What Next?

This fic gets Darker the further in it goes. Its the tale of a man who finds decisons he made in the past coming back to haunt him. Sex will feature later in the fic. I don't encourage or condone what I write about.

What Next?

Chapter 1

“Ladies and gentlemen welcome to another night in… THE CAGE!!!!!”

Hard to believe that this is what my life has come down to. Fighting in another illegal fight club, for people who just want blood to satisfy some twisted meaning for their wasted lives. I remember a time when underground fight clubs meant so much more, when it was about the honour of the two fighters, now its all about death for the highest bidder. Don’t get me wrong the money is great if you win, the only problem is that you have to kill the other man for it. There is NO HONOUR in that. I am just glad my sensei isn’t able to see me now.

Flashback

A middle-aged man is standing in front of a young boy. “You thought you could steal from my house? You don’t even know what you were doing do you?”

The boy just looks down in shame

“Its obvious that you are a street punk that preys on other people to live. If you are willing to leave that life behind then I would be willing to show you a new way, a better way, a life with honour and teach you skills that you would never learn on the streets.”

The boy looks up. “What would I have to do? Nothing like being some perverted slave I hope, I spend enough time trying to escape that as it is.”

The old man looks at the boy. “I said a life WITH HONOUR boy. If you wish to go back trying to live day-to-day that is none of my concern. However if you wish to be treated as a person, you will follow certain rules starting with you going to school and getting an education. What do you say?”

Looking up the boy asks, “Can you promise all that you have said?”

“Yes and a lot more.”

“Deal.”

End flashback

“The rules are as the same as always. Two men walk in, one emerges victorious. And we even have a new contender here tonight.

Boo’s and jeers start from around the warehouse.

“Don’t be like that we have secured him from another club as their champion, so he will either give a good show, or he will be beaten within an inch of his life. Either way you all get a good show.”

Cheers erupt all around the warehouse.

“Lets get show rolling. First fighters tonight, TITAN, and his opponent, another newbie COLOUSSES”.

I watch these two fools walk into the cage knowing that they’re about to beat each other senseless for the viewing pleasure of people who neither know a thing about fighting, or actually care about those who will be fighting. The only thing they can respect is how much money can be made through gambling. I wonder how they would feel if they found out that most of the bouts are rigged. Normally a first night fighter is put in the opening bouts for the first few matches and then forced to be brutalized by the raining champion for the amusement of those that can afford it. As I look at the crowd I see a face that should not be there. She promised that she would stop trying to find me and live her own life.

Flashback

“You have trained well these past eleven years my student, to the point that you have given this old master the greatest honour that be bestowed upon them. You have surpassed me in all that I have taught you. I can only hope that you leave this place a better man than the scared child whom I first met”.

Bowing his head, “master, you took me in when I had nowhere else to go and trained me to be a man. There will never be any way that I can repay you for that. I only ask that you give me one more task to complete before force me to leave this place”.

Thinking the old man responds “make peace with yourself student, so you don’t carry the demons that have haunted you these many years. Also I would like you to remember what you have been taught, so that you may pass these skills on to your offspring and any young boy who tries to break into your house one night. This is the last mission that I pass on to you my… son”.

“Master you have never called me that before now. Please I have not earned the right to be called ‘son’ by you, I am just a meagre student that you chose to teach”.

“You were until you surpassed my own skill. Now allow me the honour of calling YOU master my son”.

“Thank you for the greatest honour of them all. Goodbye… father”.

End flashback

As I look at the two in the ‘ring’ their names seem appropriate. Both are over six feet tall but colossus has got the bigger build by about two stone, looks to be all muscle but appearances can be deceptive. I have fought enough people to know that. Judging by the stances, both have trained in karate but titan shows signs of Mu-Thai. (Kickboxing. Auth.)

They start off pretty slowly, sizing each other up. A couple of loose punches to start with, neither willing to show what they can do just yet. They both look sloppy so I turn my back on them and carry on preparing myself for the main event against their champion, DESTRUCTION. Personally I think it’s a stupid name, but that’s what he apparently does to his opponents in the cage, he destroys them.

