❝ were you just hardwired to be a jackass or what? ❞

"WHAT'S WRONG WITH MR. LARUSSO?" Ayane asked as she stood, quirking an eyebrow.

Mr. Lawrence waved his hand in dismissal.

"It's a long story. All I'm saying is, you're not going to learn much from him. You can learn way more from me."

Ayane exchanged a look with Miguel, who shrugged with a small smile.

"Sorry, you'd have to talk to my parents. I don't make the decisions. I had fun, though."

"You had fun because you beat the shit out of me," Miguel retorted, shaking his head.

Ayane laughed a bit. "Eh, well. That too, I suppose."

She checked the time on her phone, seeing that she still had an hour to kill before being at the LaRusso's.

"You're not about to leave, are you?" Miguel asked, frowning.

Ayane glanced up. "Uh... no. Not yet. I can just watch you guys."

Mr. Lawrence finally cut in, "Yeah, whatever. Go run along to LaRusso, kid."

"Were you just hardwired to be a jackass or what?"

Miguel hid his smile, rocking on his heels.

Mr. Lawrence was not fazed by Ayane's harsh words; he had both heard and been called worse. Instead, he pursed his lips and analyzed her for a moment.

The girl clearly had a mean demeanor because she had walls up. She was hiding her feelings and she dodged questions with a snarky response.

Crossing his arms, Mr. Lawrence calmly said, "Drop and give me fifty."

Ayane scoffed, shaking her head and crossing her arms back.

"Sorry, you're not my sensei-"

"QUIET!"

Ayane flinched with her entire body, taking a step back. Just as he had thought. Whoever Ayane trained with for taekwondo had hit her when she messed up or challenged their authority.

Johnny Lawrence felt a sudden twist of guilt in his stomach. He felt bad for the girl, though he did not show it.

"Drop and give me fifty... one," he persisted, curious to see what she would do.

Ayane tilted her head up, her smile completely faded now. And at once, she dropped on all fours, resting on her knees and pushing up with her hands.

"Don't give me those girly pushups! Give me real pushups!"

Miguel watched warily, wondering if he should intervene.

"Sensei-" he started, but Johnny quickly snapped, "Quiet!"

Ayane was on her twentieth pushup, and then she suddenly wondered why the hell she was doing this. She was not even apart of Cobra Kai. The girl stopped, standing to her feet.

"You've got real issues, dude," she spat at Johnny, shaking her head.

Grabbing her phone, Ayane stormed out of the building.

Miguel threw his head back with a huff, shooting a look at Johnny before following after her.

"Ayane!" he called, seeing her walking down the sidewalk.

She finally stopped, Miguel running over to her. "I-I am so sorry, I had no idea Sensei Lawrence would do that-"

"You still wanna call him sensei? That man is crazy," Ayane cut off bitterly, shaking her head.

She was trembling, he noticed. Her hand with her phone clutched in it was shaking uncontrollably.

Miguel's face softened. "Yeah, he probably is. And I- I'll try to talk to him. But please, please don't let him drive you away. I still want you here."

Ayane licked her lips, finally meeting his eyes. "Even after that ass whooping?"

"Even after the ass whooping," he replied, laughing along with Ayane.

There was silence for a moment, then the girl finally said, "I have to get to the LaRusso's. I'll see you at school."

Miguel nodded, seeing a car pulling up into the parking lot.

"That's my Uber. See you."

Just as she began to walk off, Miguel quickly called her name and scrambled over to her.

"Wait! Wait."

Ayane turned, slightly impatient.

Miguel felt his pockets for his phone, then realized he didn't have it.

"Shit, I left my phone inside. Um, let me give you my number. If- if that's okay with you."

"Oh," Ayane said, pulling her phone out, "sure. Here."

Miguel put his contact into her phone, then handed it over to her. Their hands brushed briefly, leaving a tingly feeling in Ayane's fingertips.

"Bye," she finally said with one last smile.

Miguel watched her get into the Uber, feeling his heart flutter.

. . . .

WHEN AYANE ARRIVED AT the LaRusso's, it turned out that Mr. LaRusso himself was not even there yet.

Sam and her younger brother, Anthony, were the only ones there at the moment.

Samantha opened the door for Ayane, smiling for a split second.

"Hey. Uh- come in."

Ayane did so, feeling very awkward in that moment.

"Um, sometimes my parents are a little late at the dealership. They should be here soon," Sam explained, twisting her fingers.

Ayane nodded in understanding, not knowing what to do.

"Oh, you can just- sit in the living room if you want. Or... we could go up to my room?"

The girl panicked. She had no idea how to talk to Sam, and she wasn't sure why. Something about her just threw Ayane off.

"S-Sure," Ayane finally got out, nodding curtly.

Sam led the girl upstairs, talking about school.

"...so I invited my boyfriend over to meet my parents," she finished, opening the door to her room.

Ayane had not caught the first half of that, so she simply nodded once more.

Sam observed her for a moment, then blurted out something she regretted.

"Do you not like me?"

Ayane's eyes widened, her looking around and trying to think of something to say.

"I am so sorry, I didn't mean to blurt that out-"

"It's not that I don't like you," Ayane finally admitted, "it's just that... I don't know how to be friends with you."

Sam exhaled with relief. "That makes me feel a bit better, wow." She shook her head. "Why wouldn't you know how to be friends with me? I'm not hard to get along with, am I?"

Ayane shook her head. "No- no. It's not that. I just... I've never been good at befriending people. Anyone, ever, for that matter. So..."

"Well I can make it a little bit easier for you," Sam smiled warmly, holding her hand out.

"I'm Sam LaRusso. It's very nice to meet you."

Ayane slowly took her hand, smiling genuinely.

