Disclaimer: I blame marathons of Karate Kid movies on TV for making me writing fanfic of it, haha.
Story: When Mike Barnes seeks revenge some other way, Danielle finds healing in two unlikely and unexpected saviors.
Set as a genderbent continuation of the third Karate Kid movie.
Spoilers: Yeeeessss. Yes, yes, yes. Beware?
Warnings: Age difference, initial racism towards Asians, excessive drinking, some violence and language, PTSD, gender roles and gender expectations, societal expectations…
Pairings: Eventual John Kreese/fem!Daniel/Terry Silver.
The Things I Could Do Without
Chapter Three: Checked Into Rehab
She was quiet. It freaked him out, to be a little honest. The girl he remembered had been a riot to be around, back when she hadn't a clue of Terry's real motivations for "training" her. While they'd trained, he'd gotten a sense of her dorky wit and had enjoyed her charm while it had lasted.
The girl sitting in the back of his car, quiet as a mouse, wasn't the same girl he remembered.
Glancing to his side, he saw John tiredly watching out of his window, refusing to look anywhere else. Guilt seemed to have struck his friend back (it had him too), but unlike Terry who was trying to make things somewhat cheerier and better for everyone, John seemed to have withdrawn into himself in almost the same way Danielle had.
"So, it's just John and me in the house, though Snake and Dennis live there –they come in and out whenever though, 'cause you know –teenagers," he knew he was rambling. "If you don't remember them, they're the, uh, boys that were hanging around Barnes."
A flinch.
Terry paused, watching her through his mirror for a moment. He knew he hadn't imagined that. As soon as he'd mentioned Barnes, she'd…she'd flinched. Without consciously doing so, he'd slammed his foot on the brake, causing the car to jolt into a stop on top of the hill that led to his mansion. He heard John cursing, but he was too focused on the girl at the back of the car, who had nearly flown off her seat as well at the stop.
"What the hell, Terry?!" John cursed at him, but Terry ignored him.
"Did Barnes do it?" he felt his gut clenching horribly as he stared at her.
She whimpered and curled up into a ball, clutching her hands over her ears. Oh fuck.
"Did he –" his voice sounded nearly hysterical and had gone to a higher pitch.
A hand gripped his shoulder tightly and he looked at John, who shook his head and glared at him. Terry glanced back at Danielle, who was doing her best to block out the world, and then back at his friend, who was giving him a steady glare. Cursing under his breath, he put the car back in drive and began to continue on to his home.
But fuck. This was his fault. He'd brought that kid in on this! He was the one who'd found Barnes, who'd given him a deal, and had made him all a part of this thing. What was the kid thinking? Why the hell would he do something like this?
Where was Barnes anyway? He hadn't seen him since a little after the tournament, where he'd all but kicked the kid out of the house for his failure.
Parking in front of the mansion, he stepped out and watched as John did too. Danielle was slower to leave though, and they waited for her patiently. She walked around the car and then stared up at the mansion, showing some emotion as she looked at it in awe. Pride and a bit of smugness filled him up, though inwardly he was relieved that some emotion came out of her, especially a more positive one.
"So you get to live in here for a while," Terry bounced a little on the balls of his feet, grinning slightly. "Want the grand tour?"
"I'd like to go straight to sleep," she said quietly, and his grin faltered.
"Okay," John cut in. "We'll show you where you sleep, and you can sleep for the night. Breakfast is…whenever. We sleep in pretty late, and neither of us really cook. We scrounge up something, or get something out."
"John cooks a little," Terry added. "But only some stuff. Little, easy stuff. 'Cause you know –bachelors."
A small smile briefly appeared on her lips, which Terry straightened up at and felt relieved again at seeing.
"Come on then," Terry led the way.
It was actually almost a long stretch from the front of his mansion to up the stairs then down the hallway of his second floor, where he reached a room that was across from John's and next to his. He told her that too, so she'd know where their rooms were, and she nodded and disappeared behind her door. And then he and John were disappearing in his room and frowning at each other.
"That kid did this!" Terry hissed angrily. "I fucking set that kid on her, and look where it led to!"
"Don't think it's your fault," John scowled at him. "Besides, if it's anyone's fault, it's mine. I was the one who agreed to this stupid revenge shit, egged you on, and started this whole thing."
"Don't forget that I suggested it and technically started and pushed you into it," Terry disagreed. "And I was the one who hired that idiot. I didn't think he'd go this far though! What was he thinking?"
"I don't care or want to know why. He did it and it's already come to pass. What's important now is what to do with her, and where he is and how to get him to pay up for it," John said firmly.
"Maybe Snake or Dennis will be around tomorrow. I told them about all this, so they won't be caught off guard if they see her around and won't freak out or act like jerks when they see her. They might know where Barnes has been or even seen him lately."
"Do you think…" John hesitated. "Do you think she'll be okay? Here? With us?"
