids class, his second was a mixed-belt adult class that happened to be Sachiko's second class as well. One of her favorite things about turning sixteen so far had been being able to participate in the adult classes; while she wasn't so delusional she expected to regularly beat students who were bigger, older, and more experienced that her, she loved testing herself against opponents of all sizes and levels.

And having Kyo for her teacher was never a bad thing, either.


Sachiko was in a great mood as she made it into town, which only increased her confidence in what she was doing. It hadn't bothered her to tell her parents she'd broken up; it apparently also didn't bother her to tell her friends. She'd need to tell her school friends later, but once that was done then all loose ends would be neatly trimmed and tied, and she could move on.

It was nice, to have a breakup go so smoothly, and she could only hope Rei was as philosophical as her about the whole thing.

She was smiling as the bus pulled in, watching as the passengers, mostly consisting of fellow karatekas, began to disembark.

"Morning, guys!"

Sachiko's cheerful greeting drew the attention of her friends, and she was soon joined by the four of them.

There was one thing she noticed immediately.

"Sachi, is there something you forgot to tell us yesterday?" Emi asked in a very pointed tone of voice. She and Kaede were both frowning at Sachiko, and a glance at Shota and Takashi showed the boys were both looking somewhat awkwardly in another direction but also both obviously listening. And after a moment of staring at them, Sachiko sighed.

"Lemme guess, Isao?" she asked, referring to Emi's boyfriend, who happened to be on the soccer team with Rei. She was a little surprised, because as far as she knew Rei and Isao weren't close, but she supposed she shouldn't have been; boys were just as capable of gossip as girls, after all...

As supported by the way Shota and Takashi were both still obviously listening, even if they were trying to act like they weren't.

Emi nodded, still frowning. "Why didn't you say something yesterday? That was why you were so out of it on the bus, right?"

"I was still processing it, duh. You wanted me to go straight from getting dumped to talking about it in less than half an hour?" she asked, taking a minor bit of satisfaction from watching all four of them flinch. But she knew they were concerned about her, and even if it wasn't necessary, it was nice.

"But none of you guys've gotta worry about me," she said firmly, looking around. "That's actually why I'm here, 'cause I wanted to have a chance to actually tell you, but you all know, so." she shrugged her shoulders. "Rei and I broke up, we're not dating anymore, whatever. I'm fine, I'm not upset, it's probably a good thing anyway with how little respect he had for karate," she said, giving them all a grin.

They'd all started walking, and at Sachiko's comment almost all of them laughed.

"Seriously, Sachi, you should've put that guy out of his misery the first time he asked you to skip," Shota said as they walked along.

"That's not fair, Shota," Kaede censured. "Being in a relationship includes making sacrifices, I'm surprised Kameko hasn't dumped you if you don't know that by now."

"Reasonable sacrifices," Shota fired back, "And let's face it, anyone who actually knows Sachi should know asking her to cut karate is unreasonable."

"That's true," Emi agreed. "I mean, I like to think I'm pretty dedicated," she said, grinning at Sachiko, "But I've got nothing on you!"

"Well, we don't all have the potential of inheriting our very own dojo one day, either," Shota commented, and Sachiko giggled. Her friends were all aware of the fact her grandfather ran a dojo, and that her father was supposed to take it over when Kazuma retired. Nothing had ever been said further than that, but Sachiko would be lying if she hadn't looked around the Sohma Dojo herself and thought about it one day being hers. It wasn't like Katsuro was going to suddenly pick up karate at twenty, and even if Hajime started again, she couldn't imagine him having the interest.

No; out of the three of them, Sachiko had always felt she herself was the most likely successor, but she knew nothing was guaranteed. As far as she knew her father and grandfather still hadn't even confirmed Kyo's timeline for stepping in, and a part of her wondered if what they were waiting for was Sachiko to graduate high school. But Kazuma was getting older, and she couldn't imagine that either of them would want Kyo to take over without a transition period...

Sachiko would be happy, if they were waiting on her. As much as she loved her grandpa and enjoyed the classes she attended at the Sohma Dojo, the Matsuda Dojo had been her home dojo for her entire life. She already knew she'd have to say goodbye when she graduated; she had plans for university, after all, and there was no university even remotely within acceptable commuting distance of Hibe. But she had a year and a half until then, and until then, she wanted to stay right here where she was.

She didn't really talk about her hopes for the Sohma Dojo with her friends, but she didn't have to. All of them had been in karate as long as her, and all of them attended as many or nearly as many classes as she did. As far as she knew none of them hoped to pursue it professionally, but that didn't mean they didn't plan to stick with it even after graduating...and maybe they would have thought about things differently if they had a dojo in the family.

