A Flower in War

Chapter Twenty-Two: Kata

"You got the apology huh?" Cal smiles, seeing Robby walk out of the waiting room with his shirt.
"Yeah, and my shirt!" Robby says proudly, displaying his new LaRusso Auto shirt with his name now monogrammed onto it.
"Very nice."
"Hey, why don't you have one?"
"Because I'm allowed to wear a dress instead. I'm sure you could come to work in one too if you'd like."
"I'll stick with the shirt." Robby laughs.

"So uh Louie told me to drop something off at the LaRusso house... I just need to know if it's another prank?"
"What is it?"
"Um the hard copy of the sales report? Said it's in the envelope on his desk?"
"That's a very small sales report but it could be real? I honestly don't know. I mean Louie comes over and he and uncle Danny talk but I don't know about a sales report being exchanged?" Cal looks down on the floor trying to remember any paper being handed over when Louie was there but coming up empty, "Look, come over. I'll be home and if it's another prank we can explain it together, okay?"
"Yeah okay. Thanks Cal."
"No problem. Now go have fun on your free day."
"Want to come with?"
"I still have an hour of work left. But if you want to go and grab me a Danish I wouldn't be opposed."
"Deal." Robby laughs, taking the money from her outstretched hand.

-

"Cal!" Cal rips the earbuds from her ears and looks to Daniel.
"Hi Uncle Danny!"
"Wanna do some sparring?"
"Sure! But I'm waiting on my friend to call. I know you don't like phones in the dojo."
"I'll let it slide since you're the only one who actually wants to spar with me." Cal smiles nodding.
"Okay let me get dressed and I'll meet you down there." Daniel nods excitedly, letting her run up to her room to change.

Cal puts on some yoga pants and a sports bra, texting Robby that if she doesn't answer the door to come around back.

She runs down the steps and outside to the pool house turned dojo. Quickly shedding her shoes and falling in line with Daniel to start the kata.
"This friend you're talking about... the original one?" Daniel asks softly, watching her step in time with his movements.
"Yeah."
"Do we get to know this mysterious friend's name?"
"Uh..."

The reflection on the wall stops Daniel's pestering making them both turn around, "Hey. Robby."
"Did... did you sense that I was here?" Cal let's out a soft giggle, muffling it with her hand.
"Oh... uh reflection." Daniel explains, motioning behind them.
"Oh, yeah. Right." Robby chuckles. He's not a psychic, he's a sensei.

"Uh, here's the sales report you asked for."
"Sales report." The lilt in Daniel's voice isn't one Cal had hoped to hear, "Yeah, this is, um... yeah, this is good stuff. Very important." Daniel's eyes widen as he opens the envelope. Cal tries to lean over to see what's inside but he pulls it out of her sight in an attempt to shield her from the image.
"Did you... You didn't share this with anyone else, did you?"
"No, sir. Your eyes only." He's trying so hard. The mere fact that he really wants to do a good job makes Cal's heart swell with pride.

Daniel nods, "That's good. We wouldn't want this sensitive material to fall into the wrong hands now, would we?" Daniel flips the contents around allowing Robby to see the porn mag he had been carrying around and guarding with his life.
"Damn it Louie."
Daniel closes the envelope, putting it against Robby's chest, "That one's on you pal. Next time you outsmart the dope. Cal here can help you out. She's good at putting people in their place."
"Yeah. Fool me once right?" He chuckles.

"That uh karate you were doing... where's the punching?"
"Karate isn't just punching and kicking." Cal explains.
"She's right. It's actually more about balance."
"That didn't even really look like karate."
"Well, blueprints don't actually look like cars either, do they?"
"What do you mean?"
"That was kata. That's the foundation of my karate."
"It's cool."
"Maybe you could stick around? That'd be okay, right Uncle Dan?"
"Yeah, sure, you wanna learn a few things?"
"Sure." Robby smiles.
"All right." Daniel returns the smile, directing Robby and Cal back to the center.

"For now just follow us. We'll get more into the nitty gritty a bit later."

-

They spent a good few hours in the dojo, centering themselves and calming their minds.
"This is really good to do before you go to bed."
"It's like more manly yoga." Cal laughs, taking a sip of water.
"Cal, come on! Don't disrespect the kata!"
"That wasn't disrespect!"
"Hmmm I don't know Cal, kinda sounded like disrespect to me?"
Cal gapes at Robby, "You're supposed to be on my side!"
"Well he's my boss, so I kinda need to do what he says."
"And I'm your friend! You support your friends!"
"All right, all right. You two kids calm down. You're ruining my chi." Cal and Robby laugh, nodding as Daniel exits.

"They don't know about me do they?"
"No. They knew I had a first friend and lost them but I didn't bring you into it. Plus, that's in the past. We've learned from it. No need to resurface old wounds."
"Yeah... what about that scab on your wrist?" Robby questions, pointing out the three lines on the inside of Cal's wrist.
"Not important." Cal smiles, moving her arm so he can't see them.
"Cal... did I do that to you?"
"No! No! God no! I did it to myself."
"No, I know, but did I drive you to it?"
"No, Robby. And I'm okay. Look, it's done and over. It's not important."

"Flower, it's important to me. I don't want you to hurt yourself." Cal looks at him with a soft smirk, "Shit, right, don't call you flower."
"It's okay, guess you remembered that part of the conversation... I kinda missed it. Look, I don't want you worrying about me. I'm okay Robby. Promise."
"If you ever feel the need to do that again, you call me okay? I don't care what time it is, you call me until I pick up."
"Okay, I promise. I promise." Cal smiles, holding Robby's reddened cheek to stop him from getting too worked up.
"I don't want to see another mark on you."
"I bruise like a peach so that's not going to be possible but you won't see anymore self-inflicted wounds."
"I'll take what I can get." Robby smiles, still forehead to forehead with Cal.

"I missed you flower." He admits softly.
"I missed you too."
"Think I could sneak into your room for movie nights again?"
"I'd like that. Though with the way this is going you may not need to sneak in soon."