Hot For Sensei

Chapter Twenty-Seven

Ivy was getting ready for karate the next morning when she heard a knock on her door for like the millionth time since she moved in. As she made her way to answer it, she considered buying and installing a doorbell just so she'd never have to hear that sound again, but she supposed that eventually the ring of the doorbell would take its toll too.

She opened the door to see Dimitri holding the bottom of his shirt over his nose, his eyes desperate and afraid.

"Dimitri, what-" she started as he removed the shirt from his face, revealing a very bloody nose, "Oh my god! Get in here!"

Grabbing his shoulder, she yanked him inside and closed the door behind them. She then led him into the kitchen and motioned for him to sit on a barstool as she moved to get a towel and wet it. She cleaned his face as gently as she could, his wincing and whining making it a little difficult. Soon, she had wiped all the blood away, a deep purple bruise being all that was left around his nose.

"What the hell happened?" she gaped as she gently inspected the bruise with her finger.

"Ow! Please stop touching it!" he huffed, slapping her hand away.

"Start talking, or I'm walking you out." She demanded, irritated that he slapped her hand so callously after she had just helped him.

He looked to her, his eyes shifting from pain to shame and fear.

"Cobra Kai is what happened." He mumbled.

"Which one? There's a lot of us, you'll have to be more specific." She asked, moving to the freezer to look for an ice pack.

"I don't know! It was a really old guy, I've never seen him before." Dimitri whined as she gave him the ice pack.

"Kreese?" her eyes lit up in shock, "Kreese punched you?"

"If Kreese is the old dude with a sour face and bad tattoos, then yes. He socked me right in the shnoz." Dimitri groaned, pressing the ice pack to his face.

"Start at the beginning, please." She urged him carefully, anxious to get to the bottom of this.

"I went to the Dojo to sign up, figuring I'd give it another shot after your Valley Fest display. I asked him a few questions, gave him some feedback on his tattoo, and then he punched me!" Dimitri explained.

She listened to him intently, but something just wasn't adding up. Kreese made her sick to her stomach, but she couldn't see him just wailing on a teenager. Then she remembered the first interaction that Dimitri had had with Johnny, his cocky mouth getting him slammed onto the mats by their Sensei. Her eyebrow rose in thought, suspecting that his mouth had gotten him into trouble once again.

"Dimitri...what exactly did you say to him?"

"I asked him if there was a way to learn how to kick and punch without actually getting kicked or punched. I also told him that my personal space was important, and then..." he took a moment to think, "Oh, I told him that his cobra tattoo was anatomically incorrect, but he could probably get it fixed."

Ivy rolled her eyes with a loud groan. There was the missing piece. She knew Dimitri didn't ask him anything, he probably told him just like he tried to tell Johnny how things were going to be. She was sure Kreese didn't like that, being older and more set in his ways than Johnny, he wasn't going to put up with some kid talking back to him. And then to put the cherry on top of the shit sundae, he had gone and insulted the founder of Cobra Kai's cobra tattoo. It wasn't right by any means, but she understood why Kreese had punched him. With how Dimitri talked to people, she was surprised that he wasn't getting punched more.