A Arate Love Story

If you haven't read Chapters 1 - 2 yet, please do -- the character development is important.

I crave and appreciate your feedback! Please vote and leave comments. -- ynona

A Karate Love Story

Ch. 03 "Confrontation"

The four of us -- Sensei Tom, Lisa, Jack and I -- walked back to the arena with Marcus and his students for the afternoon events. Although I had finally managed to eat some of my pizza, I was still uneasy about our chance encounter with Trey. One of Tom's former students, he had left our dojo a few years ago angry at Sensei for not promoting him fast enough. From what I could see at lunch, he still nursed a grudge. His veiled threat toward me seemed to worry Sensei and Jack, which meant I was

definitely

worried. I was getting a real "Cobra Kai" feel (a la

Karate Kid

) from him and his friends.

As we settled back into our prime seats up front with Marcus's students, the

kata

demonstrations began in earnest, starting with the lower belt ranks and moving up. What I found fascinating about this tournament was that it combined several different schools of karate under one roof, so I was able to see, for example,

Seisan

performed in subtly different ways depending on whether the practitioner was from Shotokan, Shorin Ryu, or Matsubayashi. Sensei animatedly pointed out the variations to us and explained the reasons, the pros and cons, and so forth. He clearly loved every aspect of the martial arts and had not confined himself to one narrow field of study. I could tell he was struggling to stay in his seat and not jump up to demonstrate his points, as he was wont to do in class.

I jumped slightly as I felt a hand on mine. I turned to see Jack smiling at me, and I shyly smiled back. Of course, we would never dream of interrupting Sensei mid-lecture, so we simply intertwined our fingers and enjoyed the twin pleasures of learning from Sensei and cradling each others' hands for the first time. I listened now through a rushing sound in my ears. I couldn't believe Jack was holding my hand! His was warm, calloused and strong, large enough to enfold mine securely. His thumb softly caressed the back of my hand, and I reciprocated by lightly squeezing his hand once in a while.

It was no "movie moment" -- no music began to play, my heart didn't begin to palpitate, I certainly didn't swoon -- but just as I had felt all morning when we had talked

tête-à-tête

, this felt

right

, as if we had slipped easily and without fanfare into a long-accustomed, well-loved habit.

I don't know how long I sat there with my brain fogged up, barely paying attention to the tournament, but I realized suddenly that Jack was tapping my arm. When I looked at him questioningly, he grimly pointed at the mat right in front of us.

Trey was walking to the center of it. A chill trickled down my spine as I noticed he was staring straight at Sensei, unsmiling. His eyes remained on Sensei's as the official announced "

Kusanku

!", and he waited almost too long to break eye contact before bowing. From Jack's tighter grip on my hand, I knew he had noticed Trey's challenging stare.

As Trey began the first few moves of his

kata

, Jack, a forced lightness in his tone, explained, "

Kusanku

is probably the most difficult

kata

there is. It's very long, and some of the stances -- like that one --" Trey had just dropped almost all the way to the floor, "take a lot of muscle to control. It's definitely a

kata

to impress -- which, I'm sure," he added wryly, "is why he chose it."

I could see what he meant. There were a lot of flourishes that Trey played up to the hilt, though I noticed on a few occasions that he left himself too open as a result. I had the feeling that he was showing off for Sensei's benefit, sort of a look-how-awesome-I-am-you-never-appreciated-my-genius-type performance. However, I was put in mind of Riverdance and the difference between rival frontmen Michael Flatley and Colin Dunne: although Flatley was flashier and better-looking, he lacked Dunne's cool discipline. Whereas Flatley's arms tended to drift aimlessly off-center when he held them out, Dunne's were always rock-solid where they were supposed to be. Trey was definitely more like Michael Flatley. And Jack, I thought fondly, was Dunne.

Jack leaned forward a little to watch more closely, then smirked. "Okay, watch here: there's a series of cat stances." Trey moved at angles from one cat stance to another, with accompanying lightning-fast hand strikes. Watching his feet, however, I could see why Jack was smirking. Trey was standing almost straight, with practically no bend to his back leg, and his front heel barely left the ground. I couldn't help giggling. It

was

kind of pathetic that he couldn't -- or refused to -- do such a basic stance properly, despite his obviously athletic build.

