Chapter 9: Respectfully

Kai

Waking up felt like coming out of a bitch of a hang over. Her side was blistering with heat, every move felt like jolts of electricity going through her whole body because she had been holding the one position for too long and the over arching urge to itch the stitches was going to drive her crazy. Groaning loudly, kai started to pull herself into an upright position on the couch, feeling like a baby learning to do things for the first time again.

“How was your nap,” Sara appeared out of the kitchen, handing over a plate with a club sandwich on it and placing a bottle of water and more pain medicine on the table. Kai didn’t even bother with the sandwich but reached straight for the pain meds, taking both an Advil and Panadol, ripping the cap off the water bottle and chugging it down.

“What time is it?” She asked trying not to choke on the water in her haste, before wiping her mouth with the back of her hand before digging into the sandwich Sara brought.

“4:38 you have loads of time before class,” Sara sat on the couch with her, tucking into her own sandwich.

“Good because I want to be there by 530 because I need to have a conversation with Marty about what happened last week,” she took another bite of her sandwich savoring it while ignoring the look from Sara. She knew it would be a fight to even go to karate tonight, to go early was pushing it, but she needed to get the record straight for Damian’s parole hearing that was coming up.

“Remember when we talked about not being a brat and taking it easy,” Sara grumbled putting her hand on Kai’s arm and waiting until she made eye contact, “This is the opposite of that, you know that right.”

“I need to talk to Marty about what happened that night,” Kai knew that Damian was going to be blamed for associating with old circles but how did he end up in that situation in the first place, that’s the part of the story that hadn’t been talked about yet. Shaking her head to pull her out of her thoughts, looking threw her lashes at Sara, “I need to get Damian’s side of the story. He has come a long way in the program and I don’t want to see it all thrown away on something that was a mistake or completely out of his control.”

“Ugh… using “for the good of the kids” thinking,” Sara whines slumping back against the couch, throwing her hands up in the air, “Fine. I can’t win against that one. We will leave at 5.”

They finished their sandwiches in silence, Kai grinning smugly from ear to ear, it’s not every day you can win one over on Sara, she had 13 years on her but when it comes to kids she will crumble every time.

The scent of tatami mats and faint traces of sweat greeted Kai as she stepped through the doors of her Karate Dojo for the first time in ten days. It had been too long—her muscles ached to move, to flow through the katas she had drilled into her body for years.

But she wasn’t here for training. Not tonight. If she did anything tonight it would be only teaching, if Marty allowed it. There weren’t many people that Kai was afraid of, but when Marty was pissed about something, you felt it like a crushing weight that would have you agreeing to anything.

Marty, her head sensei, stood near the main training area, arms crossed over his broad chest. The hard set of his jaw made it clear he had been waiting for her. Next to him stood Scotty, who was shaking his head slowly as he watched Kai hobble across the matts, supported with the cane.

“Well, well, well…” Marty drawled, shaking his head. “Look what the damn cat dragged in.”

Kai arched a brow. “You do realize that it wasn’t by design right?” She flapped her hand at her ever present shadow, Sara, “I didn’t get out of hospital until yesterday and only after she came to pick me up. I had to fight her to go to work this morning. Oh and to even be allowed to come tonight.”

“Allowed?” Marty raised both his eyebrows, shocked, Scotty chocked out a laugh passing it off as something stuck in his throat, “What do you mean allowed? Since when did you ask for permission to do anything?”

“Doctors had to argue with her the entire time she was in hospital to sit still and heal,” Sara stood next to Kai, giving her best ‘you are in so much trouble’ look she could muster, “I knew she was going to be impossible when she got out, so i told her i would call in one of our friends if she didn’t behave.”

“Who has the will to make you do anything?” Scotty was fighting laughter now.

“Preston,” Kai rolled her eyes, exacerbated, and then stared at Scotty, who stopped laughing and just stared open mouthed at her, “Im the best fighter here but Preston can be really pushy and over-bearing sometimes.”

Marty snorted. “Best fighter or not, someone had to cover your classes. Someone had to deal with all the brown belts who think they can suddenly run a dojo because Sensei Kai is out.” He narrowed his gaze. “How bad is it?”

“You know, you are the second person today to use that exact tone with that exact phrase,” Kai tilted her head, undoing the ties of her gi jacket and letting the left side fall open revealing the thick bandages still covering the worst of her knife wound. Marty’s mock annoyance evaporated. He exhaled sharply, his posture shifting from sensei to something softer—almost fatherly.

“You’re lucky to be standing, kid.”

Kai shrugged. “Luck had nothing to do with it.”

