"Right, sorry." He laughed in embarrassment, as he his other hand at his side as well. Kiro stared off in the distance, as he tried to let time do its thing, flow. He curled his toes around the edge of the posts to keep his ground, as the bar shook from Ally's continuous movement. He couldn't help but think about the bully he had faced just the night before. He let the bully's insults drive him to push himself to the limit. He'd prove them all wrong one day.

Kiro worked hard for the entire evening, as he did continued to do several series of strength training. He couldn't feel his arms, or legs, or anything else by the end of it all, but he did feel accomplished. 'I just don't know how I'll keep this up every day.' He complained, as he exited the gates of the grounds. The thought crossed his mind that he could indeed end up dying within three days if he continued to train so hard, but that couldn't actually happen. 'Right?' Kiro nervously questioned if it were possible in his head, as sweat started to pour down from his forehead.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
(some unspecified amount of days later...
AT SCHOOOOLLLL)

The final bell was heard all throughout the grounds, as Kiro peaked his head out of an empty locker in an unused classroom. He had to use the double protection just as a precaution. He had started hiding in this specific location every day since the fight with the karate club bully, giving excuse after excuse to leave his final class just a bit earlier than they let out. The janitor felt bad for him, and gave him the keys to use the room whenever he needed to. Kiro was scared out of his mind as to what might happen if he were to be seen by the bullies again. They may have wanted to settle the unfinished business. Kiro silently, and carefully, climbed out the window of the classroom, as he rolled into some bushes. He peeked his eyes out of the bushes, shifting them left and right to confirm that the coast was clear.

"Hey, Twig." Quite the annoying voice laughed from behind him.

"Ah!" Kiro screamed, as he fell over from his squatting position, and right into the open. He slowly turned around, thankfully finding someone who wasn't the person he was running from. It was Niijima, who was indeed a bully, but not the kind that could punch Kiro's face in. "Oh, it's you..." Kiro angrily mumbled, as he picked himself off the ground. "Wait, were you hiding in the bushes too?" He questioned, quite confused.

"I was, I was looking for you, ol' Weak-Knees!" The alienoid teen laughed, as he pulled out his handy PDA, along with the pen that went with it.

"What do you want, Niijima?" Kiro questioned with irritation, as he dusted off his pants legs.

"Word on the street is that you got your butt handed to you pretty good by Ijime." He chuckled, as he tapped on a few things on his screen with his pen.

"You mean the jerk from the karate club? Yeah, so what?" Kiro asked about it, clearly not in the mood for anything the jerk Niijima had to say.

"Well, another word on the street's saying he's not too happy about all the bragging you and your friends have been doing." Niijima added, the sly smirk planted on his face.

"What bragging? What are you talking?!" Kiro angrily asked, as he grabbed the collar of Niijima's shirt, pulling the alienoid in close.

"I tried to tell you before, but I just couldn't seem to find you. It looks like someone's been sending emails to the whole school, saying that you had the flu when you fought the big brute. That you could have wiped the floor with him any other day if you desired it. You really chose the wrong guy to piss off, didn't you, Kiro?" Niijima laughed in Kiro's face, as spit flew off from his open mouth.

"I never did anything like that, and you know it!" Kiro angrily explained, as he shook Niijima slightly.

"I know you didn't, Weak-Knees. Because I'm the one who did it. Thought I'd settle the score for you." He pushed Kiro off of him, as he started to walk off. "Anyway, I gotta go. Just wanted you to get a handle of the sitch. I'd be careful walking home if I were you, Twig."

Kiro growled angrily, as he clenched his fists. He thought about punching Niijima, but that wouldn't really solve all that much. 'Oh, man. What am I going to do?' He cried to himself in his head.

Two humongous kids from the karate club came into view from afar, as Kiro quickly dove back into the bushes. 'I'll never be able to show my face in public again. If that Ijime guy gets his hands on me again, he's sure to kill me this time.'
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The sun began to set, as Kiro was the latest he had ever been to the dojo. He barely had any time left for training! Usually he walked with Ally back to the dojo as soon as school was out, but Kiro was too afraid to leave his hiding place for a while. Even after he had gotten out of his hiding place, he found bullies at every corner, all from the karate club, waiting for him to show his face. Kiro was covered in dirt, leaves, and other disgusting things, as he tried his best to take the safest route possible to get to the dojo. Usually he had Ally there to help him open the enormous doors, but not this time. He had to open them himself. He gave a mighty yell, as he gave the door everything he had. Once again, to no avail. Just as he expected, he was nowhere close to opening it. "Asuka! Ally! Bokusa! Muhai!" He yelled for each one individually, hoping to get a response from someone so he could get in.

