Strike Hard: Miguel Diaz x Female!Reader

Chapter 3- The reason

A/N TW// mentions of bullying and abuse
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Y/N and Miguel both felt extremely guilty for the man being arrested. After the fight, Y/N and Miguel went back to Miguel's where his mother freaked out. After Y/N calmly explained what had happened, she had calmed down and cleaned their bruises.

The next day, Y/N and Miguel were sitting outside of their apartments when the sound of a car pulling up caught their attention. They looked up to see the red car that belonged to the blonde man being parked and him getting out. Miguel walked over to the driver's side and stood awkwardly near the door. "Hey, I just wanted to say thank you," Miguel said. "All right, well, you said it." The man replied, walking away.

Miguel, of course, followed meaning Y/N was following too. "So, last night, was that like, Tae Kwon Do or jujitsu or MMA or something?" Miguel asked. Y/N, noticing the annoyed expression on the man's face, answered for him. "It was karate, Miguel."

The man looked at the girl and nodded. "Old school." He added, rubbing the back of his neck. "Do you think you could teach me?" Miguel asked. The man stopped in his tracks. "What? No." He answered. "But come on-" "Forget it. I don't do karate anymore, all right? Besides, I need to find a job."

"If I may, perhaps you could open your own dojo," Y/N suggested. The man shot her a glare. "Yeah, you could open your own dojo," Miguel repeated. "Look, I'm not getting into this with you. I'm not even sure I'm allowed to be around kids right now." He stated before walking off angrily, leaving Miguel watching after him sadly. "Come on, Miguel let's go watch a movie," Y/N said, grabbing his arm and dragging him to his apartment.
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Y/N and Miguel were throwing out some recycling when they both felt a hand on their shoulders. They spun around to see the blonde man staring at them with a grin. "Are you sure you're ready? Cause once you go down this path, there's no turning back." He said, his eyes mainly on Miguel. "You're gonna be my karate teacher?" Miguel asked. "No. I'm gonna be your sensei." He replied. Miguel nodded with a grin. The man then turned to Y/N. "And you, you already have the skill. You just need a teacher. Are you in?" He asked. Y/N wanted to say no, she didn't like fighting and she only knew how to fight because it was the only way she could protect herself.

She looked over to Miguel to see him silently begging her to say yes. She'd do it, but only for Miguel. "I'm in." She replied. "I'm gonna teach you both the style of karate that was taught to me, a method of fighting your pussy generation desperately needs. I'm not just gonna teach you how to conquer your fears. I'm gonna teach you how to awaken the snake within you. And once you do that, you'll be the one who's feared. You'll build strength. You'll learn discipline. And when the time is right, you'll strike back."
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Y/N was standing in the empty building, helping the man, whom she came to know as Johnny Lawerence, set up the dojo. She had tried to get Miguel to help but he had errands to run so he couldn't.

Y/N picked up a box that held trophies and pulled them out. "You were a champion?" Y/N asked, examining the one she held in her hand. Johnny walked over and looked at the box. "Yeah, I was." He replied gloomily. Y/N, recognizing the tone of sadness and hurt, decided not to push the subject. She picked up the box and started placing the trophies on a shelf while Johnny finished painting the wall. When she got to the bottom of the box, she found a small piece of faded black cloth.

"What's this?" Y/N asked, picking up the black band to show Johnny. "I used to wear this every time I did karate. I haven't seen this in years." He stated, examining it. Y/N smiled as he took it and tied it around his forehead. "Looks good." She stated, causing him to smile.

"Anything else you need me to do?" She asked, taking a seat on the mat. Johnny sat down next to her. "Yeah, I need you to tell me where you learned to do karate like that." He replied. Y/N hung her head. She knew this question would come up eventually. Well, she thought, if someone was going to know I'm glad it's him. Y/N took a deep breath and cleared her throat.

"When I was younger, my parents were involved in sketchy things, to be honest, they probably still are. We were always moving around and we never stayed in the same place for more than a year. Anyways, sometimes they'd get arrested, leaving me to either fend for myself or I'd end up in a foster home until they were released. I was a small kid, short and skinny, making me an easy target for other kids at the foster homes and school. One day I was fed up getting pushed around and beat so I attended a free karate class being held at a rec center. The sensei saw potential in me and was aware of my situation, so he would train me privately. I actually got pretty far until my parents got out and realized what I was doing. They took me out of the class and we moved again. Now that I knew how to defend myself, sometimes my parents would attack me to see if I could defend myself from them. The kids at school I could handle, but my parents were a different story. They knew I would never pick a fight or hit them so they would keep going at me, knowing I wouldn't do anything in defense. That's why I was hesitant to join. I only learned karate to defend myself, never to hurt someone intentionally. I'm doing this for Miguel mostly, but also I can see that you're going to be a good teacher, and I wouldn't mind learning some new things."

Johnny looked at Y/N shocked. He didn't think that she went through all that, let alone tell him about it. Y/N herself was shocked. She thought she was just going to tell him about the bullying problems, not her whole story. Johnny hesitantly, put a comforting hand on her shoulder and offered her a comforting smile. Y/N gave him a weak one back as she fiddled with a string on her shirt. At that moment, Johnny realized that he was going to help Y/N (and Miguel) and he was going to protect her.
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A/N Ok so I kind of don't like the way I wrote Johnny towards the end. I want to make it where he's like a father figure to Y/N but I feel like I wrote him a little uncharacteristically. Also, this chapter was more or less a setup of Y/N's relationship with Johnny and gives her backstory. I'm really about to get the story going in the next chapters. This is a slow burn though so don't expect Miguel and Y/N to date right away.