"That's a good point, though," Kaede said in response to Shota's comment. "I mean, he had to know you want to make a career out of this, right Sachi? It's not like it's just a hobby for you, it's like...job training!"

"Honestly, I dunno what he thought about it," Sachiko said with a shrug. "He always said it didn't bother him I was in karate-"

"-Didn't bother him?" Emi asked, raising a brow. "Wow, so generous," she said, her voice dripping with sarcasm, and Sachiko rolled her eyes.

"You don't have to get so defensive, Emi, it's not like he's Seiichi," Sachiko said, referring to the guy she'd briefly dated before Rei who hadn't even made it to the 'boyfriend' category. That relationship had ended abruptly before it even began when he told her, quite seriously, that she ought to consider quitting karate because he, 'like most guys,' wasn't comfortable with the idea of a girlfriend who 'wrestled with other guys' on a regular basis.

The fact he'd confused karate with judo only added insult to injury.

"Still. How do you keep ending up with these guys, Sachi?" Emi asked. "Like...your dad's an actual full-time karateka, you were practically born in a dojo, you're more ripped than like...half of the guys in second year," she said teasingly, "Do they really think you're going to just say 'ok!' and stop practicing because they ask you to?"

"Yes," Kaede said a little bitterly, and they were all quiet for a moment. Then Emi recovered.

"Well, they're all asses. Maybe you two should just start asking guys out yourselves," she said, giving Sachiko and Kaede a grin. "It's not like either of you ever struggled for confidence!"

"Or maybe we'll just enjoy being single," Sachiko said, taking Kaede's arm and hugging it. "There's nothing wrong with that, either!"

Sachiko noticed that Shota and Takashi had put a fair bit of distance between themselves and the three girls, and she couldn't help but grin. They'd all been friends for so long that pretty much no topic was off-limits for discussion when they were all together, but there were some topics where they definitely tended to split more along gender lines.

"Isn't that right, you two?" she called out, raising her voice, and Shota and Takashi reflexively glanced back.

"Sorry, didn't catch that," Shota called back. "Are you three done being such girls?"

"No, and we're probably not gonna be, either. That bother you?" Sachiko returned, and Shota grinned.

"Enjoy your conversation." Takashi had already turned away, and Shota joined him, leaving Sachiko to turn back to her friends with a sigh.

"I don't think they think this's interesting."

"Bummer," Emi commented. "It'd be nice to get a little male perspective, even if those two are obviously biased."

"Isn't that what you already got from Isao?" Kaede asked, and Emi grinned.

"That's just one male, it never hurts to hear from more."

Sachiko looked ahead at Takashi and Shota's retreating backs. "Well, I don't think either of them really feels like being a focus group today."

"I know...it's a bummer."


The three girls were almost done changing when Emi suddenly burst out with a new question.

"Serious question, you two. Never mind just asking out guys yourselves; what about asking out any of the guys here, at the dojo?"

Kaede and Sachiko stared Emi blankly for a moment, then both of them laughed, earning an immediate protest from Emi.

"What? Both of you've had problems with guys who don't respect you're karatekas, so why not ask out a guy from here? We all get along with most of them, with only a couple exceptions they're not dicks, most of them are cute, you'd clearly have a lot in common, you'd get to see them almost every day here at the dojo even if they go to another school...so why not?"

Kaede recovered first. "You're not being serious, are you, Emi?"

"Why not?" Emi repeated, and Kaede rolled her eyes.

"Because they're all our friends? Because it would be weird? Because none of them have ever asked us out, or any other girl here either" she said, ticking off the reasons on her fingers. "Yes, they respect us as karatekas, but that doesn't mean they'd want to date us."

Sachiko nodded. "What she said. I mean, you heard Shota on the walk here; pretty sure none of the guys here actually think of any of us as girls. We're all just karatekas, and I wouldn't be surprised if it freaked 'em out to even consider it."

Emi considered for a moment, then grinned. "Would you mind if I did a test?"

Sachiko shrugged. "Sure, why not?"

Kaede was a little more hesitant, but after a moment she nodded. "It's not going to be impossibly embarrassing, is it?"

"Define 'impossibly," Emi said, and Kaede groaned.

"Emi-"

"Trust me, you'll laugh about it!"


When the three of them arrived at the practice room for their first class, there were several teenagers already there, almost all of them boys. It was an inescapable fact that karate tended to skew male, especially at the higher levels; Sachiko had seen several female friends drop out over the years, which was a part of why she was so close to Kaede and Emi. It was a special thing, having two friends who'd gone through what she had and shared a common experience. As much as she'd always liked the guys, there were a few areas where they just couldn't relate.