I take one last look at the fight in progress and see colossus land a very well timed back heel kick to titans jaw. Anybody with half a brain can see its broken but he carries on anyway, but the match is over now that titans got angry. The easiest way to lose a fight is to lose your temper; colossus has seen this and hits him with a leaping roundhouse kick to his temple. Match over. Shame I would like to have seen what they could have done. I give the crowd a final scan and to my pleasure can see the face of the woman more clearly and no longer worry. It is not her, still got to stop thinking about her and prepare for my ‘debut’ fight in this new fight club. I sit down on the cold, hard concrete floor in the lotus position and start meditating, trying to remember the lessons that earned me the rank of master.

Flashback

“Your teachers say that you are doing well in school, so I have decided that you should be aloud to study extracurricular activities… of a kind. If you decide that you would like to undertake these lessons, I must warn you now, that they will continue till I say they are over”.

The boy, who is sitting at the dinner table doing his homework, looks up at his foster carer with a nervous look on his face.

“I can understand this has made you worried but don’t be. I am only saying that I will personally teach you what I learned as a boy while my father was stationed in the Far East. You will be trained in the martial arts. The training will revolve around your schoolwork, if you carry on doing well in school you will learn a lot. Start doing poorly in school and I wont teach you anything till your grades are back up”.

The boy has been listening to all this looks puzzled, “when you say I will be trained in martial arts do you mean karate and all that breaking things with your hands? You can teach that?”

“I mean a lot more than just karate, but first you will need control of your emotions so you will learn Tai Chi to begin with. After you have showed that you are mastering that we will move on to other styles. Do not forget that if you choose to do this you will only be called student in my presence, and will only be taught anything after school when ALL your work is done”.

“Are you sure that you want to teach me stuff like that, don’t get me wrong I’m honoured, but you took a chance taking me in and arranging everything with social services so that I could stay with you, but why would you do this? I don’t understand”.

Sitting down in the chair opposite the man replies “Eastern tradition states that a father should pass this knowledge to his son. I was not blessed with a son but the fates put you at my door. Should you choose to take my offer then there will be strict rules you WILL obey, and punishments for insolence. I will give you a few days to think about it then I will expect an answer”.

Getting up from the table he leaves the young boy to his thoughts.

End flashback

I still think he knew even back then I would have said yes, if only to defend myself at school. Being a smart kid was always a good way to ensure that you would get your ass kicked on a regular basis. I find it strange how I always seem to remember the things that didn’t seem to matter at the time, when I’m preparing for a fight. Those little lessons that I was taught about being able to survive in a world where the only real language is money in any country. I watch the next fighters as they head into the cage to entertain the masses, poor fools. This fight club has either forgotten the old ways or never knew them. The masses that gamble at these events have no idea about the traditions, thinking it is only a plot in some movie that they’ve seen, or heard about.

The match barely lasts two minutes before both fighters have knocked each other out. They were both sloppy as hell and were street brawlers with no skill at all. Like most of the fighters in these things.

The crowd has started cheering loudly now as I look into the cage and see a monster of a man. He’s at least six foot five, and built like a brick shit house of muscle. He stomps around basking in the roar of his people, shame they are going to see him lose.

“Ladies, Gentlemen and Fight Fans, your main event of the evening is upon us. The reigning champion DESSSTTTTRUUUCCTTIIIIOOONN.”

The crowd seems to go mad at his name being announced, like he’s the second coming or something. It does very little to bother me as I can already see eight ways to knock him out without having to hurt him at all. I walk into the cage to jeers and cat calls being yelled at me, and one person even yells that I’m going to die. I almost feel pity for them, it passes. A bell rings to start the fight and I just jab my index finger into a very specific point on the side of his neck and step to the side as their undefeated champion falls forward to the floor unconscious. There is silence as I walk out through the door, no one is sure what just happened except for me. He had no martial experience and at best was a thuggish brawler, not worth my time to beat him in a fight. The promoter is running up to me yelling something about not being paid for not giving the crowd a fight, I’m not listening to him, instead I’m looking behind him at a face I thought I would never see again.

