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 Five: I'm a Little Unsteady
Terry sat behind the door, facing the inside of his home as he listened to John and Danielle whisper on the other side, sitting on the front steps in the middle of the night and weathering the cold. He didn't need to be in the cold anyway.
Apparently he was a cold-hearted bastard after all.
Looking back now, what he'd done to her was shittier than at first look. It was bad enough planning on and succeeding in taking her dependence and hoping to make her fail in the tournament, but he'd realized sometime in the midst of it all that he'd taken her trust and managed to become someone she trusted as a mentor and friend, and thought it would be a bonus in the end when he broke the truth to her. He hadn't realized exactly how bad it would be until that night and she'd given him that look.
But now it was even worse. Because he'd been given more insight to her side and how she felt about it, and hadn't thought to think of how much she cared for him. And worse, that she'd even loved him then.
For a moment, he felt a little resentment for John and wished for a moment that he had left Terry to die in Vietnam.
He drunkenly stumbled onto his feet, intending to hide away in either his room or his office, and had made it a few steps before he tripped and landed on his hands and knees, dropping his almost empty bottle of whiskey and vaguely noting it smashing onto the ground. He blearily looked at the mess, blinking a few times.
He felt familiar slender hands grip onto his arms and tug him up, and he lifted his head and looked at a weary Danielle.
"What're you doing?" his words slurred.
"Getting your drunk ass up," she muttered.
He weakly (fuck, he was messed up when he was drunk) tugged himself away from her, but she had an iron grip on him and he wasn't really pulling himself away.
"You don't owe me anything!" he yelled at her, finally mustering up some strength to yank himself away, only to land backwards on his ass on the unforgiving marble floor.
"You're right," she straightened up, face still blank. "I don't."
And then she was walking away from him and he was reaching out and wanting to call her back.
"Don't leave me again," he heard himself blurt out quietly, but she was too far away and he was too hesitant to say it any louder. He was surprised he had even said it at all.
A shadow stood over him and he looked to see John. His old friend looked worn out, and at this point Terry was sure the three of them were so tired they were going to call it quits on each other and themselves.
"You're a mess," John commented blithely.
"Fuck you," Terry muttered, letting himself flop back onto his back. He glanced in the direction of where she'd gone. "Since when were you two close?"
"We aren't."
Terry gave him a bitter look. "She doesn't look and act the same way towards you, the way she does me."
"I hurt her too," John acknowledged. "But she didn't care about me the way she did you. I was never close enough to her to make it really hurt."
And fuck, that was the difference between his and John's situations, wasn't it? John had always been Danielle's antagonist. She hadn't known him as anything different until now. All the times he'd hurt her, he'd always been "the enemy."
Then there was Terry, who had charmed her, buttered her up, acted like a friend and tried to be a mentor, and in the end had made her hate him at the same time she had made him love her.
"Fuck," he mumbled again, running a hand over his face. "Fuck."
Because that was what had happened and now all this happened and damn it all –
Terry was so, so screwed.
He sniffed and wiped at his eyes and made himself get up, ignoring the hand John held out to help him. Instead, he stormed passed his friend and headed to his room.
Though bewildered at his friend's reaction, John knew the situation had become completely FUBAR. Though he did hope the situation wasn't beyond saving, because a part of him knew that things had to be set right. All of him knew that.
But how do you set everything to right, after tormenting a girl that was half your age because your pride took a hit (even if his life did end up in shambles)? It hadn't even been her fault that he ended the way he had –it was Johnny Lawrence and John's own pride and temper.
Acknowledging he was wrong and apologizing had been the first steps, but they couldn't be the only things he did.
Terry looked pissed at him for some reason (or he was pissed and upset in general), so he wasn't sure if he should go after his friend. He was thinking he'd probably leave Terry to cool off, and maybe go after Danielle again. She was balancing on an edge and he wasn't sure which side she was going to end up falling to. Or if she'd be able to land safely and unharmed.