"Come on keep going!" Asuka pushed as Ally did various body weight workouts. She heard a screaming coming from outside of the dojo and answered only to find Kiro all messy. "What happened to you? Don't tell me you got in a fight!" she said. She never thought Kiro would be the kid to pick fights and she was very disappointed in him. "Come on, you need to go get cleaned. After you wash up in the bathroom come back to me." She couldn't get over the shock. Over the past few days Kiro had shown to be determined and respectful. If his condition was really because of a fight, she wasn't sure if she could continue training him. Unless it was self defense that is.

Kiro returned to Asuka and Ally several minutes later, as he proceeded to explain his entire situation, starting all the way back from when he went to join the karate club. He proceeded to explain his feelings of being too weak to do anything during his fight, how Ally came to his rescue, and now how Ijime was seeking out another battle because of the false rumours being spread all over the school. "That's why it took me so long to get here, Sensei Asuka." He explained to her, as he kept his head low. Just telling the story reminded Kiro just how much of a loser he really was. He was pathetic. "I'm scared to face the guy again." He felt his rib cage. "I can still feel his punches." Kiro's hands shook in fear, as he remembered the intimidating figure. "But at the same time, I can't keep hiding forever, I know that. And if they start to get impatient, they might start taking things out on people close to me. I refuse to let that happen, though." He looked up at his master, as he brought on an embarrassed smile. "I guess I'm just not quite too sure what I'm going to do." He wasn't very confident in any of his abilities learned from the dojo to help him in any sort of real fight. Come to think of it, all he truly knew was how to properly throw a punch. What was that going to get him against a trained karate student like Ijime?

"Hmm, I see," Asuka said, thinking on Kiro's situation. She vowed to protect people and teaching Kiro one simple move wouldn't hurt. "I'm going to teach you your first technique." Asuka nodded to Ally who got into a basic fighting stance.

"This is a counter to a punch," Asuka said and got into a basic fighting stance. "Throw." Ally threw out a punch and they paused. "You need to block this punch," Asuka said and lifted her right arm to perry Ally's, "and step forward with your back foot. Mine it my right." They repeated the block and Asuka put her right foot behind Ally's right foot. "Now my left foot is my back and my stance is switched. Pay attention to how my foot is behind Ally's, this is important. Bar your arm down so that you're pushing the punch down." Asuka put her arm down, her forearm now on top of Ally's bicep. "Press your arm into their neck and push them to the ground." Asuka pressed down into Ally's neck and the girl fell backwards with ease. Asuka took the advantage and got on top of her over her hips. She grabbed the collar of the girl's gi and held her hand in a punching position. "See that? She weighs more than me and is taller, but she fell easily. You know why? She tripped over my right foot when I pushed her. When she fell I was able to get on top and I can attack from there. I'll teach you different techniques later on, but you need to master this first." Asuka got off of Ally and said, "We'll show you twice, one more time slowly, and another time fast.

They did the slow demonstration with the same amount of virtually no force, but when they did the fast demonstration Ally hit the ground hard, making a thud echo through the dojo. Both her and Asuka sprung up quickly. "Got it? Ally will be your sparring partner. Go slow in the beginning."

Ally got into a fighting stance in front of Kiro, threw a slow punch, and paused, waiting for him to perform the move. She was used to rough training so this was like a break.

Shin barraged open the front doors,"I'm HOME!!!" Shin yelled as it could be heard through out the dojo. Shin took a small sip of his tea as he began to walk forward,"Sorry I got the money from those dojo's that owed us money but I seemed to have spent it all," Shin said with a laugh and looked up to see saw Asuka, Ally, and...and Shin didn't know this kid but they looked like they were in the middle of something so he began to walk towards Asuka. "Soo... is this your kid?" Shin asked as he pointed at Kiro and began he nugged Asuka with his elbow playfully as he laughed and slurped the rest of his tea down.

