TEENAGE KICKS

CHAPTER THIRTEEN: CRANE KICK

RORY DIDN'T HAVE A CLUE as to what was going on when she heard the news that Daniel actually wanted to continue into the last round. All she knew was that he was for sure a fighter.

"This is the moment we've been waiting for-" The announcer was cut off when the brunette ran up behind him, a little out of breath from sprinting up to the man "Daniel LaRusso's gonna fight? Daniel LaRusso's gonna fight! Isn't this what it's all about, folks? You know it! How's the leg, son?"

Daniel nodded, waving off the man with a simple "it's fine"

"All right! The big event! The final match to determine who will emerge victor and champion of the all valley under 18 karate championship" he spun around to gesture to the brunette "Daniel LaRusso, Miatchi-do karate" He stumbled a bit forward to say something to the man, though Rory couldn't hear it over the loud cheering coming from the stands behind her "Miyagi-do karate! Versus John Lawrence of the Cobra Kai. Three points wins. Good luck, boys"

Rory didn't want to watch as he limped over to the line to stand across from a straight-faced Johnny. Obviously, his leg still caused him pain which was bad when you need it to fight.

The referee ran onto the mats to stand to the side of them "Face me. Bow. Faceoff. Bow. Ready?" He held his hand between them in a moment of suspense, waiting for the two to get into their fighting stances "fight"

Johnny went straight for it, jumping forward to kick him in the arm, but Daniel narrowly missed it by sidestepping. The blonde threw another kick, leaving the boy to hit it away with his wrist. They moved backwards as Johnny continued to try and get in a punch or kick, but he left his stomach open which resulted in daniel punching him harshly.

"All right, Daniel!" Rory yelled when he got the point "You can do this!"

"Lawrence, return" the referee waited for both to stand back at their lines "one point, LaRusso! Ready? Fight!"

Her brother lunged forward, punched at Daniel, and brought him to the mat. Daniel jumped back up and sprung back into his fighting stance. In the blink of an eye, Daniel slid down on the mat, took the boy's legs with his own, and made him fall face first before karate chopping at his neck.

"Point, chop! That's two for LaRusso" seeing Johnny put his hand up to his nose, he made a T shape with his hands "Time out! Time out! Go to your sensei. Turn. Kneel." Coming back onto the mat after Johnny's little talk with his sensei, Daniel tried to balance both feet, but stumbled a little. "That's two points LaRusso. Lawrence, nothing. Ready. Fight!"

Johnny let out a loud war cry and swept Daniels's foot from underneath before landing a harsh kick to the boy's face. That made the boy whip back onto the mat and hold his leg. Daniel, denying the help from the referee, got back up and turned around to face the smirking Lawrence boy.

"2-1, LaRusso"

"Ready? Fight!"

Now, this round made Rory's spin. Johnny was coming straight at Daniel, bringing the boy to the floor and continuously trying to karate chop his head as the boy did a barrel roll away from him. But alas, he finally struck down on the boy, successfully earning himself a point.

"Kick to the side. One point, Lawrence. 2-2. Ready? Hai!" Daniel, looking a little desperate, kept trying to punch Johnny's face, missing every single time. Johnny finally became fed up and backed him up by trying to kick at him, making the boy stumble out of bounds. "out of bounds. Come on back in"

Her brother immediately went to sweep at Daniel's leg, making the boy fall and spring back up straight away. Now the brunette grabbed his torso and slammed him on the mat, falling with Johnny brought him down with him.

They both rushed to stand up, getting in their stances again. Johnny threw a kick which was deflected, then a kick, and another few hits before lastly knocking him straight across the face. The crowd booed, cheering once Daniel got back up again.

"Whoever wins the next point will be our new champion" Rory had to refrain from telling the announcer to shut up with his cheery, annoying voice.

"No point. Ready. Fight"

Daniel went to go kick with his bad leg when Johnny grabbed it and brought his elbow down on the limb, causing the boy to once again, roll around in pain on the floor. Rory heard Bobby from across the mat, yell to Johnny "It's over Johnny, you did it!"

He stood back up, struggling to limp back to his line and across from where Johnny stood, already knowing he was going to win "all right, that's a warning for illegal contact to the knee"

Rory furrowed her eyebrows as she watched Daniel bend his bad leg to his chest and hang with arms above him, imitating the crane pose he had seen Mr. Miyagi do at the beach. As soon as he was given the go, Daniel leaped up and threw his other leg straight at the boy's head, knocking him down to the mat where he held his face in agony.