"Are you looking for me?"
He noticed her lingering by one of the hallway's balconies, huddled in on herself as she stared out to the night. He quietly sat on the chair opposite her, looking out at the night too. However, when he looked at her, he noted she was watching him and wondered how long had she?
"Something the matter?" he asked, inwardly anxious. All of his talks with her had so far ended dismally for him, even if progress with her had been made each time.
"What happened? After the tournament?" she paused and he waited until she was done before he would answer. "What happened that made you hate me so much, enough to want revenge?"
Shit. Why was she always throwing the hard questions at him?
He ran both of his hands through his hair several times, looking frustrated. He looked up at her and opened his mouth, but he couldn't force the words out. So, for a moment, John sat there and glowered at the floor of the small balcony they were on.
"You don't have to answer that," she said uncomfortably.
"Just…just give me a moment, okay?" he asked, holding up a hand and giving her a frustrated look. He sighed to himself. "After the tournament and what happened in the parking lot, I lost all of my students and my reputation."
John had remembered how low he'd felt. He also remembered how angry he'd been and how betrayed he felt at how he thought they'd all turned their backs on him. He told her that and watched as she looked at him contemplatively.
"It was hard after that," he shrugged. "I didn't really have a job, since I had no students. I couldn't pay the bills. I couldn't muster up any energy to care for anything for a while. Things became so dismal to the point I'd gone to Terry, trying to give the dojo back to him –it'd been a gift from him, you see? And well…he cheered me up. Told me that I had to get back on my feet, that we were going to get the dojo back in order, that he would even open up a chain of dojos. And then he thought of getting revenge on you and your old man, and just get back at you for what happened to me and the dojo, and after a moment I'd gotten riled up with him, and we were suddenly all gung ho on that plan."
"So in the end, you just wanted a scapegoat, someone to blame for all the problems you were going through," Danielle stated, though not bitterly like he'd thought she would. Just factually. "You could have gone after anyone involve in that really. You could have even gone after Johnny or any one of the others. It just so happened that you and Silver thought of me and blamed me the most. It wasn't really, truly personal."
Thinking back on everything again, no it really hadn't been, despite how much it looked personal. However, thinking of what Terry did and of Barnes…they'd made it personal. After everything, after all that she'd went through, they'd made it personal for her.
"Would you want to make us pay?" he asked, curious at the same time as wanting her to say something about it and so he'd know what to do to help make things better. Hell, if she wanted to beat the crap out of him, fine. Just…just something to pull them all out of this limbo they were wallowing in.
"No," she surprised him by saying. "Revenge, wanting to make things 'equal'…it's a tiring business. And a miserable one," she finally unfurled herself, letting go of her legs in favor of looking over the balcony.
His hands twitched, wanting to reach over and make sure she didn't end up over it, accidentally or purposely.
"Before the whole thing with you and Silver, I was with Mr. Miyagi in Okinawa," she revealed to him. "Mr. Miyagi's best friend there had gotten angry at him over something and held a grudge for over a decade, wanting to 'duel' him to the death and regain his honor. While we were there, they eventually reconciled, but it showed me how holding a grudge, hating, and wanting revenge was a wasted effort and took so much out of everyone involved. They wasted 10 years where they could have been the best of friends."
"Does that mean you'd be willing to forgive even me?" he asked, wary of the answer but knowing he needed to hear it.
She looked at him thoughtfully again and gave him a sad smile.
"Yes, I think so."
"Even Terry?"
Her face shuttered then and John inwardly winced. She brought her hands up and studied them closely, curling them into fists after a moment.
"Maybe," she whispered, catching him off guard. "It'll take longer, but…maybe."
He swallowed heavily. "He…he cared for you too, you know. I don't think he noticed it, but when he used to talk about your training sessions together, sometimes he wouldn't notice that he'd look fond as he was talking about them and you. He'd even get this happy look in his eyes, and the way he talked was less mocking and insulting as he talked, more so with each passing session with you and talk with me."
