The Karate Kid | Daniel LaRusso x Reader

Chapter Sixteen - The Final Lesson

[UNEDITED]

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3rd Person POV

Daniel and Y/N rode together to Mr. Miyagi's house the following morning—with Daniel in control of steering his bicycle and Y/N holding onto him from behind.

They were both in a fairly good mood, and had practically joked around and laughed the entire ride there. There were only a few times, though, when Daniel would purposefully release his hands from the handlebars, causing the bike to almost tumble over at times. This caused an upset reaction from Y/N, who, unlike Daniel, didn't find it enjoyable or laughable at all. So, she would swat him on the arm, and eventually make him return his hands to the handles.

Finally, the pair made it to Mr. Miyagi's. After getting off the bike and propping it up against the side of a ladder, they started to walk towards the house. A collection of paint cans were already set out, and Mr. Miyagi wasn't in sight. There was, however, a small note pasted on the door.

It read, 'PAINT HOUSE. NO UP-DOWN. GO SIDE-SIDE. 1/2 LEFT. 1/2 RIGHT' along with doodles of a house, arrows, and hands.

Daniel remained standing and staring at it for a few seconds; he couldn't believe what he was reading before his eyes. Somehow he felt sure that today was the day he would really start learning karate, but instead he found the note. Y/N was right beside him, reading the same paper with her arms crossed. She snuck a glance over at Daniel, and instantly realized how upset he seemed over the directions he received.

"Damn it!" Daniel grabbed the note, crumpled it, and threw it at the ground. "I can't believe this." In anger, he kicked the towel that rested on top of the paint buckets and picked up the paintbrush, tossing it in the air and catching it as he sat down on the buckets.

"Daniel. . .," Y/N came over to where Daniel sat and rested her hand on his shoulder, hoping to calm him down in some way. "Come on, it's going to be okay."

"No, it's not, Y/N!" Daniel snapped back, throwing up his hands in agitation. "I thought I would be learning actual karate today, not doing more of his damn chores."

"But—"

"And don't tell me it's all 'for a greater purpose' or that it'll 'all come together soon'. I'm so sick of you telling me that. Because I think I'd at least be learning some damn karate by now. This is all bullshit and I'm tired of it."

"Fine, Daniel. Think what you want to think, but I'm leaving," Y/N declared, storming off and climbing onto the bike beside the ladder. "And I'm taking your damn bike with me!"

"Yeah, you do that," Daniel said angrily. "Go ahead and leave me stranded here to paint the damn house!"

"Yeah, that's exactly what I'm gonna do," said Y/N, starting to pedal away. "Because maybe then you'll finally realize that this is for a greater purpose!"

Exasperated, Daniel watched as Y/N did in fact ride away on his bike. And since he was left behind with nothing else to do, he reluctantly concluded that he might as well start to paint the house. But he wasn't going to do anything other than that. Daniel decided that as soon as Mr. Miyagi got there, he was going to get himself out of the household maintenance business.

But for now, he opened a can of paint and began the work. Side to side. No up down.

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Your POV

I didn't know exactly where I was going, I just knew I wanted to escape from Daniel.

It shocked me at how suddenly things had changed. Daniel and I were both in such a good mood when we had first arrived at Mr. Miyagi's, but as soon as he read that note, his upbeat mood clicked off like a lightswitch. I was filled with such frustration considering the fact that Daniel just wouldn't listen to me. No matter what, he just didn't want to believe what I had to say about the meaning of the chores.