Terry wasn't sure of that himself. How could she? They had been two of her tormentors not too long ago, and now she was stuck around them. She'd been raped, and that in itself was messed up. Adding in that she'd been raped by the kid that the two of them had been training to beat her mercilessly in that tournament, that he'd hired to harass her before…
And that wasn't including the fact that Terry himself had led her on, pretended to care about her and become her friend, earning her trust and then betraying it when he finally exposed himself and the whole plot to her.
He just…Right now, Terry just felt like the biggest shittiest person in the world then.
"I don't know, John," he told the other man tiredly. "I really just don't know."
It wasn't supposed to be like this. It really wasn't.
John scratched his head as he yawned, lazily taking two steps at a time down the stairs as he headed for the kitchen. At the entrance, though, he had to pause and just watch in surprise.
He hadn't expected to see Danielle up so early, and cooking breakfast at that.
"Morning," he greeted hesitantly, and he watched her tense and turn her head to see him.
"Morning," she quietly greeted back before going back to her cooking.
He thought that was that and had started to debate with himself on whether or not he should go back to his room and wait until she was finished there in the kitchen, when she spoke up again.
"There's pancakes on the counter," she told him without looking at him. "I'm finishing sausages and eggs."
After an awkward pause, John nodded before he remembered she couldn't see him.
"…Thanks," he said gruffly, heading over to the pile of pancakes he finally saw.
He got himself a plate and nabbed a few of the pancakes, finding butter to slather on. He took quick discreet glances at her, but she either didn't notice or said anything.
"You, uh, cook?" he continued to be hesitant, but he was doing his best to be civil and draw her out of her shell.
"I lived with just my mother for the longest time. She went to work early and came home late," she said after turning off the stove and carefully putting what she finished onto a separate plate. "I learned to cook."
He took a sunny side up egg and a few sausages, and then sat down at the island counter in the middle of the kitchen. He was caught off guard that she chose to follow suit with her own plate, sitting across from him. For a few moments, it was just the two of them and they ate silently. And then, unable to help himself, he tried to get her to talk.
"Do you…do you want to talk about it? About Barnes –"
"No," she cut in sharply, face hardening a little as she stabbed into a sausage and glared lightly at her plate.
He swallowed helplessly. For another moment, there was silence again. Then he took a deep breath.
"When I was in Vietnam, there were a lot of things that happened that I still dream and think about," he started quietly, and he saw he'd grabbed her attention. "I have a scar on my right shoulder, where a Viet Cong soldier snuck up on me and stabbed me. We struggled a while, before I managed to kill him with his own knife…but that was the first time I'd ever killed someone up close and saw them die right before my eyes. He was just a kid, you know? A teenager. He was a little younger than you."
He never talked in detail about what happened in Vietnam. The few times he spoke about it, he'd been vague enough, and only enough to impart the importance of his teachings to his students.
John still had trouble forgetting his time there after all, and trying to forget about it was what he usually did.
But he thought that it might help getting her to talk if he talked too. So if he shared his hell, maybe she'd share hers.
"I didn't want to move here," Danielle spoke up, and he focused on her, letting out the breath he'd been holding after his last word. She wasn't talking about what happened, but at least she was talking about something. "I was fine in New Jersey, but I wasn't happy here. But then again, New Jersey wasn't great either. I didn't have friends there. I don't know…maybe I just can't get along with people. Maybe that's why I just keep getting people who hold onto grudges against me."
She shrugged. "Mom didn't even get the job she was supposed to have here. They'd gone bankrupt and we were stuck in Reseda. I…tried to make friends. It wasn't…it wasn't like I didn't try. I did. I went to a beach with Frankie and got along with his friends, and Ali and her friends were there and I was getting along with her. And then Johnny and his posse came along."
John could see her face darkening. Honestly, he never knew the direct circumstances of the feud between her and his ex-students. He'd only come to hear about something when the boys came back after that Halloween, beat up and grumbling about that old Japanese guy beating them and that girl making them look like idiots. He'd then decidedly set off to make sure they would beat and humiliate the duo at the tournament, when the deal came about.
"God, Johnny was such an asshole!" Danielle burst out, looking irritable and startling John out of his thoughts. "Ali told me that they'd been broken up for weeks by then, but I remember him storming up to her and how possessive and angry he was. He totally didn't know what no meant, and after seeing him break her radio, he'd totally be an abuser! Or end up one."
John opened his mouth to defend his once student, when he uneasily wondered about it. He knew Johnny. And he knew the others. Or he thought he did. He didn't…he didn't really know them though, did he? They were capable of things like he was capable of things. He'd lashed out after the tournament, against Johnny too, so who was to say that his ex-student couldn't mess up like him?
"He gave you the trophy himself," he still found himself saying.
Danielle gave him a bland look. "He still beat me up with the skills he learned from you, for defending Ali while he was being a pompous asshole. In front of everyone and being the one to start the hostile and violent encounter, and escalating everything to a higher level of violence and aggression. Then he was an immature jerk during soccer tryouts and he and the others kept trying to trip me."