…………………

It’s been two days since the ‘fight’ and I’m sitting at my desk looking through the new files that have been assigned to me. If you went to one of these underground clubs you’d be right to assume that most of the ‘fighters’ are gang members, but in my case you couldn’t be further from the truth. I am fully registered with the police as a lethal weapon as I have a black belt in martial arts, and posses a large number of martial arts weapons that have been registered. I may not have been trained in the conventional way, with a club and trainers, but I was taught the way my master deemed. I look up from my current case file and she’s standing right there like the ghost of Christmas past.

“In all the places in all the world, I never thought I find you in an underground club”, it’s the only thing I can think to say.

She just looks at me with those hazel eyes of hers, “long time no see… sensei”, she says in that level tone voice of hers. I realize this is not a social visit.

“What’s wrong? Have you been sent here by your father?” She just stares at me. Ok this must be serious.

“OUR father did not send me to find you, I am here of my own accord to ask that you come back home. I miss you.” I thought she might say something like that.

“I miss you to, but I was sent out to find my path by my master and that’s what I am currently doing. You know this, it was explained to you before I left.” I hate myself for saying that but it needed to be said.

She just continues to stare at me as she sits down in the chair on the other side of the desk. “I came here to tell you that he’s been sick, the doctors think he has barely got another day in him. Come home and pay your respects to the man who took you in.”

…………………

After arranging everything with work and picking up some clothes and accessories from my apartment, we start to drive back to the house that was and will always be my home. My supervisor was surprised when I told her I needed time off for a family emergency, as I have never talked about even having a family, but she said that with all the holiday time I had accumulated it wouldn’t be a problem. The ride has been quiet neither of us wanting to break the silence. I almost forgot how beautiful she was. “We’re nearly there, he will be happy to see you again”, she says. After two hours of driving without a word being said it nearly took me by surprise, nearly. I know how far away we are never having forgotten where the house is, just never coming back to it.

As we pull up the drive all the old memories return, performing Tai Chi on the front lawn, hanging from the trees by my knees and doing sit ups before and after school. The house, on the outside, is just a normal two storied, four windows on the front, and garage on the side. It still looks the same as the night I first came here, like it’s been in a form of stasis waiting for me to return. We walk up the path to the front door “do you still have your key, or did you leave it behind when you left this place and chose to forget about us?” A low blow but I can live with it. I pull out my keys and immediately have the front door key in my fingers. The house seems to remember me as I unlock the door and follow her in.

There’s a noise coming from upstairs, She just looks at me and cocks her head as if to say go look. I ascend the stairs while keeping my ears strained for any other sounds that may alert anyone to my presence, I realize its pointless as he probably knows I’m here already. I make my way to his room not knowing what I’ll find but scared non-the less. I knock on the door and hear no answer. I knock a little louder and hear a faint “enter”. I walk in and am sure that I’ve been had. Lying in his bed with out a care in the world is my master, my …father.

He’s obviously just woken up from a nap and just stares at me. After a couple of minutes he finally says something, “so the prodigal son returns at last. I assume you have been able to face your demons, if not my daughter has brought you here to pay your last respects to a dying man.” He speaks so quietly you would barely hear him, if he hadn’t trained me so well I might not have. “Yes I am dying, have been for two years now. Heart problem the doctor’s say but we both know better don’t we my student. Old age has finally caught up with me.”

I just stand there staring not knowing what to say. I thought we’d said everything when I left this place three years ago. “Master why didn’t you have word sent sooner? I would have come immediately. You know where I am and what I’m doing probably better than I do. Why wait so long before you send word that you’re dying?”

“You had to find your own path and stay on it. I swore not to tell you till I had to. I will not last the night, I know it, but before I go I wanted you to know that I am proud of the man you are.” He starts to cough roughly. I pour him some water from the jug on his bedside table and hand the glass to him. As I am doing this I notice his daughter has entered the room without making a sound.

“Since you are both here now I can tell you that I want you to stay together. Look after each other like when you were younger. Stay in this house together and live your lives to your full potential. Let me die with this knowledge and with pride that my children have grown up honourably.”

As if we practised it we reply at the same time, “we promise you we will father”, she just looks at me as I say ‘father’ as if I don’t deserve to.

“You have granted this old man his final request, so I can now die peacefully. Thank you both, and I give you my cons…”

And in that moment he passes on. We walk out of his room in silence and go downstairs to the kitchen. I notice that nothing in the house has changed in three years and it feels strange. She sits down at the kitchen table and starts to cry while I put the kettle on to make us both a cup of tea. I get the milk out of the fridge for hers I drink mine black.