Being hit in the arm by a squealing Ali, the brunette stood to her feet and took off for the boy, and threw her arms around his neck. A few others rushed over to them as well, giving Daniel pats of the back after she let go to see Johnny hand the trophy over to him "You're alright LaRusso! Good match"

"Thanks a lot" Daniel looked to be in pain as people lifted him above their heads, cheering through the white-hot searing pain flowing through his left leg. "Woohoo! Hey, Mr. Miyagi. We did it! We did it! All right!"

★ ☆

IT WAS THE NIGHT after the whole karate match where Daniel came in first and Johnny left with nothing but a bruised ego and broken nose. It was kind of annoying for Rory who had to ride home with his mindless blabbering, but it was worth it to see her brother sad for once and not the other way around.

Rory mindlessly sat stomach down on her bed, reading a magazine. Ok, it was a magazine that had pictures of Robe Lowe, aka Sodapop Curtis from The Outsiders, in it. But anyway, she had her feet up in the air, fantasizing about meeting the man when she heard a slight tap on her closed window.

The curtains were drawn closed, which meant that she had no idea if someone was either trying to break into her house or murder her. Getting up slowly and grabbing the baseball bat by her closet (what? She used to play baseball as a kid), the girl tiptoed over to her window and pulled back the drapes.

No one seemed to be there, but she did jump back when another pebble came into contact with the window. Rory sighed and unlocked it so she could pull it up.

"Jesus chr-" A rock flew past her head, landing on her bedroom floor with a bang "what the fuck?"

She peeped her head out the window to where a sheepish Daniel could be seen, holding a handful of her gardens small stones "sorry, Aurora"

"Stop calling me that, it makes me feel like a princess"

"But you are a princess, not let down your hair"

The girl rolled her eyes and proper her chin in her palm on the windowsill "that's Repunzel dipshit, you're lucky you're cute"

"Are you going to keep calling me contradicting names, or are you going to come outside?" Daniel whisper yelled, laughing quietly when she held a finger to her lips. Seeing her close the window and disappear, he sighed sadly, thinking she had gone back to bed.

The door creaked as someone came to creep outside, the brown hair and fair complexion of Rory Lawrence made an appearance when she tiptoed outside in nothing more than a tank top, shorts, and fuzzy slippers.

"God, it's freezing"

Daniel tilted his head, already going to take off his own red jacket "well, why didn't you grab a sweater?"

"Cause I was hoping you'd give me yours" she rolled her eyes again sarcastically before taking the jacket from his outstretched hands "obviously I wasn't thinking that far ahead when you came knocking at my window at 12 o'clock am"

"Ok, ok, I get it. I'll just come back tomorrow"

He went to turn around, smiling when he felt a small hand grab his wrist softly "Wait, might as well stay seeing as you came here all alone on your bike...why are you here anyway?"

"I was hoping to have a sleepover with Johnny, I see that I targeted the wrong window" he laughed at her non-amused face "well, I didn't see you much after the win since you rode off with your family. So, I'm here to...talk?"

"Just talk?"

Daniel's eyes widened considerably, thankful that the dark prevented her from seeing his red cheeks "Um, ye-es...no. I wanted to get something of my, uh chest. And now seemed like the perfect time before I chicken out since seeing you right now is making my heart beat really fast, for some reaso-"

"Spit it out, LaRusso"

"Ummm, ok. W-what I wanted to say wa-as uh, see I was go-oing to say something, but now I'm not so sure if I should. Stop looking at me like that"

"Like what?"

"Like you can't tell if you want to punch me or kiss me"

"What if I want the latter?"

"The la-Oh...OH"

Rory laughed at his awe-struck, nervous face. And so taking the leap of faith she was afraid would soon vanish, the girl cupped her hands around his cheeks and stood on her tiptoes to place her lips on his.

She was freaking out, but it soon turned into shock when the boy started kissing her back. Rory hesitantly moved her hand up to his hair, pulling lightly on the small curls at the nape of his neck. The feeling of his arms sliding around her waist made her seem more certain that kissing Daniel was the right choice. She felt safe. Happy? And all she could focus on was that the boy she had liked for so long was kissing her back.

The feeling of being short of breath made her feel lightheaded, so begrudgingly, she pulled away from the boy. His eyes seemed to be still firmly shut, scared that if he were to open them, it was all be a dream. But the quiet "wow" from the girl made them shoot open.

"Was that a good wow, or a bad wow"

"Am I going to have to make you shut up again?"

"If that's your way of shutting me up, I'm never going to stop talking"