And as soon as they'd bowed in, Emi wasn't wasting any time. Marching over to the little group of students, she asked, "Hey, can I get an opinion from the guys for a minute?"

Sachiko was amused to see the response. Takashi looked wary and Shota amused, no doubt suspicious after the conversation on the walk to the dojo, but the other guys all pretty much shrugged.

"Yeah, sure, what's up, Emi?" asked Daiki after a moment, a sentiment echoed by most of the others.

"Would any of you guys ever think about dating Sachi or Kaede?"

The response was almost comical in its immediacy; almost every guy blushed, stared, recoiled, or a combination of the above.

Sachiko wasn't sure if she should laugh or be insulted.

"What the hell kind of question's that?" Shion demanded, blushing. "You don't just walk into karate and say things like that, Emi!"

"Why not?" Emi asked, looking innocently at them. "We're all mature here, right?"

"Because it's weird?" Yuto asked, looking stubbornly off to the side. "No offense, Sachi and Kaede," he quickly added, echoed once again by some of the others.

"Seriously," Toshi agreed. "I mean, you get that, right?"

"Get what?" Emi asked. "Don't any of you think they're cute?" she asked, gesturing at her friends.

"You can't ask that," Kei groaned. "Karatekas don't think other karatekas are cute."

Kaede was crimson, but Sachiko was unabashedly grinning by now. "That's ok, Kei, I still think you're cute."

Kei darkened further. "I have a girlfriend, Sachi!"

"I know, and I'm teasing, doofus. Emi's just screwing with you guys, none of you gotta look so panicked," she said, still grinning. "Believe me, I know I'm cute without any of you guys telling me."

Sensei Kojima walked in just then, and the conversation immediately ended. But as the guys seized the opportunity to get away from the awkwardness, Sachiko looked over at Emi and said quietly, "Told you."


The teen class passed uneventfully, then it was time for Emi to head out and the rest of them to head to their next class, the mixed-belt class with Kyo. Some of their other classmates from the teen class took Kyo's class too, and Sachiko couldn't help but notice more than one awkward look directed at her father, a fact that she could tell Kyo noticed as well and likely wondered about.

She was definitely not going to tell him, as much as it amused her.

Although she hadn't said as much to Emi, that was another factor, at least in her case, that complicated things with her dating anyone at the dojo. As much as she trusted Kyo to back off and leave her and any potential boyfriend in peace, none of the guys knew that. While she knew he was a teddy bear, she could admit he was probably intimidating.

And admittedly much less of a teddy bear to literally anyone else, Tohru excluded.

No...there was a reason she'd never really seriously thought about dating anyone from the dojo. Kaede had summed things up pretty well, and her point had only been proved by what had happened before the first class. Yes, Emi had admittedly gone for shock value in her approach, but the question had been valid and the guys' responses had been telling; across the board, the idea of them dating Kaede or herself had been met with disbelief and incredulity. They might have great relationships with the guys as fellow karatekas, but that's all they were; amorphous, ungendered beings who all practiced karate together.

And it was maybe just better that way.


"You're an idiot, you know that?"

Shota's comment was delivered quietly, quietly enough that no one else in the locker room could hear. But the silence didn't take away the sting, and Takashi gave him a glower as the two of them dried off and started getting dressed.

Shota was undeterred by the glower. "That was the perfect chance, you know, you could have said something and been regarded as the smoothest guy around."

"You mean the biggest idiot around?" Takashi asked, scoffing. "You know anyone who would've said something would've gotten ragged on, probably by the girls themselves. Didn't you see the way they were all laughing?"

"Yeah, laughing because they were embarrassed! Poor Kaede looked like she was gonna melt into the floor," Shota said, shaking his head. "I wonder if they knew Emi was gonna do that."

"Well, whether they knew or not she did, and it's over," Takashi said gruffly, and Shota snorted.

"And you're an idiot," he repeated. "How long are you gonna keep doing this?"

"I'm not doing anything."

"I know, and that's the problem! Will you just tell her already?"

Takashi shot Shota an annoyed look. "It's not that simple, Shota."

"No? How many years have you been pining over her, anyway?"

"I don't pine. I never pined."

"Whatever it is, it's painful. Why don't you put us both out of our misery and just ask her out, seriously? She's single now, for however long it lasts."

"They just broke up!"

"Yeah, and it's Sachiko. She'll probably have her next date planned before a week's passed, and then where'll you be?"