Kiro's eyes lit up, as he watched the amazing technique. Kiro nodded, as it was now his turn. He got into his horse stance, as he slowly blocked Ally's punch with a simple mid-block. "That's when I..." He stepped forward with his right foot, stumbling a bit before landing it behind Ally's own foot. Kiro slowly pushed down on Ally's arm with his block, as he was taken aback at the ease of doing so. He didn't realize the lack of stability an arm had once it was fully extended. Kiro then went in with little confidence, as he pushed Ally down hesitantly. "I use my foot to help knock off her center of gravity, and..." He grabbed onto the lapel of the gi, as he held his fist back. "Bam!" He exclaimed, as he cheerfully looked back at his master, only to notice the newcomer.

Bakusa listened carefully from the attic above, as he followed along with every step Kiro took. It was dangerous to teach the kid any real techniques, as told by their own elder. Asuka knew this, but Bakusa wasn't going to stop her, especially after hearing Kiro's story. 'It's not like I'm the one teaching the little brat techniques.' He chuckled to himself, as he smiled softly. 'If the the old man finds out, it's not on me.' He reasoned to himself, as he continued to eagerly listen. 'Dumb kid.'

Asuka forgot she didn't teach Kiro the more standard fighting stance she and Ally were in, which was basically a boxing stance, but he adjusted very well using the horse stance. He didn't even try using their stances and went with what he did know. She beamed as the boy did the technique, but kept her excitement on the inside. "Yeah, he's my new disciple," Asuka explained to Shin as he sipped tea. It smelled so good that she was tempted to take a sip from his cup but always decided against it. "Very good Kiro, you got the hang of it. Now start putting force into it, she's a tough girl."

Ally was glad Kiro picked up on the technique so quickly, but didn't show it. She knew showing a lot of praise could make someone overestimate themselves. It was just part of life. When Kiro got off Ally returned to her fighting stance and repeated the punch, pausing for Kiro.

"As you get more comfortable keep going faster," Akita instructed, "Ally will start resisting more and going faster. If you aren't quick enough you might end up with a black eye. But don't worry about that yet, focus on learning the technique."

"Well the kid kind of sucks," Shin said to Asuka with a laugh. Shin took a look at the little technique that he was practicing closely,"Whoa whoa whoa your doing it all wrong do you mind if I butt in," Shin said as he began to walk over to the boy as he began to look at Kiro as he stroked his beard giving a smirk. "Heh he sure doesn't look like it know but this boy has some potential" Shin thought as he began to scratch the back of his head as he was trying to remember what he was going to say. "When they throw the punch," Shin said as he made the motion of making a slow punch. "You grab them by the arm using their momentum to your advantage you want to step in and take them over your shoulder flipping them over so did you get all that?" Shin explained to Kiro. "Now because I hate hurting women I guess i'll just have to teach you first hand...now I want you to come at me with a punch with all that you got is that clear!!!!" Shin yelled as he got into a defensive position.

"Oh, alright..." Kiro mumbled awkwardly, as he stepped away from Ally. "Here goes nothing, sir!" He exclaimed, as he got into his own stance. He took a deep breath before launching out a quick right at his new opponent. Everything seemed to be a blur, as Kiro was immediately knocked on his back. Once his head hit the ground, Kiro went completely unconscious. He lied there motionless, as it seemed Shin didn't go easy enough, perhaps still assuming the boy was tougher than he was.

Asuka shook her head at Shin's explanation of the move. It was completely different from what she wanted to teach Kiro and the end result wasn't even the same. Then Shin knocked Kiro out. "Kiro!" Asuka said and rushed down to the boy's side, checking his pulse. He was alive, of course, and she shook her head again. "Ally, go get the ice, water, and towels. Hurry." When her disciple was back she instructed her to wash Kiro's face then get some ice on his head and the back of his neck.

