Description: Takuma Sakazaki does not want his daughter going out and getting herself roughed up in the King of Fighters tournament. A few days later while the two are stretching in the dojo before heading out and getting to the more intense exercises, the two have a chat about life disappointments. One of them makes a bold decision.
It's been several days since the big outburst in the Kyokugen Dojo. Several days since Rust visited Takuma Sakazaki and his daughter Yuri at their home, and explained what had happened with the King of Fighters tournament. Which, sad to say, resulted in Takuma throwing a massive temper tantrum and wrecking the kitchen while taking on his daughter in a fight that, in Yuri's opinion, should never have happened. Despite Takuma's insistence that Yuri is going nowhere, and claiming that she's a big baby, Yuri refuses to have any of that. In fact, most would think that Takuma is the one being an even bigger baby. (Just don't say that to him or he'll throw a tantrum and kick your ass!)
For now, sitting in the center of the dojo, Yuri practices her stretching exercises, trying to loosen up before a practice session and release some of the stress that her father has placed on her unnecessarily. She focuses on her exercises for now, ignoring the others around her as they do their own thing.
Mr. Rust didn't really want to get in the middle of that domestic argument right there, even if a part of him was hoping to be able to have another person on board for the upcoming King of Fighters. It is how it is, unfortunately, but nonetheless, there's still a tournament to look up towards.
With the toolshed done, the teacher's gone inside the dojo proper for further training, having already plunked down the cash for another month's worth of training as it is anyway. The span of time since the argument has gone by relatively peacefully, if one considers bone-crunching strikes, ground-breaking slams, and wall-blasting Haoh Sho Ko Kens to be the norm. Kyokugen is a harsh school.
So far, he's endured. Even with little incidents like Marco accidentally breaking his wrecking ball off its chain and having it whack the older man in the shin and other such nonsense, he's endured it all. Quietly, he's doing some stretches too. A couple palming strikes, a few kicks, mostly to warm up. In some cases, the cracking of his joints substitutes the use of a kiai rather well, kind of morbid as it seems.
He's still fairly stiff, which shows in his stance. They're still trying to get him to move a bit more, trying to get him to hop on his feet a bit maybe and not just stand there like a statue.
Still sitting on the ground, Yuri continues to stretch out while counting out loud as she holds each stretching position. She seems more intent on practicing by herself rather than seeing what other people are up to. However, that changes when she sees Rust enter and her demeanor immediately changes. She stands up and looks over at Rust, smiling widely at him. "Hey, nice to see you again." She walks over to Rust and says, "I'm sorry about the other day. My dad just seems to be quite a big baby honestly." She folds her arms and shakes her head.
"Hey," he greets somewhat blankly as he focuses a hand back. Maybe he'll get it right today and that junior instructor will get off his ass about it. Maybe he's just not the sort of man who can summon lights and colors like that, that's just how it is. It doesn't stop him from feeling the air compress around his palm - a bit numbly - when he thrusts it forward silently, practicing the form more than the full execution of it.
"I don't think your dad's," he clears his throat once, "doin' it for being a baby," he continues as he draws his arm back. "He's... he's got a point 'bout fighting. I couldn't... couldn't begin to tell ya how many times I... broke somethin', bled internally... fell a few stories... taking meds for infections..."
"True, but he's also being a hypocrite about it too!" Yuri says, folding her arms even more and closing her eyes. "He's caused so many problems outside of fights that it's not even funny. He thinks he's a perfect person and knows everything there is about fighting." She turns away and takes a few steps forward. "Honestly, he can do whatever he wants to and say whatever he wants, but it doesn't change the fact that he doesn't know as much as he claims." When she finishes, Yuri turns to face Rust again, and this time she smiles. "At least you, on the other hand, are willing to own up to your past."
She watches as he keeps practicing. "And I'm really pleased that you're not letting your body stop you from training, no matter how hard it might seem." She giggles a little. "In fact, even if you're not as phyiscally fit as my dad, you've still got a great spirit."
Where Yuri pouts and yells, the teacher's trying to keep his focus up to make the most of his training time here. King of Fighters is soon - if anything, the way Takuma said Yuri's a beginner despite her clearly trouncing him twice is a very strong sign of what sorts of competition he's up against.
That, and that little chance encounter with Kyo Kusanagi. It has proven very enlightening. Frustrating, in some ways, given he's not getting any younger and this could very well be his last chance, ever, at fighting superstardom. But enlightening.