Marty didn’t press. They both knew she wouldn’t tell him everything. But his silence was heavy with unspoken relief. Marty rubbed a hand over his face before leaning against the edge of the instructor’s desk. “Alright, since you’re here—and miraculously still breathing—there’s something you need to know.”

Kai crossed her arms. “Damian?”

Marty nodded. “He told me everything.” His voice was gravelly, laced with something close to resentment—but not toward Damian. “Those old ‘friends’ of his set up a trap, figured they could use him to hook them up with drugs or money. When he refused, they dragged him back to their leader’s apartment, threatened him with some old debt.”

Kai’s jaw tightened.

Marty watched her, reading the tension in her stance. “That’s when he called you.”

Kai swallowed. “Yeah. And we both know how that ended.”

Marty exhaled. “I already spoke to his parole officer. Damian did everything right—he didn’t fight back, he called his emergency contact. There will be repercussions, but he’s not going back inside.”

Kai let out a slow breath. That was the only answer she had been hoping for.

Marty gave her a long look. “You didn’t just save his ass that night, Kai. You probably saved his life.”

Before she could respond, the dojo doors swung open. Kai’s gaze snapped toward the entrance, and everything around her shifted. The dojo—the smell of sweat and mats, the sound of her own pulse in her ears—all faded as he walked in. Kai was acutely aware that she hadn’t done up her jacket again and scrambled to get the tie done and her belt on. She swore she saw this man’s eyes sweep down to the bandages and back up in a second.

How was he so impossible not to ignore.

Her breath caught like a punch to the ribs. Not because of the pain, though it flared sharp beneath her bandages, but because something about him, the man who had just walked through the doors, set off every curiosity inside her all at once. He looked like danger made flesh, and yet, there was no fear, only awareness. A primal, involuntary recognition that went deeper than sight or sound. Like her bones remembered him from a life she'd never lived. Her pulse stuttered and surged, the dojo tilting on its axis. No one had ever walked in here and tilted the balance of her world before, not like this.

It wasn’t just that he was tall, or broad, or the compression shirt so tight it showed every line of his steel like muscles, like it was a second skin. It was something else, something deeper. Like the echo of a dream she couldn’t quite name. His presence scraped against a buried memory. The scent of leather. The press of arms lifting her out of hell. A voice like velvet over steel, whispering that she was safe now.It made no sense. And yet her pulse refused to settle.

The man in front of her was a stranger. And somehow, he wasn’t. He moved with a lethal kind of grace, an awareness of his own power that most men never mastered. Tall—easily over six foot two—his frame was a balance of broad-shouldered strength and precision.

His black hair, thick and slightly tousled, caught the light at just the right angle, revealing a deep blue hue hidden beneath the darkness—subtle, but striking.

And then there were his eyes. Hazel, but not just any hazel. Golden flecks shimmered in the irises, catching the overhead lights, making them look almost predatory. She knew those eyes from somewhere but where?

Power radiated from him—not just in the way he held himself, but in the sheer presence he carried. It was in the way his two bodyguards flanked him, because lets be honest, there is no way they weren’t even if they were dressed for class. They moved like shadows, perfectly attuned to their leader’s movements.

He was a man who commanded it. A man who didn’t ask for attention—he took it. And somehow, despite everything, Kai met his gaze head-on. For a beat, they just stared at each other. Then, a slow, almost amused smirk tugged at the corner of his lips. Something deep in Kai’s stomach tightened.

Marty cleared his throat, breaking the tension.

“James.” He nodded toward the newcomer. “Didn’t think I’d see you here. Mario said that you might be transferring but he didn’t know when because of your schedule.”

James’s voice was smooth, deep, threaded with authority. “I go where the best fighters are.” He strode over to where Marty, Scotty and Kai stood dropping his gear bag and shaking Marty’s hand, “Mario has been talking up your training regime for awhile and i had to come see what it was all about.”

“Well i can’t take all the credit,” Marty took the hand James just shook and placed it on Kai’s shoulder, “The drive and innovation all come from her. Sensei Kai may i introduce James Pratt.”

James bowed respectfully to Kai, that damn smirk still on his face. His gaze never left hers. Kai returned the bow, be it slightly awkward due to the cane.

“Honored to meet you Sensei Kai,” as James straightened from his bow, he extended his hand and shaking Kai’s firmly, “I look forward to seeing your fighters in action.”

“Don’t sound so excited. I have created some monsters recently and they have been looking for a challenge,” Kai scoffed pulling her hand back, holding eye contact for a moment before being uncomfortable under his gaze. Turning and hobbling away to the front of the mats to get ready, she couldn’t settle the chaos in her stomach which was making it flip

And even though she talked a big game in front of Marty and this James, she was shaking on the inside. Because for the first time in a very long time, Kai felt like prey.