Daniel LaRusso

True to their word, Johnny and his gang had left Daniel alone after the tournament. In fact, he hadn't even seen Johnny since what went down in the parking lot. Daniel could still picture it vividly - John Kreese's arm locked around Johnny's neck, Johnny's face red from lack of air. What would've happened if Mr Miyagi hadn't stepped in? Would Kreese have stopped? Daniel wasn't sure.

Bobby had reached out to Daniel a few days after the tournament. Turned up at his apartment. Daniel thought his Ma was going to murder him where he stood, but she didn't. And while the apology didn't fix the damage to Daniel's leg, he accepted it. Bobby had just done what Kreese told him to. Jimmy and Tommy didn't apologise, but they did have the decency to try and stay out of Daniel's way at school. The only one of the group who had looked like he might've wanted to cause trouble was Dutch, but the others kept him in line.

Manoeuvring around school with a knee brace on was frustrating and exhausting. The doctors had mentioned potential surgery but Daniel knew there was no way in hell his Ma could afford that, so he would make do with the dumb brace for as long as he had to.

The highlight of his days was getting to Mr Miyagi's place, taking the brace off and working on some gentle exercises. Only today, Mr Miyagi wasn't there when he arrived. Nor was his truck. Odd. Mr Miyagi hadn't mentioned he would be out. Daniel did find a note stuck to the side of the house for him though, telling him to start on his exercises until Miyagi got back. Ugh. Fine. He could do that. Daniel kicked off his sneakers and slipped on his uwabaki and made his way through the house, pausing to grab a soda from the fridge before venturing out to the back garden, slipping his uwabaki off at the back door. He sat on the decking and unfastened his brace.

He had barely started stretching when he heard the familiar crunch of tyres on gravel. Pushing himself to his feet, Daniel half limped, half hopped to the gate, cursing himself for being barefoot. "Hey Mr Miyagi," he called out. Voice dropping when he saw that Mr Miyagi wasn't alone.

"Ah, Daniel-San. Meet new student." Daniel stared at Mr Miyagi like he had grown a second head.

He grit his teeth. "Can I talk to you a moment? In private?" Of course, 'in private' in this case meant the other side of the gate in hushed tones that really weren't that hushed. "Are you kidding me right now? Did you forget that this is the guy that's made the last year of my life a living hell?"

"Miyagi remember." Typical Mr Miyagi, cool and collected as always.

"You remember? Well that's just great! Thanks a lot. I mean, what the hell, man? Why is he here?!"

"Boy here to learn. Daniel-san, you remember what Miyagi said about forgiveness?"

Daniel shot Mr Miyagi a glare. "Oh no. Don't you dare! Don't you turn this on me and expect me to forgive him! He nearly killed me! He kicked my ass so many times that my bruises had bruises. Not to mention what he did to my knee. No way. I'm not forgiving him. This is bullshit. After everything he's done you just welcome him in with open arms."

If someone spoke to Kreese the way Daniel spoke to Miyagi, they would be stood in a pool of their own blood by now. But Miyagi didn't even raise his voice. "Daniel-san. Miyagi has faith in boy. One week. You give Miyagi one week before you decide boy cannot change."

Daniel rested a hand on his hip, a huff escaping him as he looked at Mr Miyagi. There was no way he was going to win, so he let out a sigh and admitted his defeat. "Alright. One week. But you're wasting your time. Once a snake, always a snake."

He shoved the gate back open, holding it open for Johnny. If looks could kill then Johnny would be dead right about now. Daniel grit his teeth and rolled his eyes before speaking as politely as he could muster. "Welcome to Miyagi-Do Karate."