"He'll be fine," Asuka said and stood in front of Shin, arms crossed, "What were you thinking? He just joined what, about a week ago and he isn't ready for things like that." She took a deep breath in and began to massage her temples, "Okay okay listen, when I'm training my disciple please don't interrupt like that, okay? If you have input on bettering his technique please say something, but other than that run through me first." Asuka didn't think things could get much worse than her disciple getting knocked out since Shin wouldn't do a deadly move on the kid... yet.

Shin step into the boys straight and flipping him over pretty hard and fast. And that's how i..." Shin stopped as he looked back seeing Kiro wasn't getting back up. "Uh ho did I kill him?" Shin asked as Askuka was checking his pulse. He was relived to hear that he was only unconscious, "I'm sorry I thought he could handle it I could when I was the boys age," Shin said while he was on the ground begging for forgiveness. "I won't butt into your training again," Shin assured her giving her puppy eyes even tho he wasn't sure he could keep his promise. "Hey how about I make it up to you by making you some tea just the way you like it," Shin said as he got up and ran into to go grab a tea pot and began brewing up Asuka's favorite tea flavor. he then took a look at the boy "I can't wait until he is mine" Shin thought as he a smile came to his face.

(ABOUT A WEEK LATERRRRR...)

On top of all their routine muscle training, Kiro was now practicing the single technique learned from his master. He also listened in on both Shin, as well as Bakusa's unwanted (by Asuka) pointers. He was definitely getting better at it, but he was nowhere near ready to take on anyone, even his masters would agree with the fact. He continued to take a variety of shortcuts, passageways, and tunnels to make it to school. Kids from the karate club made it their mission to stay posted out on his route day in and day out. He sighed. Kiro felt like a coward, as he wished he could just stand up to the people blocking his path (quite literally). It seemed like all of his training was just going to waste, perhaps it was indeed because he had no natural talent.

Kiro peaked his head out of his usual spot, the bushes, as he shifted his eyes left and right. "Is it safe yet?" Kiro nervously asked Ally, as he looked up at her. School had just let out, and so Kiro had to be extra careful, as it was around this time the population of karate club members went to an extra high in the area.

Ally leaned against the wall by the bushes and looked around. The bullies were mostly gone and she could always provide a distraction of needed. "All clear, come on we can't be late," Ally told him and lead the way to the dojo. As they walked she thought about all of his progress. "You're getting a lot stronger, Kiro," she said, "Most people would've quit by now. Why do you think there aren't many disciples? You've made it through the really rough parts and you can keep going through the even harder parts. I believe in you."

"Thanks." Kiro smiled at her, as he started to pick some twigs and leaves from his bookbag. "I needed that. I appreciate it." His attention was suddenly turned away, as he heard some grunts and shuffles from a nearby alleyway. Kiro peered his head inside.

"I told you, I haven't seen that guy in days!" Niijima truthfully told, as he lied on the ground, several members from the karate club hovering above him. One of them being...

'Ijime.' Kiro thought softly to himself, as he could feel his hands begin to tremble. "Come on, let's get to the dojo, we don't want Asuka to worry." Kiro angrily mumbled, as he started to walk forward. 'It's what he deserves. He's the one who got me into this mess in the first place.' Kiro reasoned.

"We know you and him are good friends; I won't ask you again! Where is he?!" Ijime angrily demanded an answer, as he kicked Niijima hard in the gut.

(Music: vimeo.com/173016036
Listen to it while you read, or else.)

Kiro paused, as he heard Niijima's screams for help. The bullies laughing in his face. It was so reminiscent of where he was not too long ago. Kiro clenched his fists, as something inside of him wouldn't let him take another step forward. No matter how cruel Niijima was to Kiro in the past, the young man just couldn't walk away from such an unfair fight. It just wasn't right. "You mind holding this for me?" Kiro asked of Ally, as he handed her his bag. "Don't try to help me." Kiro asked of her, as his legs began to shake in fear. "T-This is my fight." He bravely told her, as he inched into the alleyway. He heard voices echo in his head.

'Weak-Knees.'

'Twig.'

'Weakling'

He clenched his fists, his entire body started to shake, as he stood just behind the goons.



"Stop it, Ijime!" Kiro exclaimed out to the bully.

Ijime started to chuckle, as he froze just in the middle of a kick.