"Ayane Cain. Pleasure."

Sam laughed. "See? Not so hard. So," she sat on her bed, pulling her legs into a crisscross, "what made you want to do karate?"

The Cain girl inhaled sharply, getting tired of having to answer this question.

"I didn't, necessarily. My dad wants me to learn. But I think it's beginning to grow on me."

Samantha frowned in confusion. "You couldn't just tell your dad that you didn't want to do it?"

Ayane could have laughed.

"Well, my dad is uh- he's very strict. I have to do something with my life that won't disappoint him, and I just so happened to be good at martial arts. His favorite hobby."

The LaRusso girl suddenly had many questions about Ayane's home life, but she held her tongue.

"Hey, as long as you like it," Sam shrugged, her phone buzzing with a notification just then.

Sam began texting someone on her phone, momentarily seeming to forget Ayane was there. The girl had a million other places she wanted to be right now.

Finally, Sam set her phone down and looked up at Ayane.

"I also... I also wanted to apologize about Yasmine. What she said to you was completely inappropriate, and I'm sorry."

Ayane quickly shook her head. "Don't apologize for what she did, Sam. It's not your place to do that."

Sam chewed her inner lip, thinking of how to respond.

"Sorry. I just think Yasmine let her temper get the best of her. You know how it is."

Doesn't give her an excuse to be racist, Ayane thought.

Ayane wanted to roll her eyes, but she simply nodded to keep the peace.

"Yeah. I guess I have a temper too, huh?"

Sam softly laughed, shrugging. "Only time will tell."

Just then, a car could be heard pulling into the driveway. Sam stood, peering out of her window to see who it was.

"My dad's here," she informed Ayane, exiting her bedroom and going back downstairs.

Ayane followed, as she didn't really have another option.

Daniel opened the door just as the girls came downstairs.

"Ayane! I'm so sorry I'm late, I ran into some... trouble, at work."

She dismissed it with a smile. "It's no problem."

"Ayane and I were just talking," Sam informed him, hugging her father.

Daniel grinned excitedly, seeing that his request to Ennis had worked.

"That's great!" he remarked, releasing his daughter.

"Let me get changed and then we'll get to the dojo," Mr. LaRusso said with a look to Ayane.

A few minutes later, after Ayane had stretched and warmed up, she was going over the rules that Mr. LaRusso had her memorize.

"Do I call you sensei?" she asked with curiosity, unsure.

Daniel laughed a little, holding his hands out. "You can call me whatever you'd like."

"Sensei it is," Ayane nodded, stepping onto the mat.

"I'm going to take a bit different approach today," he informed her. "Today, I have a few jobs for you."

Ayane placed her hands on her hips, narrowing her eyes.

"Alright," she shrugged her shoulders back, "let's do it."

Mr. LaRusso admired her willingness, as it was something he did not see a lot with teenagers.

Nonetheless, Ayane followed him outside and, with some daylight left to spare, he gave her supplies.

"You can start..." he handed her a paintbrush and paint can, "with staining the fence."

Ayane furrowed her eyebrows, but did not question it. She figured there must have been some method behind his madness.

"Let me show you how to do it."

She watched, listening as Mr. LaRusso explained the proper way to do it; stroking the brush up with one hand, down with the other.

"You try," he handed the brush over, and Ayane dipped it into the stainer and began brushing.

"Nice, nice. Keep doing that until you get the whole fence."

Ayane quickly turned her head, eyes wide, but Mr. LaRusso was walking back to the dojo.

She drew in a breath, sighing. Might as well just do it and not complain.

Her hands began cramping after what felt like hours of painting, until Ayane finally realized that she had finished the fence. And, just as the sun was going down.

The girl closed up the can and picked it up, going to find Mr. LaRusso.

"Sensei?" she called, walking in the dojo.

He appeared to be very focused on something, standing with his eyes closed. He was doing some routine with his hands, breathing in and out slowly.

Ayane watched, not wanting to bother. If she learned one thing from her father, it was to not interrupt someone's meditation.

Luckily, Mr. LaRusso finally turned and saw her.

"You're done already?"

Ayane nodded curtly.

Daniel squinted. "Both fences?"

Her smile fell. "Oh- I didn't know you wanted-"

"I'm just teasing. It's almost eight o'clock, I better get you home."

Ayane sighed with relief. Knowing her father, he would have made her stay out all night staining the fence.

Daniel dropped her off, and Ayane went inside her house to find her mother sitting in the living room, alone.

The past few days, Ayane had barely seen Ennis. She saw him in the morning when she got up to do her taekwondo routine, but that was just as Ennis was getting home from work. He left at eight thirty on the dot every night, so Ayane hardly even talked to him.

Though, in all honesty, she was not complaining.

Liana looked up as Ayane walked in, then looked back down at her book.

Ever since Ayane was born, Liana stopped working. She preferred housewife to any job, it seemed, and it wasn't like she had to work.

Ayane's dinner consisted of stir-fried noodles and a smoothie, then she went up to her room.

Laying on her bed, Ayane pulled out her phone and pulled up Miguel's contact.

Hesitating for a moment, she finally typed out a text and sent it.

Not even a minute later, Miguel replied.

She was surprised, but happy nonetheless. Before Ayane knew it, it was nearly midnight. Her eyes widened. She had been talking to Miguel for over two hours.

Ayane finally forced herself to tell him goodnight, setting her phone on her nightstand.

And yet, even as she fell asleep, she had a stupid grin on her face.

NOTES!
hihihi so quick note! i recasted ayane as someone i thought fit the character better, but honestly feel free to imagine her as whoever you'd like. also, i decided to make this just a miguel fic, because although i love robby, i've decided to leave the love triangles to the show. hope you enjoyed!!