After a last mediocre cat stance, Trey stood up and bowed to signal the end of his

kata

. With an uneasy, squirming sensation in my stomach, I now saw that he was staring

me

down, just as he had stared at Sensei earlier -- except now he looked very angry. I had the uncomfortable feeling that he had noticed me laughing at him. He bowed to the official, then stalked off the mat to wait for his score.

The judges, spaced around the mat at the front and corners, shuffled through their cards to choose scores.

5.4. 5.3. 5.2. 5.3. 5.3.

Trey's fists clenched so hard at his sides that I could seem them shaking slightly. He hesitated so long that I thought he was going to walk away without bowing to the judges, but after a few long moments, he bowed to the chief judge and walked back to his group. I was surprised that he didn't hit something -- or someone.

I suddenly realized that all the tea I drank at lunch was catching up to me. "Um, I need to go to the restroom," I told Jack. "I'll be right back."

Jack tore his eyes off of Trey's retreating form to look at me with concern. "Why don't you take Lisa with you?"

I almost objected, then thought better of it. Even though I doubted Trey would leave the arena floor so soon after his performance, it wouldn't hurt anything to have company. "Okay," I said with a smile, then squeezed his hand, let go, and stood up.

"Lisa?" I said. She turned from talking to one of Marcus's girls. "I'm going to the restroom -- want to make it a potty party?" I grinned.

She laughed and said, "Sure! Let me get my purse."

It took a while to weave back through all the seats and up to the mezzanine, which contained all the concession stands and restrooms. The arena was built in concentric circles, with the arena floor in the center, concessions surrounding that, and restrooms, locker rooms, offices, and building operations in a ring around that. I supposed they wanted to keep the restrooms separate from the food, which made sense to me.

We found a restroom sign that pointed through a passage between a hot dog stand and a gourmet pretzel place. We walked a little way, then turned to follow a narrow hallway to the left. It was much quieter here: the sounds from the tournament seemed muted and far away, and our footsteps echoed between the bare floors and walls.

The restroom was empty, so we had the luxury of performing a stall inspection ceremony before choosing the cleanest ones. "So," said Lisa in a sly tone as she shut herself in a stall. "You and Jack seem to be hitting it off today!"

I paused in the middle of hanging my purse up in my own cubicle and blushed. It wasn't like we had tried to hide our hand-holding, but it disconcerted me a little that others had noticed. I shrugged, then realized she couldn't see me. Duh.

"I guess so," I replied.

"You

guess

, huh?" she said playfully. "Y'all seemed pretty cozy from where I was sitting!"

I giggled a little, then sighed. She let it go for the moment as we took care of our business. I finished first and washed my hands, then dug through my purse for my brush and lipstick. Pausing, I looked in the mirror and tried to evaluate my looks objectively.

How do I look to Jack?

I wondered.

I had never been vain about my looks and didn't think I had reason to be, but I supposed I was reasonably attractive. My hair was definitely my best feature, hanging down my back in glossy golden ringlets. Because of my matching golden-hued skin and green eyes, my mother had always called me her "golden child." (I was grateful she didn't say "golden girl" because I didn't particularly want to be lumped in with Blanche, Rose, and Dorothy.) I had always thought my almond-shaped eyes, high cheekbones, and long nose combined with my hair to give me a leonine look, which I considered not so much beautiful as interesting.

What does Jack think?

I wondered. Somehow I couldn't bring myself to believe he could be very attracted to me physically. I supposed it was my personality and the easy rapport we had discovered with each other.

"So, how well do you know Jack?" I called to her as I began to refresh my lipstick.

"Oh, nice enough guy, but I sure wouldn't go to bed with him," said a

male

voice from the doorway.