He steps forward to flex out one of his legs a bit, practicing a few low kicks in somewhat slower motion, before raising them up a little higher than what he's used to. The wince is really telling, and times itself well with Yuri mentioning not being quite as physically fit as he lowers that leg and reaches down to massage it a bit.
"Been waitin' for this almost... almost all my life, I gotta tell you." He's not sure if Yuri could truly understand what he meant by that, considering she is still very young! Him, he's lived entirely through considerable disappointments through his young adult life. Doing so much, going the extra distance, all of that more or less for naught in so far as becoming a professional fighter.
"Though, uh... while I'm thinkin' 'bout it, I wanna ask," he says as he turns his head towards Yuri, "how've you been doin' in school? I mean, high school."
"School?" Yuri asks. "Actually, it's been alright. I'm not a straight-A student or anything, but I'm not doing bad either." Yuri's expression is serious but not to the tone of, 'There's no need to ask me that, you know!' Although a slight hint of her airheadedness can be sensed slightly. "It's not like the classes are as tough as my dad is." She rolls her neck around idly, before adding, "Although I do kinda wish the coach who helped run the softball team would come back from being on leave soon." She smiles at that last part. "Oh, I didn't tell you. I love playing softball, although I don't really have much of a team outside of school right now."
"Softball, huh? Back in, in high school," he says as he straightens himself out and stands tall again, flexing out the leg to work out the cramp, "played some baseball... I was the, the catcher." He nods his head. "but, but I got suspended for gettin' in a fight and got kicked off the team. But, uh... truth be told, don't think I would've been, would've been lookin' for a career in pro baseball."
He strikes a leg out ahead of him, attempting another higher angle kick, something that goes higher than just 'straight ahead.' It doesn't take very well. Maybe he should've stayed in some of Nataya's adult yoga classes, or at least took up the intermediate level.
"I mean... don't take what I'm sayin' wrong, but, but was there any field you were looking to go in, like... uh, business, sciences?"
"No... not really," Yuri replies, looking away a little. "I'm mostly all about the Kyokugen style of martial arts. I haven't really thought much about my future." She sighs, sitting down on the ground cross-legged. "I mean, some people have dreams and aspirations, but I just wanna be a better fighter in Kyokugen and show that I'm tougher than I look!"
The older guy nods at mention of this. She's dedicated, she really wants to do the school proud despite everything. Pride in her family's way of life... that's got to be a powerful thing. It makes him wonder what life would've been like if he went with his mother instead when his parents separated.
"I'm sure you'll do your dad proud," he says, knowing full well his opinion on the matter from that argument they had in the household, "I mean... this isn't easy for me to say, but, I was really, really hopin' to be a fighter back then too. Things... ah, things just... they just didn't work out."
He thrusts his right hand forward again in further practice of the proper Ryu Geki Ken form. Granted, the more he thinks about it, typically he'd be holding Ol' Rusty in his right hand, maybe there's a way to do it with his leg? Not that he's really at the point he ought to be getting colorful with what they're trying to teach him.
"I mean... I'm not, I'm not sayin' it will go that way for you, but... but you'll want to think about being able to, to do something else so you don't end up with, with nothing."
Still sitting on the ground, Yuri replies, "I've never really thought of my future. It's always been living day to day. And that's how I like it really." She shrugs and leans back on her arms placing them behind her. "I mean there is other stuff out there I'm sure, but for now I like living life how it is now."
Everyone young likes to think day to day these days, the teacher's found, but that can't really be helped, can it? The teacher's knee makes another annoying pop noise as he relaxes it after the latest attempt at a higher kick. He's not content to just go 'ah well' and do something else, he strikes out with his foot in thin air again, taking special care not to accidentally swing it in Yuri's direction.
"It's... it's somethin' you want to get thinkin' 'bout for when you're a third-year student," he says. He knows the Japanese school system is, on the whole, a lot tougher than the American one on average. They compete to go to college, and if you don't make it, you can really only go and get a job from there.
"Well, I suppose that's true," Yuri says, straightening her legs and bending forward to wrap her hands around the arches of her feet. "I mean who knows what will happen after school. I could try looking at some opportunities..." A pause as she finishes that last statement. "But I don't want my dad trying to make my decisions for me! If I'm really growing up, then he should stop treating me like a baby. At least in this case, I should be able to make my own decision!"
"Now's a, now's a great time for that," Mr. Rust says as he is largely exercising this himself - working around a very tricky loophole concerning sick days available at the cost of working two jobs and the continually thinning patience of his employers.
All this, just for a chance at what he's dreamed of, but at what cost in the long run?
