little bird // r.keene

xii. highs and lows.

"You wished to speak to me, Sensei?" Wren asked, standing by the door as Kreese followed her into the office, he trailed behind the desk, plucking a cigar from his jacket pocket and a lighter.

"Please, take a seat, Evans." Wren did as she was told. "I just wanted to make sure you were alright." Kreese told her, lighting his cigar before dropping the lighter on the table between them, "I understand you weren't aware about the performance last night." He added and Wren knew he was baiting her. It sure felt like there was a piece of information she had that he wanted but he was too afraid to go and ask it bluntly.

"Why wasn't I told?" Was her reply, cold and plain.
"We came to the conclusion, given your friendship with Robby Keene, you may have tried to prevent our little show." Kreese explained in a slow, condescending manner that pissed Wren off.

"Did Hawk tell you that?" Kreese nodded and Wren took a deep breath, "You're right. I would have tried to stop it." She told him, placing her hands on the arms of her chair. "But still, I didn't hit Hawk because of that..."
"Oh I know, I heard about him taunting you about having a friend in the juvenile detention centre... He started the fight, you just made it a physical one, he said he was ready and he lost, you won fairly." Kreese explained, again, in a tone that set Wren's teeth on edge but she didn't object. "There was no dishonour in the terms, you were defending your friend."

"That's not it either..." Wren told Kreese, who took a long drag before leaning forward in his chair.
"What was it?"

"None of you told me. Do you have any idea how that feels, Sensei? I am a part of this team and yet none of you treat me like I am." She leaned back in her chair, running a hand through her hair to get it out of her face as she threw around a thought in her mind. Dwelling on whether to tell Kreese at all but she had to tell someone. "Both Sam and Daniel LaRusso have tried to convince me to join Miyagi-Do." Wren watched as Kreese's lips quirked up at the corner as he, too, leaned back in his chair. "You don't seem surprised." Wren commented.

"I'm not. You're the champion... It's common knowledge new students join dojo's because of the success of that dojo. If you were to join him, he's bound to get more business." Wren didn't reply. Sam had told her this. New kids would follow her because she was the champion, because they wanted to be like her.

"Most things feel out of place these day, especially me. How am I supposed to lead these kids if I can't even get them to like me? They're terrified of me, Sensei." Wren confessed with a sigh, looking to Kreese for some sort of advice, anything.

"If you don't terrify people a little bit then what's the point? Otherwise they will never take you seriously. Take a look at last night, they didn't tell you because they thought you were soft." He paused, "Prove them wrong."

"And if they hate me for it?" She countered and Kreese gave her a small, knowing smile.

"Do not water yourself down to make yourself more digestible for them. If they can't handle the standards here...If they bite off more than they can chew, that's not on you... Let them choke." He said in a low voice which oddly soothed Wren. He was right, wasn't he? Why should she change in order to fit in when Kreese was encouraging her to remain as she was.

"You're speaking from experience?" She asked him, in a playful manner, a small ghost of a smile echoing on her face.

"You remind me of myself, Wren. You try to show people the right way, it's not your fault they like having their blindfolds on. People like you and me..." he paused, as if trying to conjure a sentence that did what he was trying to say justice. "We are lonely really but we have the secret satisfaction of being different, of rebelling, of desiring the unusual. We shouldn't apologise for that."