I whipped around to see none other than Trey standing inside the door with two of the guys we had seen him with at lunch. They all stood with their arms crossed over their chests. My lipstick dropped into the sink, but I paid no attention. I heard Lisa gasp and hurry up whatever she was doing. I prayed she'd get out in time to help me, though I wasn't sure what even she could do against

three

black belts. I had no illusions about my own ability to defend against them. I glanced around to see if there was something I could use as a weapon, but didn't see anything.

Lisa burst out of her stall, black hair streaming behind her. She moved quickly to my side, her slim form dropping slightly into a front stance. Trey just looked amused.

"So, Trey," said Lisa in a voice dripping with sarcasm, "are you lost, or have you finally gotten a sex change operation? I always wondered why you waited so long. After all, I'm sure they gave you a discount because you don't have any balls."

His face tightened, and I worried about Lisa provoking him. "Uh, Lisa?" I whispered. "Did you notice there are

three

of them?" She ignored me.

"Aw, shit Lisa, I forgot how god . . .

damned . . . funny

you are," Trey said through gritted teeth.

"Please don't piss him off anymore," I whispered to her.

"Piss me off?" he said, turning his attention to me. "Darlin', you should have thought of that before you laughed your ass off at me with your boyfriend." His shoulders bunched up, and he suddenly turned and slammed his fist into a nearby mirror. Lisa and I both gasped and jumped back as little shards of glass flew toward us. I could see blood on his knuckles and on the glass that remained on the wall. Now I was really scared. I didn't think they were here just to intimidate us.

"Nobody fuckin' laughs at me," he seethed. It seemed to be a prearranged signal. The three of them darted toward us so fast that I couldn't think what to do. I just froze. Lisa, on the other hand, flew into action. I had never seen her hands and feet move so fast. She dropped the first guy almost immediately, but then Trey's other friend forced her back and away from me. He pressed continually forward in an obvious ploy to leave me alone to Trey's tender mercies. I finally raised my guard and waited, shaking head to foot, for him to make the first move. "

There is no first move in karate

," Sensei always said, and I was determined that I would do at least that much correctly.

But in all my sparring matches, I had never fought a person who truly wanted to harm me, and definitely nobody as aggressive as Trey. He moved straight in as if just to knock me down with his whole body, and I just barely managed to sidestep in time. I punched him in the right kidney as he passed, but since he was moving more quickly than I was used to, I didn't put enough force behind it to really matter. He pivoted and came at me again, this time feinting a punch at my face and then socking me in the ribs. I wasn't fast enough to block or evade him this time, and the next thing I knew, pain exploded in my side and I was bent over, gasping for breath. I had

never

been hit that hard before. As I blinked hard, trying not to black out, I felt Trey grab my forearm and twist it painfully to the side, fingers pressing hard on my radial pressure point. When my knees buckled automatically, he used my body's motion to slam me against one of the sinks. He pinned me there with his body, then wrapped the fingers of his other hand in my hair and pulled my head back viciously so that my eyes watered.

Trey leaned forward and growled in my ear. "I think I need to teach you a lesson, little

bitch

," he said. "Nobody makes fun of me. I'm going to teach you to respect your

seniors

."

Tears ran down my cheeks, both from pain and my fear of what else he might do to me. If Trey hadn't been pressing me against the sink, I would have collapsed to the floor.

His hand released my hair, then, to my horror, began squeezing my breasts roughly. "No!" I choked out, and I continued my struggle with renewed strength. It was in complete vain, because I couldn't budge him. It was like a nightmare where I couldn't run and couldn't scream. I was totally paralyzed by fear.

He yanked my shirt up and -- I saw this in the mirror as if in slow motion -- flipped my bra up over my breasts, painfully catching the undersides and making them fall heavily against my abdomen. Grabbing my left breast again, he squeezed it and dug his fingers into my flesh so that I squeaked hoarsely in pain. From my right, I could hear a thump and a gasp, then the sound of a body sliding to the floor. My heart sank as I looked over and saw Lisa sprawled on the ground, out cold.

Oh God, please don't let her be hurt bad!

I thought desperately. To make things worse, the guy she had knocked out earlier began to stir. Now it was going to be three on one.

