Chapter 4: Disciplinary Action

I took a shower and changed into a pair of red skinny leg jeans and a black printed T-shirt. Lee asked me - well pretty much demanded me to see him in his office immediately. I took a deep breath and opened the door to see my father sitting at his desk with his elbows leaning on the table, his hands clasped together and his chin resting on top. I reached over to the chair placed opposite of his desk and sat down. I placed my hands on my knees avoiding sitting back. We sat in front of each other in silence for at least five minutes.

Lee stood up from his chair and walked around the desk and leaned against the edge of a corner that was closer to me.

"You know, I thought accepting you into my house, I would have some form of normalcy."Lee rubbed his chin looking up and down at me. "I never had a proper family growing up; I had to fend for myself, fighting for my survival." Lee pressed his hands together in a prayer position and closed his eyes to take a breath.

"You were lucky to find someone in your immediate family to take you in after your mothers passing." Lee opened his eyes to see me tensing up while he continued speaking. "I had to thank my lucky stars when Heihachi decided to take me in under his wing. I believed I had a home, a chance to become someone."

At this stage Lee was circling around me. I was still tensed up listening to Lee opening up about his past. "I was only brought in as a pawn, to challenge his true son Kazuya who he believed wasn't a worthy heir."

"Why would he do that?" I piped up; finally have the courage to speak.

"Heihachi is a tyrannical man. When Kazuya was a child, Heihachi threw him down a ravine to challenge his worth as a successor to the Zaibatsu."

I gasped at that revelation "That's horrible"

"With some sort of mystic force, Kazuya survived the fall. He went on to defeat his father and take over the Zaibatsu. Because of that, I willingly worked beside my brother. That was until Heihachi returned and reclaimed the Zaibatsu in the second tournament. After Kazuya's defeat, Hehachi pushed him down a volcano."Lee rubbed his temple leaning against the desk again.

I didn't know how to respond to that. The thought of a father killing his son to prove sole supremacy was revolting.

"Heihachi banished me because I betrayed him by siding with Kazuya. Revenge consumed me for some time. Eventually, I realised Hehachi was an old man and it was pointless to end his life. I gave up fighting and started a new life here in the Bahamas." Lee concluded his story.

Rage begun to swell up inside and it exploded when I sat up from my chair in protest "You can't let Heihachi win."

Lee tilted his head in confusion at my unexpected outburst. "You can't just give up because you think he would die on his own. Heihachi is out there running a new tournament and you should be there. You should be the one to defeat him and take over his company."

"That's enough! I won't hear anything more about this matter from you."Lee sharply responded to my basis.

Lee turned away from me seemingly closing the subject, leaning on his desk with extended arms. After having a brief time to think, he turned back to me and pointed at me with his index finger.

"What's that thing that parents do to discipline their children?" Lee asked rhetorically lowering his finger "... You're grounded."

My jaw opened in dismay over my punishment – grounded, the most cliché thing a parent could do to their teenager.

"You can't ground me! I'm like seventeen years old!" I shouted back in objection.

"On the grounds of your behaviour last night, as a parent I have the right to ground you."

I couldn't believe my ears. Lee has always been lenient with me and never once threatened to ground me. It came clear that I was actually his daughter and he was trying to protect me. Inside my heart fluttered at the thought but my outer shell felt insulted.

"No parties, no drinking and no friends coming over. I expect you to come home straight from school every day. No excuses." Lee used his authority, leaning back into his chair. "And that's final."

I was going to open my mouth to dispute his practise – I needed to have the last word. Before I could have words escaped from my mouth, Lee had turned his chair away from me. Lee wasn't going to listen to me appeal my case. I turned away with a loud huff so he could hear my irritation.

It had been a week since being grounded. The first few days of being grounded, I was bored out of my mind. My plan of sulking and complaining to Lee went to no avail. Lee stood his ground, waiting until he believed I served my time.

It was a Saturday morning and I had come back home from a lengthy run around the nearby park. Exercise became the perfect distraction from my predicament. Drenched with sweat, I walked through the back gate to where the pool is . I walked into the patio to shake out my legs and do some leg stretches. I was bending down with my legs apart, reaching out to my feet when I felt a shadow come from behind. I turned around to come face to face with my father who I didn't notice was sitting on one of the pool chaises nearby.

"What do you think you're doing?"Lee asked me, tilting his head with his arms crossed.

"I went for a run."I answered conspicuously, not seeing what the big deal was.

"The terms and conditions of being grounded is that you cannot leave this house unless permitted." Lee said pensively.

"I came into your office this morning asking you if I could go for a run outside. You told me to 'go for it'. Don't you remember?"

Lee let out a grunt – He didn't buy my excuse. "I would remember if you asked me."