Though the man's face is generally kind of stoic - well, more tired, given the fatigue of the daily grind - he does want to at least be a little supportive of making sure kids these days have a good idea of what they'll be able to do if things go south.
"Just gotta remember, he does care for you a lot. Hell, I had problems with my dad when, when I was your age too."
Of course, the balance of power was completely different. He was always capable of beating the hell out of his dad, who was so injured he couldn't work - let alone put up a fight to an angry teenager.
As Yuri comes back up, she leans back and flexes her feet while saying, "I know, I know he cares for me. But treating me like a baby at all ages? I mean, most likely he'd try to pick a college for me to go to and try to compete for me to get in, only to have it backfire big time." She sighs, sitting back down and rolling her neck around a few times. "I mean, I know I can do it if I try. I just gotta know when and how." Yuri speaks like she's confident, but there's still some air-headedness in her speech.
"It's... it's kinda natural for parents to worry 'bout their kids, want to do as much as they can for 'em," he says as he thrusts both hands forward, one high, one low - that's the Haoh Sho Ko Ken pose. Far as he knows, he actually pulled it off against that 'Santa' guy. There's no chi gathering at the end of his hands, but the form's about right for the stretch.
"My dad... my dad always just wanted to be sure I wasn't gonna, gonna grow up to be a thug." For what little he physically could have done, anyway. "Honestly, Yuri, I dunno what life, what life would've been like without him... he's been sick a lot lately, so, so I don't know if he's going to be with me much longer."
A dark thought enters him at his anger over being unable to go home yet again for the holidays, due to his newer work arrangements. If he were still /just/ teaching that would not have been a problem, but now he's a groundskeeper too.
He grunts at the thought of this, or rather, what his /dad/ might say if he told him as to why things are turning out the way they are. "I know you're disappointed 'bout, 'bout King of Fighters. I don't think I can, I can convince him to change his mind about it."
"Convince him? CONVINCE HIM?!" Yuri looks up with wide eyes, her face contorted in a natural scowl and her teeth bared. "I don't care WHAT my dad says! I'll go however I can, I'm sure Robert will provide me with finances and whatnot for a place to stay. Not to mention, I'm sure he'll keep him off my back!" Yuri spins onto her stomach and begins doing knuckle push-ups, although as she pushes up, she lifts her arms off the floor long enough to punch it when she comes back down. "Dad can't control his little baby forever! He's just doing this because I'm a girl!"
"Hey!" It's the first time this entire conversation that the older of the two's voice reaches such a volume that an exclamation mark is warranted. There's something about Yuri being angry and upset that is, on some primal level, kind of scary to be near. "Whoa, whoa, whoa," he actually takes a step back as Yuri starts doing her knuckle push-ups a bit too close to where he's doing his warm-ups.
For all his talk about being able to know what you want to do, what you /can/ do, in case things go wrong, he's not sure that this is the direction he wants to go. He'd rather not be on the wrong end of one, two, or even three Haoh Sho Ko Kens with Takuma thinking he's trying to turn her against him!!
"I'm not, I'm not implying that..." oh boy. Sweat starts to form on his brow.
"All right, as long as that's clear," Yuri says, as she drops onto her stomach to take a moment, having worked out her anger. "My dad can whine and pitch a fit all he wants while claiming that I'm the baby, but I'm too old to be a baby! Maybe more like those teenaged girls that call themselves 'Daddy's Girl,' but that's not me!" Yuri sighs for a moment, then continues. "I'm going to King of Fighters, and nobody's going to stop me!"
Oh, this is going to be a total landmine here in the Kyokugen school. "Hey, wait, I mean... who're you gonna, who're you gonna go with? Uh, y'need a team, and... and..."
The man is effectively backed into a corner in the face of Yuri's sudden declaration, unsure as to what to say or suggest, visibly tensed up just thinking about the possibilities of Ryo or Takuma giving him long sideglances over what the hell just got into the girl.
"I really... really don't think it's a, it's a good idea to run off," he tries to exude the influence of a Responsible Adult(tm).
Teenage girls, historically, have never actually listened to him outside of positions of immediate authority.
Yuri stands up and sighs. "I don't wanna talk about this anymore. I'm only gonna end up having another fight, and I don't want that." She rolls her neck around tiredly before heading towards the door leading out of the dojo outside, stopping to put her socks and sneakers on. "I think I'll go out for awhile instead." She looks to Rust and waves with a smile. "See you later, keep it up with the training!
Log created on 19:29:14 01/05/2011 by Rust, and last modified on 21:56:28 01/05/2011.