I walk over to the table and put her mug in front of her and sit opposite her. “If you want me to I will make the call to the coroner so that his body can be removed. They should be able to see it was natural causes and when they check his health records it will show that he has been ill for some time now.”

She looks up at me with those hazel eyes, now red and puffy “how can you be so calm? YOUR master, MY father has just passed on and your acting as though he’s just told you to do a hundred push ups.” She raises her voice at me but I let it slide, as she’s grieving. Inside I’m falling apart. “I’m sorry sensei I meant no disrespect, its just that I’ve been watching him getting worse for over a year now. He made me swear not to contact you and tell you that he was sick. He said you would return when you needed to.” She breaks down and starts crying her eyes out now. I walk around the table to sit next to her and she cries on my shoulder, shaking, I just tell her to let it all out.

“Don’t worry,” I say, “I’m not going anywhere, I promise.”

I put her to bed ten minutes later; telling her not to worry and that I would take care of everything that I could. I made the call to the coroner’s office and they came and picked up the body, somehow I was able to keep myself together. They gave me a sheet of paper telling me where he would be taken and who to call to make the funeral arrangements. We would decide on that when we could. I unpack my clothes in my old room and also get some sleep.

…………………

A couple of hours later, I’m woken from my slumber by my bedroom door being opened. I can sleep through anything but anytime my door is opened it wakes me up.

“Sorry for waking you just thought you might be hungry. I’m making dinner, if you have any preferences let me know now, or you can have what I make you.” Even in that sleepy tone she sounds like she’s pulling herself together.

Still slightly sleepy I answer, “I don’t mind. I’ll have a shower and be down in fifteen minutes. We need to talk.”

“Ok, see you in fifteen.”

After my shower and getting dressed into a pair of black jogging bottoms and a plain white t-shirt, I go down stairs to see what we’re having. She has already plated up some chicken and vegetable stir-fry and placed a fork next to it. I walk past the table to get a pair of chopsticks from the cutlery drawer; the fork was a test to see if I remembered. I did. As I sit down opposite her she starts her questioning.

“Are you going to stay or disappear into the night again like a coward? He’s been dying and you never picked up the phone to call us in three years.” She starts yelling now, betraying fear in her voice “THREE YEARS. YOU STAY WITH US, BECOME LIKE FAMILY AND THEN LEAVE.” She lowers her voice now thinking I cant hear her “you left me.”

I remain quiet while she starts crying again. I knew coming home would be hard, just not this hard. “I thought about calling everyday after I left, entertained the idea of returning home, but it would have been admitting I couldn’t cope without the support of either of you. I had to prove to myself that I could. I wrote often to inform you how I was doing. And yes I will be staying this time, it was his final wish.” I really need to learn to speak with emotion in my voice. Looking her in the eyes I tell he what she wants to hear, “I wanted to take you with me, but he forbade me to let you come. You needed to discover your own path as did I” I can hate myself later for that even though deep down I know its all true, if I could, I would have taken her with me.

We sit in silence while we eat, letting the silence consume us both. I decide to break it, “what arrangements would you like for done for the funeral? Traditional in a church or should we go with the way he taught us about the samurai?” If looks could kill, the stare I’m getting would mean she’s arranging mine as well.

“I JUST LOST MY FATHER, LET ME MOURN A LITTLE FIRST YOU HEARTLESS BASTARD,” she screams at me. I allow it. If she doesn’t get it out of her system it will consume her. “You aren’t my sensei anymore so don’t start acting like you still are.”

I refuse to let that slide, “IF THAT’S THE WAY YOU ACT NOW, THEN I’M GLAD I’M NOT TEACHING YOU.” I shouldn’t have yelled that but she has gotten away with too much from me already. I get up and walk away from the table and head out the back door.

I receive a shock when I step out into the garden; all the training equipment has gone. The ropes have been taken down from the trees, the targets have been removed and the rope ladders are gone. The rest of the house is the same but all the training equipment has been removed. I walk over to the gazebo, thankful that at least that’s here, and sit in the lotus position in order to meditate.