"My exact words to you were ' I'm going for a run, and to pick up the pace I'm going to steal a cops hat' and you said go for it."I pleaded my case of going out for a run even though Lee was clearly having none of it.

Lee furrowed his eyebrows at me, coming to a sudden realization. "That was you? I thought that was Brianne."

"Brianne? Who the hell is Brianne?" I said in bewilderment.

Lee scratched his head coyly over his gaffe. "Oh Brianne, one of the girls I was... You know."

My face morphed into complete horror. I know my father is the playboy but being mistaken for one of his women was repugnant.

"Are you serious?" I cried out. "Oh god. Oh My God."

I stormed into the house, overlooking how I was the one initially in trouble. In the distance I could hear Lee apologizing to me but I just couldn't look back at him.

For the next few days, I couldn't bring myself to face my father after he had mistaken me for one of his women. At this stage, being grounded didn't matter to me anymore. I quite enjoyed being at home because I discovered the home gym. I began self-training. I did weights, yoga and boxing with the punching bag. There was even a wrestling ring in there so I would jump in there and run the ropes. I would spend hours in there, losing track of time. I stopped when I was physically exhausted – it became an outlook for me.

Day by day my stamina and strength increased. I had a feel of invincibility.

With my constant training, I aspired for much more. I wanted to learn how to fight. I knew my father would murder me if I told him my wish for combat. During school hours I would head to the local library and borrow a bunch of self-defence books. I studied the books like it was my homework.

At lunchtime I was sitting in the school cafeteria with my group of friends after borrowing one of the books. I zoned out from the conversation, with my mind elsewhere. My best friend, Celeste clicked her fingers at me attempting to bring me back to reality. "V, come back to us"

I broke from my trance and half smiled at Celeste who looked at me with a concern. "Are you alright? You were AWOL."

I shifted in my seat to gain composure. "I'm fine, C."

"Are you sure?"Celeste rested her hand on my shoulder, trying to comfort me.

"I'll be okay. I'm just exhausted, haven't had much sleep for the past couple of days. I'm just having a bout of insomnia."I yawned to prove how tired I actually was.

Celeste sighed and hugged me from my side. All the friends I hanged with, Celeste were the only one to check up on me. It was reassuring to have someone who cared, even though I believed I didn't need help.

I tilted my head when I heard a bit of a commotion nearby at another table. I saw a kid who was in the year below me being bullied by a guy called Brent, who was in the same grade as me. Brent always got on my nerves because he acted all macho, constantly hitting on the girls. For some reason, this kid had angered Brent and threatened to fight him.

Life came into me when I took a stand by walking over to the scene and shoving Brent away from the boy. Brent looked at me in amazement by my involvement. "This doesn't involve you stupid bitch."

Brent raised his balled up fists to threaten me. He let out a pompous laugh and lowered his hands, assuming that he frightened me. I recklessly kneed him in the stomach, making cradle himself. I kicked him in the shoulder, pushing him down on the floor back first with my strength. I towered over him and put my foot on his throat. Everyone in the cafeteria looked on in awe, by how I took down Brent with such ease.

Before I knew it, the Principal hailed me into his office. For an hour, the principal lectured about the zero tolerance on violence in school grounds. In the end, the principal enforced a two-week suspension. This was anything but perfect, this was the worst thing imaginable. I was still grounded and now suspended, especially for fighting wasn't going to put me on my father's good side anytime soon.

After being sent home from school, I had to break the news to my dad about my suspension. I needed a creative approach and make it as painless as possible.

I saw my father in his office, working away on his laptop. I busted into the room and quickly proclaimed "Hey dad, I've been suspended from school for fighting, thought you should know."I didn't give Lee time to react when I walked out from the room.

"You what?!"I heard Lee growl from the distance and emerge from his office to see me on the other side of the hallway. I skipped back towards Lee, trying my best ' I'm a good daughter' routine.

"The boy started it, it wasn't my fault."I fluttered my eyelashes and clasped my hands together in front of me.

Lee pressed his temples at me. "Fighting, you've taken up fighting haven't you? I should have known."

I frowned. My father looked through my act, becoming aware of my ambition of fighting. "The school called me when you left. I'm disappointed in you Violetta. I just don't know what to do with you anymore."

Instinctively I grabbed on to Lee's wrist and looked into my father's sorrowed eyes "Dad... I want you to train me. Please train me, I want to fight."

AN: That chapter took longer than expected! I was going to post it last night but I thought the last part of the chapter needed to be rewritten. I had been tossing up how Viola would reveal her desire to fight so it was difficult to finalize it. I just wanted to say that I'm glad, Katy-Joanne is enjoying the fic! For the few who is reading it and not reviewing it, I hope this chapter did not disappoint. =)