John winced. Yeah, Johnny sounded like he was being an idiot and he really was picking on the girl. What had been his problem anyway?
"My mom found work in the restaurant across from your old dojo," she said suddenly. "When I found out and came over, I remember seeing your dojo for the first time. I was actually kind of excited because I'd really wanted to take karate classes."
He perked up a little at that. He hadn't known that. Though if he stretched his memory, he could sort of recall it, with her lingering in the background and watching a little while he'd been teaching his class…
"I came over to check it out," she confessed. "I regretted it because I saw Johnny immediately and I was so angry that I practically ran back out of your dojo. He obviously saw me because when I was going home after that, they followed me and knocked me down with my bike downhill and I almost cracked my head wide open."
John flinched and found that he wasn't comfortable or happy hearing about her side of the events, especially considering he'd originally hadn't let himself think of her side. But he made himself keep quiet and listen because this was the start of penance, wasn't it?
"I was upset with him and his friends. I hated it here and I wanted to go back to New Jersey so bad," Danielle's voice began to sound frustrated. "I knew how things went there. Here, I didn't know the rules of things and I was even more alone here than I had been there. I just remember being so angry after I finally made my way back home and I trashed my bike and yelled at my mom, and we cried together and missed our old home."
"Moving somewhere is always hard," he found himself saying, and immediately thought it was idiotic and simple. But she blinked at him, and he noted in a panic how her eyes were a little teary as she'd talked. But she gave him a small smile, so maybe it hadn't been too bad.
"I found my bike all fixed up the next day," Danielle continued, starting to brighten up a little. "Mr. Miyagi fixed it up and even repainted it. I…I was really happy."
When John found her looking at him with bright eyes, he shifted in his seat a little. He inhaled deeply and made himself move his lips into a small smile for her, and quickly took a bite out of his food.
"Honestly, after I thanked him and decided to hang out more around his workroom and even did some bonsai trimming…I felt less alone and finally like I'd gotten a friend," Danielle's cheeks turned a little red. "Maybe it's a little sad that I became friends with an old repairman and hung around him, but I didn't care. I'd been miserable for a while in Reseda and it was just nice and peaceful around there, and Mr. Miyagi was nice and taught me some handy stuff. I can…I can use tools and all, you know? So I'm not all helpless with them like other girls."
Danielle fidgeted a little in her own seat. "I guess I've never been like other girls," she became a little disheartened at that. "I guess it's fitting that I learned how to use tools in the end…Other girls play with makeup, dress up, talk about boys…I guess I'm the weird one who wore baggy clothes, learned karate, and trimmed tiny trees and meditated…"
"It's not a bad thing," John blurted out. At her confused look, he cleared his throat awkwardly. "I'd probably have more to talk about with you. And you should think of yourself as unique, not weird."
"Um…thanks," she muttered. "You should…you should finish your food. It probably got cold."
John glanced down at his plate. It had gotten a little cold. Still…
"What happened Halloween?" he found himself asking. "I know things escalated really bad then."
Danielle's face darkened again. "I didn't want to go to the Halloween party at the school. I was fine hanging around Mr. Miyagi's, but he convinced me to go, and even made me a costume. So I went. And then I had to go bathroom and accidentally went to the boys' bathroom. Johnny was in there, about to smoke it up, and he just pissed me off all the time. And I thought, he shouldn't be smoking anyway. I got petty and thought I could just do a harmless prank on him and turned on the shower he'd been in. 'Course I ran out of there –not like I didn't end up getting chased all the way back to my apartment complex. I made it to the fences before I got caught." She shrugged at him. "I pissed him off enough that I ended up with a few bruised ribs, a dislocated shoulder, and a sprained wrist."
John's fingers tightened around his utensils. The way it had sounded before, he'd thought Johnny and the others had been the victims. He'd hands down not questioned them or their story, and had immediately sided with them.
"They were in the middle of beating me up when Mr. Miyagi came in and saved me," she was barely not mumbling. "I wanted to learn karate from him so I could fight back, but we decided to go see you instead. Then the whole tournament deal happened and well, you know what happened from then."
John did. And in hindsight, everything really had been petty and stupid and had gone out of control, when it really shouldn't of. And fuck, if part of that mess hadn't been his fault too.
They stopped talking then and took time to eat the food, though it had definitely gotten cold by then. He still shoveled it down and appreciated having food in the first place, especially food that tasted good.
He thought this was an achievement though. They hadn't gotten to talk about what had happened to her yet, but that she'd talked to him (of all people) was something. And of what she did talk about, was something personal so it definitely was progress.
Even if he did end up feeling a little miserable after all of it.
Started 2/8/16 – Completed 2/9/16
A/n: Well, at least there's progress with them XD I hope everyone's been enjoying this so far~ Please remember to review! I get all excited seeing them and reading them :D