…………………

I don’t actually know how long I’ve been here but the sun has now set. As I start to move I can hear her making her way over to me, “have you calmed down now pupil? I will always be your sensei and you showed me great disrespect in there, I hope your coming to apologize.” I say with an even tone.

She carries on walking over to me and takes up the lotus position in front of me; the backlights are on so we can see a little easier. “I am sorry for the disrespect sensei. I know you are feeling his loss to and I shouldn’t take it out on you.” Her voice is a lot calmer now “If you will have me I would be honoured to be your student again. I haven’t trained since you left but all the equipment is stored in the garage. Help me through this dark time with the wisdom he imparted to you. I will leave you to make your decision in peace.”

As she gets up I’ve already made it. “Only on one condition,” she looks at me worried that it will be something she isn’t able to do, “I will be your sensei again, Sera, and resume your training, if you teach me how to be human again. Deal?”

Looking at me like I’ve grown another head she happily replies “Deal”.

With that I get up and we walk into the house and I start preparing some green tea. I find it is always able to relax me. Sera starts to re-heat the stir-fry and we sit back at the table to eat.

…………………

After eating and clearing up we head into the sitting room and I start to stretch all my muscles out, they feel like they been cramped for the last few hours since I got here. Sera goes and sits down on the sofa and watches me stretch. “If you keep staring like that, you will have to put eye drops in because of the strain.” I can’t help myself; I used to enjoy winding her up and her not being able to respond.

“Just cause most females want to jump your bones after looking at your body, doesn’t mean I do. Jeez you’re my sensei, but I know a couple of girls that would love to meet you.” She replies in a half assed remark. Yep this is not the same girl I left three years ago, she has definitely grown up.

“Careful with those remarks my student, you have no idea what I have in store for you yet. The training will be tougher and longer than before. I will also be teaching you a lot more this time around, so you can keep up with me.” I needed to tell her this because I am really going to push her beyond her limits to the point of no return.

She seems to have a reply for everything at the moment, “you may be teaching me how to fight and self control, but I’m your teacher at the same time.”

There is that silence again between us that just feels right, like nothing needs to be said. I continue stretching and advise Sera to do the same, the sun may be down but there is work to do in the garden. After a couple of minutes I decide to tell her what’s going on, “if your ready we can begin tonight’s lesson.” I wish she wouldn’t give me that puzzled look, “we’re going to rebuild the training grounds, right now, why do you think I was stretching for? After we’re going for a short five-mile run. You have ten minutes to get changed and prepare yourself for the tasks at hand. Welcome to your first evolution.”

She bows before she leaves and goes to get ready. I don’t really need her help with all this but I start as I mean to go on. “If you really wants to train like I do then it will push you beyond your limits, the pain will be excruciating at first, but you will learn to get past it,” I yell up to her, she needs to know now before we begin. I must also look into finding a dojo nearby so we can put in more fighting practise that we cant do here.

…………………

It took barely any time at all to put the ropes and targets back into place, and she controlled the pace on our run. Now that we’re back she grabs a bottle of water from the fridge and chucks one over to me. Now she decides to start the questions, “how come you never took me on a run like that before? The way it was, I had to keep up with you, but your letting me have all the control now. Why?”

I know why but I can’t tell her yet, we just got started. “Sometimes the student has to show what they are capable of, if I push you to hard to early it would be counter productive.” That should keep her happy for a while.

Noticing the time I tell her it time she went to bed as we have a lot to do, she just stares at me with her hazel eyes, pouting. When did I become a role model? “If you don’t get enough rest you will burn out quickly and the training will take longer and will hurt you more in the long run. Besides you have to relearn what you have already learned.”

“Is this the way that you were trained?” she asks while trying to hide a yawn. “Its just that, if I’m going to be able to keep up, I want to do it the way you did. I know you were younger when you started but I want to be able to operate on your level.”

“No” I reply, “you don’t. I have forgotten how to associate with other people. I don’t let anyone in anymore, its like I see everyone as a potential threat and I must defend myself. I can promise you, I wont allow the training to go that far. Now BED”.

Deciding that she can’t win, she gives me a peck on the cheek and says goodnight. I make my way into the sitting room and fall onto one of the sofas and fall asleep.