Chapter 46: PARENTAL GUIDANCE SUGGESTED
POV: Ivyn Mikaelson
[June 10, 2018 — LaRusso Residence — 9:00 AM]
The LaRusso backyard was immaculate. Manicured lawn, pristine pool, outdoor kitchen that cost more than my apartment's annual rent. A koi pond bubbled near the meditation garden that Daniel had installed after Mr. Miyagi's death.
I wore a hoodie with the hood up. Sunglasses despite the overcast sky. The swelling had gone down overnight, but the bruising had bloomed into spectacular purples and yellows.
Sam was already stretching when I slipped through the back gate. Her form had improved dramatically over the past week—she held positions that would have made her shake five days ago.
"You're late," she said without looking up. "That's not like you."
"Rough night."
She turned. Her eyes went wide.
"What are you WEARING? It's June in California."
"Fashion statement."
"Take off the hoodie."
"I'd rather not."
She stood, crossed the distance between us in three strides, and yanked my hood down before I could stop her. Then the sunglasses.
Her gasp echoed off the pool house.
"AGAIN?!"
"It looks worse than it feels."
"Your eye is purple! Your cheek is swollen! There's a cut above your—oh my god, Ivyn, what are you doing?"
"Training."
"This isn't training! This is getting beaten to death!"
The sliding glass door opened behind us.
"What's going on out here?"
Daniel LaRusso stepped onto the patio, coffee mug in hand, wearing weekend clothes that still probably cost more than my entire wardrobe. His expression shifted from curious to concerned to thunderous in the span of three seconds.
"Inside. Now. Both of you."
"Well. This is happening."
The kitchen was straight out of a magazine. Granite countertops, professional-grade appliances, a breakfast nook with fresh flowers. Amanda sat at the table, her own coffee steaming, eyes sharp as she took in the scene—her daughter in workout clothes, her daughter's boyfriend beaten to hell, and her husband looking like he was calculating distances to buried bodies.
"Sit," Daniel commanded.
We sat.
"Explain."
Sam started talking before I could. "It's not what it looks like—"
"It looks like your boyfriend has been fighting. Judging by his face, losing. And judging by the training equipment I saw through the window, teaching you to do the same."
"I asked him to teach me!"
"Why didn't you ask ME?"
The question hung in the air. Sam's jaw worked, searching for words that wouldn't make things worse. I watched her struggle.
"Because you would have said no."
Daniel's coffee mug hit the table harder than necessary. "I would have said yes! I've been offering to teach you for years!"
"Katas and forms, Dad. Basics. Nothing practical. Nothing that would actually help if someone attacked me."
"Miyagi-Do is completely practical—"
"Not the way you teach it!" Sam's voice rose. "You wrap everything in philosophy and patience and 'the best defense is not being there.' What happens when I CAN'T not be there? What happens when someone corners me and I need to fight back?"
Silence.
Amanda's hand found Daniel's arm. A quiet anchor in the storm.
"Ivyn." Daniel's voice had shifted. Colder. More controlled. "You've been teaching my daughter to fight. While getting beaten up yourself, apparently. Care to explain where these injuries came from?"
"Training."
"With whom?"
"Careful. Half-truths only. Nothing that can be verified and contradicted."
"An independent gym. Mixed martial arts focus. The guy who runs it is strict—believes in learning through contact."
"And you thought this qualified you to train my daughter?"
"I thought she deserved to learn how to protect herself. Whatever my qualifications."
Daniel stood abruptly, pacing to the window. His reflection stared back at him—a man confronting something he didn't want to face.
"Do you know what Cobra Kai did to me?" He didn't turn around. "What that dojo represents?"
"Yes, sir."
"No, you don't. You can't. You're a kid who sees a place to train, a philosophy to follow. You don't see Johnny Lawrence breaking my shoulder at the tournament. You don't see Kreese trying to kill me in a parking lot. You don't see thirty years of nightmares because a dojo taught teenagers that violence solves everything."
"I see all of it. Every episode. Every trauma. But I can't tell you that."
"I'm not Cobra Kai," I said quietly. "I train there because it's what I could afford. But what I'm teaching Sam isn't their philosophy. It's self-defense. Practical. Immediate. No 'strike first' or 'no mercy.' Just knowing how to end a threat if she can't escape it."
Daniel turned. His expression was unreadable.
"Show me."
"Sir?"
"Show me what you've been teaching her. Right now. In the backyard."
Amanda started to speak, but Daniel raised a hand.
"I need to see it, Amanda. I need to know what my daughter's been learning."
The backyard felt different with Daniel watching. The training pads I'd brought sat on the grass like evidence at a crime scene. Sam took her position across from me, uncertainty flickering behind her confidence.
"Standard drill," I told her quietly. "Combination one."
She nodded. Set her stance.
I raised the pads.
Sam's jab snapped out crisp and clean. Her cross followed with proper hip rotation. Her hook came around with decent power if imperfect form. The front kick pushed me back two steps.
"Again," Daniel said from behind us. "Faster."
She repeated the combination. Faster, as commanded. The impacts rang out across the manicured lawn.
"Now defend."
I threw a slow punch. Sam slipped outside, redirecting my arm past her shoulder—a Miyagi-Do block I hadn't taught her. She'd been practicing on her own. Watching her father's old tournament footage, maybe.
"That's not Cobra Kai," Daniel said. "That's—"
"That's synthesis." I lowered the pads. "Your defense. Their offense. The best of both."
Daniel was quiet for a long moment. He crossed the lawn, stopping in front of Sam.
"You really want this? Not because of him—because of you?"
"I'm tired of being helpless, Dad. I'm tired of you protecting me from everything because you're scared of what might happen. I want to be able to protect myself."
