choices //

chapter two

"What?" The person at the door questioned.

Daniel blinked, and the vision of Ali went away. It was just a random customer.
"Oh, um, I'm sorry,"
He muttered and looked down, returning to work at the counter.

Mr Miyagi walked by Daniel, giving him a confused look as he headed toward the customer to help them. Daniel saw the two of them looking at bonsai trees and stuff, but he started to think.
Why did he see Ali? Why did he keep her picture?

He didn't know what was going on. Daniel knew he was with Jessica. Daniel loves Jessica. Right? That's what he had been telling himself. He just couldn't get Ali out of his head, and he really wanted to know why.

That night, Daniel was in bed, trying to sleep. He needed a rest from the long day. He needed to give his brain a rest, thoughts were swarming it. Finally he got to sleep, but it didn't go well.

"Hi," Ali smiled as she came out of her pretty grand looking house.
"Hi, How you doing?" Daniel asked, smiling. He was a little taken aback by Ali, she looked truly beautiful that night, more than she usually did.
"Good," Ali closed the door behind her. The smile stuck to both of their faces.
"...You look nice." Daniel nodded, not being able to take his eyes off of her.
Ali laughed lightly, "thank you."
"You got company-"
Daniel looked over at a car sitting outside the house. Ali laughed again, "oh, those are my parents. Come on. Come on, I want you to meet 'em."
Ali grabbed Daniel's arm and pulled him along.
"...Oh, great.." Daniel forced a smile as he followed Ali.

He awoke, sitting up in bed quickly.
"What the hell," Daniel rubbed his face, sighing.
"Stop thinking about it,"
He told himself, throwing his pillow at the wall. The pillow caused a frame to come crashing down.
Daniel jumped, looking around.
"Dammit. Of course. Perfect."
He muttered.

Daniel heard a noise by the door. It opened, and Mr Miyagi walked in. He didn't even look tired or anything. Almost like he wasn't ready for bed, although it was late.

"Oh, hey, Mr Miyagi," Daniel looked over at him.
Mr Miyagi smiled, "you broke frame?"
Daniel shrugged, "yeah. It was a mistake, you know, it slipped out of my hand, I don't know-"
"What is on your mind, Daniel-San?" Mr Miyagi asked, looking amused. Like always.
Daniel went quiet, as if he was thinking of what to say. He just broke the silence with a quick, "what?"
Mr Miyagi chuckled and turned, slowly leaving the room, closing the door behind him.

The next morning, Daniel and Jessica went out for some breakfast. They sat in a booth.
Daniel played with his food, and he barely looked at Jessica. He mostly trailed his fork along the plate, his head in his hand.
It was enough to make Jessica break the silence.
"Daniel, what is wrong with you?" She asked, sounding a little annoyed.
Daniel blinked and looked up at her quickly, "what? What? Nothing. I'm fine. Just tired. Didn't get much sleep."
Jessica rolled her eyes slightly, "why not? Daniel, that is a lousy excuse. You're my boyfriend. I stayed here, for you, I didn't move back to Ohio - all for you. And this is what I get? We are supposed to tell each other everything. Do you not trust me enough to help you?"
Daniel stared at her. Great. You know, he really didn't need an argument with Jessica on top of his whole problem.
"Jessica, come on, you don't even know what this is about, so relax."
Jessica glared and stood up, turning to leave, but Daniel stood and grabbed her wrist, pulling her extremely close to him.
"Come on. Stay." Daniel whispered.
Jessica's expression softened. She stayed still and quiet for a few moments, and then she nudged him, pulling away with a small smile, "fine. Whatever."
She took a seat again.
Daniel sighed in relief to himself, taking a seat again as well.

Daniel walked Jessica home that night.
He stopped at the door, pulling her in for a kiss.
"Goodnight, Jessica. I had a lot of fun today. Really. I did." Daniel smiled.
Jessica kissed him back, pulling away after. "I hope you did."
She whispered, looking a little sad. Jessica turned and walked inside, leaving a bewildered Daniel outside.
"I hope you did?" Daniel repeated to himself, confused by what she meant. He just turned and left, walking off down the street. Daniel walked right past the store, deciding to go for a walk. To get some air.
That's what he needed. To breathe.

Maybe that was not the best idea. Especially for someone with the life of Daniel LaRusso.

He stopped in his tracks when he thought he heard footsteps. Something behind him, he didn't really know. Daniel assumed it was just an animal though. A big animal.. but an animal.
So, he continued his stroll.
Daniel jumped when he heard a garbage can fall over. He looked over at it, seeing it just laying there. Still, no one in sight. ...Maybe the animal was just hungry, and was looking in the garbage for food?
All he knew was that he had to hurry, or else the animal would probably eat him.

Daniel knew it wasn't an animal when he felt breathing on the back of his neck, and a strong hand grab his shoulder.
Daniel immediately turned around and blocked a punch that was coming straight at his face. "Oh shit." A look of shock came over Daniel's face when he saw who it was. He grabbed the stranger's arm and twisted it behind the man's back, kicking him in the stomach.
The man fell back, in pain, but was getting back up. Daniel turned and ran off as fast as he could. He had to let Mr Miyagi know, and he had to get out of here before he got killed.

Daniel ran in to the shop, closing the door behind him quickly. Mr Miyagi looked up from the counter, confused. "Daniel-San? Something wrong?"
The shop was closed, so Daniel could freak out as much as he wanted to.
"It was-"
Daniel had to catch his breath first.
Mr Miyagi walked over to him, "who? What happened?"
Daniel looked over at him.
"It was Kreese."

Daniel and Mr Miyagi went back to the house. Maybe not the best idea, because Kreese knows where Mr Miyagi lives - but Mr Miyagi had a feeling that John Kreese was only trying to threaten them to begin with. He wouldn't do anything yet.
Daniel was sitting on his bed, while Mr Miyagi stood calmly.
"What do we do?! Why does he keep coming back?!" Daniel looked up at Mr Miyagi.
"You beat Mike Barnes. You took business." Mr Miyagi stated.
"Well I wasn't going to try and lose. Mike would have killed me out there, you know that. I'm the Champion, that's my title, he needs to suck it up and deal with it." Daniel crossed his arms.
Mr Miyagi laughed, shaking his head. He always made light of situations like this.
"Mr Miyagi, it isn't funny. If he hasn't killed me before, he sure will now."

Jessica was up in her room, getting ready for bed. She went to turn the light off, but her eyes caught sight of a familiar face out the window. A blonde. A girl. Walking down the street.
Jessica looked a little closer.
She looked just like.. the girl from the picture in Daniel's wallet.