She didn't answer him, but he thought he'd made great headway with the situation with her.
He did make sure to specifically stay away from mentioning anything of Barnes, because as far as he was concerned, some things were just unforgivable.
Terry was frowning as he read the report, making a few marks on it and then looking to the computer on his desk. He grumbled under his breath and took the mouse, moving the arrow on the monitor and clicking on a few things before he was interrupted.
"For some reason, I've never pictured you as actually doing any work."
He froze and let go of the mouse and paper, glancing at the entrance to his home office and seeing Danielle actually there. She was tense, obviously, but she was there. Terry forced himself to relax and give an easy grin.
"I do own a multi-billion company. Despite my seeming inattentiveness, I am required to do some work and keep up with things."
She walked further into the room, obviously uncomfortable, but she was also obviously making an effort.
"Seems strange to think about it, considering how much time you spent meandering around back then, even giving all that time to spend with me and pretending to train me."
He matched her nonchalance at the strained topic with his own nonchalance. "I own my company. I tend to act like I can do what I want, and go off doing whatever I feel like…Plus, I was kind of bored back then and I was having issues with people and legal problems. It was a nice break."
"I'm glad you were able to have it at my expense," she said dryly, but she wasn't hostile and she seemed fine, so he was going to take it as is gratefully.
"Well, you were much better company and amusement than what I was dealing with," he fired back. "Try dealing with old bastards who want to take over the company and steal everything from you every other day. I think I'd choose you over them anytime."
And she was fighting back a smile and he wanted to stare at it all day, inwardly thanking whatever god that was listening for this moment.
She pointed at his computer. "That's an Amiga 1000, isn't it?"
He blinked, having not expected her to recognize the computer, especially from where she was away from him and his desk.
"Yeah, it is. How'd you know?"
She shrugged. "My mom's main profession deals with computers, so I know a thing or two and try to keep up with the newest stuff. What are you doing?"
"Ah, just looking at this letter and the information I was sent, and comparing notes. I'm going to compose a response in a minute, but I'm putting it off as long as possible because I hate typing," he admitted to her.
She moved close enough to him that he could smell her usual scent of orange blossoms, and he'd forgotten the smell and how much he missed it.
"I'm good at it," she told him hesitantly. "You can dictate to me, if you…if you want," her voice faltered.
"Really?" he asked, wanting to blurt his agreement already instead.
"…Yeah."
He got up from his wheeled chair and held it still so she could sit on it. Then he pushed it closer to the desk and let her get settled. After, he took a step back and then got an idea.
"I want to say some letters first, so just type those out," he instructed her, and though she was confused, she got ready to do it. He said each letter slowly and clearly, and then when he was done, he stayed silent and still as he waited for her to see what she'd typed and give a reply (if she even would).
I miss you
Maybe if Terry was honest with her like he'd been with himself last night, they could try to move on. Because at that moment, he knew that she had meant more to him than she should have back when he'd been trying to manipulate her.
She swiveled the chair in his direction and was looking at him with a crumpled expression, and maybe this wasn't the best time, but he knew that there probably was never going to be a good time anyway.
For a moment, Danielle looked like she was debating with herself, and then she was moving from the chair towards him, and he didn't think she would hold him the way she used to back then –the way she was now.
"I miss you too," she muttered against him.
Started 2/27/16 – Completed 3/1/16
A/n: Sooo, sad feels. Also, John and Terry cuss too much XD Other than that, this is the point where I get all anxious at disappearing readers and feel the need to create a net to keep you all here. So…please review?
Also, this will be the main Karate Kid fic I'm working on, until it's mostly finished at least. Due to responses on the others, I'll probably move onto "White Crane" after. I'm not really all that surprised that one was the most popular of the others XD Cobra Kai and all...