"Even if it means becoming something you might not like?"
"Even then."
Amanda had joined them, standing slightly apart. Her eyes moved between father and daughter, reading currents I couldn't see.
"Daniel," she said gently. "She's not wrong."
"I know she's not." Daniel's shoulders dropped. The fight left him visibly, replaced by something heavier. "Fine. But I teach her too. Properly. Miyagi-Do, not whatever street fighting this one's been picking up."
"Perfect!" I grinned through my swollen face. "Different perspectives! She'll be twice as well-rounded!"
Everyone stared at me.
"What? This is good news."
Sam burst out laughing. The tension broke like a fever, draining away into the morning sunlight.
[RELATIONSHIP UPDATE: Daniel LaRusso]
[Status: Suspicious → Cautiously Accepting]
[Trust: +10]
[Note: Will investigate Ivyn's background]
Amanda appeared at my elbow while Daniel led Sam through a basic kata. She pressed an ice pack into my hands.
"You really care about her," she said quietly. "Don't you?"
"Enough to get punched repeatedly."
"That's either romantic or stupid."
"Both?"
Her almost-smile was a victory I hadn't expected to earn. "Keep her safe. And maybe get punched a little less."
"I'll work on the second one."
[RELATIONSHIP UPDATE: Amanda LaRusso]
[Status: Concerned → Cautiously Approving]
[Trust: +15]
The backyard session continued for another hour. Daniel's teaching style was everything Cobra Kai wasn't—patient, philosophical, focused on balance and breath. I watched from the sidelines, ice pack pressed to my face, cataloguing every technique.
"Miyagi-Do defense with Cobra Kai offense. That's always been the winning combination. Now I get to see both sides up close."
[OBSERVATION BONUS: +25 XP]
[Skill: Miyagi-Do Basics — 25/100]
Daniel finished the kata, bowed to Sam, and turned to face me.
"Your turn."
"Sir?"
"Show me what you've been teaching her. All of it. I want to see exactly what kind of fighter my daughter's boyfriend is."
The command wasn't a request. Daniel LaRusso, three-time All Valley champion, Miyagi-Do master, wanted to see what I was made of.
I set down the ice pack.
The demonstration started simple. Jabs and crosses, the bread and butter of striking. Daniel watched without expression, reading my form like a book.
Then muscle memory took over.
I flowed into a combination I'd been drilling for weeks—a three-punch setup into a leg sweep, the signature Cobra Kai takedown that Johnny had perfected in his tournament days. The motion was smooth, automatic, betraying hours of practice I shouldn't have had.
Daniel's eyes narrowed.
"That's not basic self-defense. That's a tournament technique."
"Shit."
"Where did you learn that?"
I caught myself mid-motion. The sweep had given me away. Nobody learned that accidentally.
"I've been training seriously for almost a year," I said carefully. "You pick things up."
"You don't pick THAT up. That's a specific technique. I've seen Johnny Lawrence use it a hundred times."
"Maybe I saw a video."
"Videos don't teach muscle memory like that."
The backyard suddenly felt very small. Daniel stood three feet away, and I could see him making connections I didn't want him to make.
"He's going to investigate me. Really investigate. And he'll find the gaps—the missing history, the convenient amnesia about my past, the skills that don't match my story."
"I train hard," I said. "Harder than most. When I see something useful, I practice it until it's automatic."
Daniel's expression remained unreadable. "We'll see."
He walked back to where Amanda and Sam waited on the patio.
"Same time next week," he called over his shoulder. "I'll be watching."
A test. Beginning now.
The scrutiny was supposed to be temporary—a protective father making sure his daughter's boyfriend wasn't a complete disaster. But I'd shown too much. Revealed skills that didn't match my cover story.
Daniel LaRusso was going to dig into Ivyn Mikaelson's past.
And he was going to find a lot of empty spaces where a person should be.
[WARNING: Suspicion Level Elevated]
[Daniel LaRusso — Investigation Likely]
[Recommendation: Prepare contingencies]
Sam caught my eye as I gathered my training equipment. Her smile was bright, uncomplicated by the undercurrents I'd felt from her father.
"That went better than expected," she whispered.
"Your dad's going to background check me."
"He already has. Found nothing interesting."
"Because there's nothing TO find. Which is exactly what will make him more suspicious."
"We should talk about that sometime."
"About what?"
"About what happens when people look too closely at me and don't find answers."
Her smile flickered but held. "You can tell me. Whatever it is."
"I really can't. But I appreciate the thought."
I kissed her forehead and headed for the gate.
"Tomorrow," Daniel called after me. "My turn to teach. You're welcome to observe."
"I'll be there."
The pieces were moving faster now. Tory integrated into Cobra Kai. The underground fight scene expanding. Sam training with both philosophies. Daniel watching me with eyes that saw too much.
The summer had only just begun, and already the walls between my worlds were thinning.
"Survive the scrutiny. Keep the secrets. Protect everyone from what's coming."
"Business as usual."
To supporting Me in Pateron .
Love [ Cobra Kai: Leveling Up ]? Unlock More Chapters and Support the Story!
with exclusive access to 20+ and more chapters on my Patreon, you get more chapters if you ask for more (in few days), plus new fanfic every week! Your support starting at just $6/month helps me keep crafting the stories you love across epic universes like [ In The Witcher With Avatar Powers,In The Vikings With Deja Vu System,Stranger Things Demogorgon Tamer ...].
By joining, you're not just getting more chapters—you're helping me bring new worlds, twists, and adventures to life. Every pledge makes a huge difference!
👉 Join now at patreon.com/TheFinex5 and start reading today!