Niijima had his eyes closed, waiting for things to all be over, until everything had suddenly went dead silent. He opened a single eye, as he spotted Kiro in the distance. "Weak-Knees?" He mumbled, quite taken aback by his sudden appearance. Why would he go on a suicide mission for him?

Ijime slowly turned his head to look at Kiro, as he gave him quite the glance.

Kiro started to shake even more, as he remembered those horrifying eyes of Ijime's.

"Look, Ijime, it's like he's about to piss his pants!" One of the goons laughed, as he pointed to Kiro's trembling legs.

"So, you came to save your buddy, huh, Twig?" Ijime laughed, as a wide smile began to spread on his face.

Kiro growled. "He's not my friend!" He assured them. "But either way, I'm the one you want to fight. Leave Niijima out of this." Kiro bravely told him, as he got in his horse stance. Sweat started to pour down from his face, as every part of his body was telling him to run for the hills. He bit the tip of his arm sleeve. 'Calm down, Kiro.' He thought to himself calmly, as his shaking began to settle a bit.

"I've been waiting to pound your face in, ever since those emails started flooding in." Ijime angrily told Kiro, as he stepped away from Niijima, and got into his own stance, jumping on the balls of his feet again, as he held his fists high, ready to throw some heavy blows.

Ally took Kiro's bag and stood with the crowd. She looked at Niijima on the ground and was disgusted. He didn't deserve Kiro's pity. Then she realized Ijime could fall on Niijime if Kiro managed to pull off the move. She roughly pulled Niijime out of the circle and into the somewhat safety of the crowd. Kiro got into his horse stance and Ally smiled. He really did improve since that first day. "Kick his butt," she muttered, not wanting to break his focus.

Niijima slipped out of his school jacket like butter before she finished dragging him, as he assumed Ally was with the group of bullies. He laughed maniacally, as he had outsmarted them once again. "Have fun, Weak-Knees!" Niijima laughed, as he ran off in the distance.

Ijime didn't give Kiro a chance to attack this time, as he charged at Kiro, as he shot his left arm for a punch, following it up quickly with a hard right hook.

Kiro froze, as the first punch came flying at him. His body tensed up, as he remembered the heaviness of Ijime's punches. He got hit hard in the face, as his head jolted backwards. Blood shot out from his nose, as he stumbled backwards, but didn't fall down this time. Before Kiro had time to react, he was hit with Ijime's right hook, as he came very close to falling over, but stood his ground. Kiro huffed and puffed, as he put his fists back up. 'Just concentrate. You-You can do this!' Kiro encouraged himself. Ijime came in for another another straight,

"You need to step forward before your opponents momentum can build up. With most fighters, by the time you see the punch coming, it's already too late."

Kiro heard Bakusa's voice in his head, as he watched for Ijime's shoulder to give him a signal of sorts. Once he saw the opportunity, Kiro deflected the punch away, as he stepped in. Kiro took too long in his follow-up, as Ijime took the moment of hesitation to his advantage.

Ijime shot up with an uppercut from his other hand, pivoting his left foot simultaneously to go the most power out of the punch. "You almost had me there! Nice try!" The bully laughed, as the punch drove deep into Kiro's abdomen, if it went any farther, one would probably see its outline on the other side of Kiro.

Kiro's eyes went quite wide, as he was hit by the powerful attack, practically being lifted upward by the brute's force. Blood flew out from his mouth, as he landed on the ground. He tried to catch his breath, as he held his hand over his stomach. 'I-I was too slow.' He barely managed to even keep his thoughts in order, as he struggled very much just to stand back up.

"You want some more, do you?" Ijime chuckled, as he towered above the small hero.

Ally didn't notice Niijime slip away until it was too late. "I'm keeping your jacket!" she shouted after him and slung it over his shoulder. Then the fight began. Each time Kiro was hit she cringed but followed his wishes in not stepping in. This wasn't her fight, like he said, and she could do was be there for him and be there after the fight whether he win or lose. Listening to the karate club members say insults about Kiro angered her but she didn't want to say or do something to make the situation too much worse. Then the uppercut hit and Kiro was struggled to stand. It looked like Ijime was going to win again. "Come on, Kiro! You can do it!" she didn't know if he could hear her or if her words meant anything now. She wanted more than to see him win.