I had to do something, but I couldn't wrench my arm out of Trey's grasp. Instead, I twisted my body hard in the same direction he was twisting my arm and sank my teeth into his bicep. He jerked back and swore, but unfortunately did not release his hold.

"Fucking

bitch

!" he yelled, then used his hold on my arm to force me to the floor. My head whacked the tile painfully, and I think I did black out briefly this time. Next thing I knew, my jeans and panties were being jerked down my hips. I vaguely noticed that a second pair of hands was holding my arms over my head in an iron grip.

He's going to rape me

, I thought hazily, struggling with little success to fight off the disorientation from my head injury.

They're all going to rape me, and Lisa.

I could feel the cold floor against the skin of my back and buttocks.

The door slammed open. I could hear many sets of feet running across the floor, and many masculine voices cursing and yelling, the sounds echoing chaotically off the tiled walls. Both sets of hands pulled away from me. I just lay there for a minute, trying to bring my eyes back into focus and make my brain work. Suddenly, I realized that I was naked from neck to knee with a whole lot of guys running around. With numb fingers, I pulled my clothes back into a crooked semblance of modesty, then jerkily pushed myself up from the floor and lurched against the nearest wall. My legs still didn't want to hold me. The room spun around a little and made me feel like I was going to throw up. I swallowed hard and tried to make sense of what was happening.

Lisa had made it off the floor too and was propping herself against a bathroom stall. I could see Jack, Sensei, Marcus, and three of Marcus's male students apparently beating the shit out of Trey and his friends. I just stared as Sensei pounded his fist into the side of Trey's head. I had never seen him so angry. Jack had one guy on the floor with his foot jammed none too gently into his back. He looked like he wanted to break the arm he was holding and beat the guy bloody with it.

After two confused minutes, Trey and his friends lay defeated on the floor, panting hard. It finally hit me that it was over -- for now -- and that I wasn't going to be raped or killed. I slid slowly to the floor and just sat there. Now that I could stop and think about it, my side blossomed into pain again. I wondered if Trey had broken one of my ribs.

"What the

fuck

did you think you were doing?" Sensei yelled down at Trey. I'd never heard him swear before. Yes, he was definitely mad.

Trey just stared sullenly at the floor. Sensei swore again. Marcus turned to one of his students and said, "Go get the police -- and a paramedic from the tournament." The young man nodded and ran out the door.

The next hour or so was kind of a woozy mess in my head. The paramedics checked us over (I had a slight concussion, but at least no broken ribs, and Lisa just had some bruises), the police asked a lot of questions, and people generally bustled back and forth. Two people helped me up at one point and gently escorted me out. Somehow, we made it out to the car and drove back to the hotel. I could hear Jack and Sensei talking quietly.

". . . concussion . . ."

". . . can't let her go to sleep . . ."

". . . press charges . . ."

Jack sat next to me in the back seat, with his arm around me. I suddenly felt so tired. I just laid my head on his comfortable, reassuring arm and closed my eyes.

"Audra." He tapped my cheek sharply with his hand. "Audra, you can't go to sleep right now, honey. Come on, wake up."

With effort, I peeled my eyelids back open. They felt dry and gummy. Jack held a bottle of water against my lips and said, "Here, this'll help." I sipped a little of the water and tried not to look out the window at the moving scenery -- it just made my headache worse.

We parked . . . walked in . . . foyer . . . elevator . . . room . . . bed. Bed. I wanted to just crawl in and pull the covers over my head for about a week. I didn't want to think about what had just happened, and almost happened.

I realized Jack was with me, not Lisa, and we were alone in the room. "Where's Lisa? Is she okay?" I asked.

Jack sat down next to me on the bed and brushed a lock of hair out of my eyes. "She's fine, honey," he said quietly, but with a touch of anger still in his voice. My eyes suddenly filled with tears, and a sob choked out before I could stop it. "God," he whispered, and pulled me gently against him, caressing my hair as I cried. He just held me and let me cry as long as I needed to, which seemed like forever.

* * * * * * * * *

To be continued.