Takashi grumbled as he stuffed his gi back into his bag. "It's not that simple," he repeated.

"Why?" Shota asked. "You like her, you might as well shoot your shot, right? Worst that happens is she says 'no' and you both move on with your lives, as do I since I won't have to watch you moon over her anymore."

"I don't moon, either," Takashi glowered. "And no, the worst that happens is I ask, she says no, laughs at me, things get weird and then we aren't friends anymore. Or she starts avoiding me," he said, his voice glum.

"Taka, it's Sachi. She's not gonna laugh at you, whatever her answer is." Shota said, then corrected himself. "Well...not unless she thinks you're messing with her."

"See? That could happen, too, she thinks I'm joking and things are weird 'cause of that!"

"So convince her you're serious!"

"How?"

"I dunno, kiss her?"

Takashi gave Shota an exasperated look. "Can you just stop screwing with me? I'm not gonna just up and kiss her, you really think that'd end any way other'n me getting punched?"

"Fine. Tell her, then, use all those words you've been masterfully hoarding up during all the time you haven't said anything. Seriously, you've been the world's biggest lump today," Shota said, zipping his bag.

"Yeah, well, at least I'm not being an asshole," Takashi muttered, and Shota gave him a sympathetic look.

"I had to ask Kameko out for the first time once too, you know. It's not like we just woke up one day and found out we were dating."

"That's different. You just knew her from high school, you didn't hardly even know her name before this year."

"So? I still had to ask her, and if anything that gives you an advantage. You know Sachi, Takashi, and you know she likes you."

"As a friend," Takashi reminded him. "Just like you, or even Emi and Kaede; definitely not as a guy. And you heard her in there today, Emi was just messing with everybody. Sachi wasn't even blushing, she knew it wasn't serious."

"Does Sachi ever blush? Can she, even? And relationships can come from friendships, too, dumbass. I'm pretty sure your feelings grew outta friendship, unless you're telling me you've been in love with her since we were five. And if so, I think you owe Sato an apology for being her pretend boyfriend when we were seven."

The glare Shota got in response to that question could have peeled paint, but Shota ignored it.

"Look, Taka, I say this as both of your friend. You oughtta ask her out, seriously. You know Sachi doesn't play games, if she's not interested she'll tell you to your face and just act normally afterwards. She's never been one of those girls who says stuff she doesn't mean or gets weird about things."

Takashi had to admit Shota had a point. "Suppose I did think about asking her out-"

"-You mean like you should've done at any point in the past two years?"

Takashi gave him another glare, then shoved his dojo bag over his shoulder. "You know what, never mind."

Shota's hand was immediately gripping Takashi's arm, holding him fast. "Oh no, you're not gonna show the first glimmer of sense in ages and then 'never mind' at me. I'm sorry," he said sincerely. "Now, supposing you did...?" he asked, giving Takashi a questioning look.

Takashi sighed, then mumbled, "How'd I even do it? It's not like we ever get a chance to be alone, really."

"At school, maybe? You guys are on the same floor, you've gotta see each other once in a while, right?"

"I'm not gonna say something at school," Takashi said, gritting his teeth. "Even if I did catch her, which I pretty much never do, we definitely wouldn't be alone. And you guys are always around at the dojo, and on the way."

"I suppose telling Kaede and Emi is out of the question?" Another glare was the response to that, and Shota sighed. "It'd make it easier, you know."

"And make it even more awkward if she said no," Takashi said. "As if it wouldn't be bad enough for Sachi to know, they all would, and I'd probably never hear the end of it. Have you heard them talking about some of the guys who've asked them out?"

"You mean the ones who sound like they suck? Pretty sure that's different, Taka, or do I have to remind you again that they're all your friends? Our friends," he repeated. "It's not like any of us are different people just because dating's involved."

"As if you can actually know that," Takashi said grumpily.

"Look, just...let me try to help you think about it, too. If you're sure, then we don't have to tell Emi and Kaede, but I really think they'd be willing to help.

"Why?" Takashi asked, frowning.

"Because they love romance? Do you not actually ever listen to them when they're talking about dating?"

"No," Takashi admitted, and Shota smiled ruefully.

"Ok, that's fair. I wouldn't want to listen to my crush talk about her boyfriend, either."

"She's not my crush, Shota, I'm not a little kid."

"No? Ok, fine, what is she?"

The silence he got in response was telling, and after a moment Shota give Takashi a nudge.

"Come on, we should go; the girls're gonna think we drowned in the showers. But I'm serious, Takashi; let's think about this, both of us. Because I really, really think it's time you asked her out."