A look of determination fell on Kiro's face, as he stepped forward again (as Ijime threw another jab), realizing he was going to end up in the same situation as before, he quickly pivoted his feet to dodge any follow-up attack.

"What the-!?" Ijime exclaimed, as he did indeed throw another punch, but Kiro was nowhere to be found this time. He turned his head slightly, as Kiro was now at his side. He angrily threw down another punch, as Kiro once again disappeared. Punch after punch Kiro dodged, but that was all he could really do. If he went back in for another attack, he'd be done for. 'What am I going to do!?' Kiro cried, as he and Ijime danced around in circles, Kiro dodging attack after attack by stepping in and pivoting.

"Now my left foot is my back and my stance is switched. Pay attention to how my foot is behind Ally's, this is important. Bar your arm down so that you're pushing the punch down." Asuka put her arm down, her forearm now on top of Ally's bicep.

Kiro tried to remember everything his masters had given him to work with, focusing hard on remembering anything that could save him.

"You grab them by the arm using their momentum to your advantage you want to step in and take them over your shoulder flipping them over so did you get all that?" Shin explained to Kiro.

Kiro was so distracted, he had left his front foot in place for too long (after he pivoted), as Ijime tripped over it, almost completely losing his balance, as he stumbled forward a bit. 'That's it!' Kiro exclaimed, as he waited for Ijime once more.



Once he regained his balance, Ijime turned to face Kiro again. "You can dodge until you're blue in the face, but unless you manage to attack back, you're done for!" The bully exclaimed, as he charged recklessly at Kiro once more. He wouldn't let him embarrass him any further! This was it!

'You step forward before the opponent's momentum can build up...' Kiro thought to himself, as he stepped forward confidently, remembering Bakusa's words. He kept his mid block up high, as he let the punch brush past it while he dodged the attack. 'That's when you pivot,' Kiro did so, as dust flew up while he turned in his sneakers.

"See that? She weighs more than me and is taller, but she fell easily. You know why? She tripped over my right foot when I pushed her..."
-Asuka

'You use your foot, along with his building momentum...' He continued to guide himself through his plan, as grabbed onto Ijime's arm with both of his hands. 'To knock them completely off balance!' He exclaimed within his head, as he used all of his power to throw the enormous man over his shoulder, appearing very reminiscent of his masters.

Ijime fell flat on his back, as he was knocked unconscious upon impact. Kiro let go of his arm, as it limply fell to the floor. The young boy collapsed beside the fallen giant, as he held his head low to the ground, still trying to catch his breath. "I-I did it..." He quietly mumbled with a sigh of relief, his expression completely unseen to the rest of the group.

"Come on, get up, Ijime!" One of his three friends yelled out to him, as he growled.

"You little brat!" One of the others angrily exclaimed, as he clenched his fists, slowly inching towards Kiro. They wouldn't just let him get away with beating one of their fighters. They'd have to show him it was indeed just a fluke.

"Hey!" Ally shouted at the three friends of Ijime's, "If he can beat your leader what makes you think you can beat him?"

"Ijime tired him out for us, now we're gonna finish him!" one of the bullies said.

Ally got into a neutral fighting stance and chuckled, "You'll have to get through me first."

At this all three boys laughed. Ally smirked. Their ignorance gave her the upper hand. "I got this," the taller of the three said and walked up to Ally. "You sure you wanna fight me, girly?"

Ally nodded and taunted him with her hand in a "come at me" motion. The bit stepped up to her and threw a jab. She did the move Kiro taught Asuka and landed in top of the boy, giving him a few hard punches to the face and gut.

Ally popped up only to see the two others running straight for her. She smiled and sweep kicked the first one, letting the second one trip over the first. As to not be one to kick someone while their down, she picked the first one up by the collar and shot an uppercut for the center of his stomach. He gasped but no blood was seen anywhere. She did this for the second man and dropped both into the very first man she knocked down. Ally knelt down to the pile of three and hissed, "Next time you think about hurting Kiro remember the pain I gave you."

Ally then moved to Kiro's side and provided herself for him to lean against. "That was really awesome of you, Kiro. To help Niijime after he did all of that to you... That's amazing. Come on, let's get to the dojo."