JapanxReader Karate

Something had been bothering you for a while now. It was hovering in the back of your head, just daring you to figure out what it was. You still couldn't quite place what it was, but you knew that it was something important.

The thought finally came to you when you were flipping through the channels one day. A karate commercial had popped up, and you figured it out.

"I have no way to defend myself." You mumbled tpo yourself. That was a troubling thought, and you planned to deal with it right away.

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Throughout the week, you had looked for a place to learn karate. It only seemed fitting, since that was what the commercial had been about.

It took a while, but you found this one nice place that one of your friends had suggested to you. It was called "The Martial Arts Academy".

Even with such a grand name, the place itself looked rather small. You parked your car in front of the building and stepped out. A warm breeze blew around you, giving you a good feeling about this place.

You walked inside, quickly glancing around the room as you did so. A receptionist who looked to be in her mid-twenties was typing away behind the counter. She looked at you as you stepped into the room and gave you a bright smile. She was wearing a plain red shirt with the company logo across the front. A small name-tag labeled her as "Shelly". Her blonde hair was pulled up into a pony-tail.

"Welcome, may I help you with something miss?" Shelly asked. Even as she looked at you, her fingers still danced across the keys of the laptop in front of her. Her cheerfulness only added to your good mood.

"Um, yes. I was thinking about trying to learn karate, but I'm not all that good with groups. So..." Shelly understood and nodded her head.

"Lucky for you, we have individual learning classes. It's where a student gets one-on-one lessons with our instructors. Would you like that?" You nodded your head, and then the both of you started talking about all the times and prices that were involved. You could afford it, so she typed at her computer even more, writing down all your information.

After all that had passed, she got up and opened a door on the counter and stepped out. She led you over to a small room on the side of the lobby. Once you were inside, you realized that it was a changing room. It had stalls lined againt one wall and closets lining another.

Shelly looked you up and down before opening one of the closets and pulling something out. She handed it to you and you recognized the white material as a karate uniform.
"You can get changed in one of those stalls there." You thanked her and stepped into one, starting to change your clothes. The fabric was nice and light, and it was all-in-all a perfect fit for you. Once you had finished and walked out, Shelly smiled at you.

"Now all you need is this..." She tied a white belt around your waist and knotted in in the front. Now you felt complete. She handed you a brush and a pony-holder. You ran the brush through your hair and swept it up into the holder. She smiled again and lead you back out of the room.

"Only one instructor is ready at the moment. He is really experienced and one of the best we have here, so you should be fine. His name is Kiku Honda. Please allow me to show you to the training room." You nodded and she led you through another door. This time, it was connected to a hallway, almost like when you were back in school. Doors branched off in either direction. The both of you stopped in front of one labled with a golden 13 on it.
"Here is your room! Kiku should be right inside." And with that, Shelly left. You looked at the door again. Nervously, you grabbed the handle and let out a small breath.

"There is nothing to worry about." You said to yourself and opened the door. Once you had, your jaw dropped.

Inside was a man that was practicing martial arts. You figured that he must be Kiku. In your eyes, he was amazing! His shiny black hair flowed with all of his movements, and his creamy skin was sparkling with sweat from working a hard as he was. He looked over at you with chocolate brown eyes, finally noticing your presence. After that, he walked over to you, grabbing a towel and dabbing it at his face as he did so.

"Hello, my name is Kiku Honda. And you?" Kiku said politely. He spoke fluent english, but there was hints of a japanese accent in his voice.

"I'm _____ _____. Pleased to meet you Mr. Honda." You said, giving him a small bow. He did the same and gave youa small smile.

"Please, just call me Kiku. Should we begin?" He led you over to the center of the room where blue mats were interlocking to form one huge square.

"Now, there are three basic kicks abd two basic hand techniques. We shall start with the kicks. Do you know how to stand?" You shook your head, slightly embarrased to no know anything.

Kiku smiled at you anyway. He spread his feet apart and drew back one arm while he held the other a little apart from his body.

"Can you copy this?" He asked. You tried your best to mimic him, but felt that something was wrong with it. Kiku laughed a little bit and walked over to you. He grabbed one of your hands and you blushed slightly. A little shock had been sent up your arm at the contact.

He moved your hand a little farther away from your body and did the same with the other.
"Now spread your feet a little more until the are just outside your hips." You did as he said and felt a little more confident about the position. Kiku walked away and grabbed something out of a cabinet. When he came back, he was strapping two heavily padded targets on his hands. Both of them were pretty big and formed red blocks. They had small indentations in the centers of them, most likely from being punched and kicked all the time.

"Now, this is the first kick that you will be learning. It is called the front kick and is pretty easy. It is where you kick out with the ball of your foot to hit your target. Try and do as I do." Afterhe hadfinished, he kicked out, jutting the ball of his foot just as he said. You were a little eager to try the move for yourself now.

"I think I can do that." You said, and he nodded at you. You got back into position(even though you didn't realize when you had shifted out of it), and kicked your foot, aiming for the target inn hisright hand. The ball of your foot made contact with it, but before you could feel accomplished you fell backwards onto the mat. You landed on your butt and your face heated up with embarrasment again. Kiku chuckled and extended a hand to help you up.

"That was a really good kick, but balance is just as important." His tone of voice told you that this happened to a lot of other students. You nodded. Now you wanted to continue even more, and show him that you were capable of much more than that.

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Your lesson had gone on for at least two hours now. Sweat was rolling down your face and sliding down your back. However, you didn't want to stop. One, because you were haveing too much fun. And two, because if you left, that would mean leaving Kiku as well and you didn't want that. Despite yourself, you had grown to have feelings for him throughout the lesson. It was foolish, but you couldn't help it. He was so helpful and caring. Not to mention good looking. You blushed at the last thought. Hopefully, he wouldn't notice since your face was already flushed from all the energy you were using up.

"Okay, now try again." Kiku encouraged. You kicked out, doing a round-house where you used the top part of your foot to hit the target. The blow made contact and you felt good about yourself. That is, until you lost your balance again. This time, instead of falling backwards, you fell onto Kiku. Both of you tumbled to the ground, you on top of him.

"Oh, I'm so sorry!" You moved to get off of him, but instead he pulled you back down and his lips met yours. You were shocked for a second, but then relaxed and kissed him back. Both of you pulled back for air after a while and you moved off of him. He sat up and you sat next to him.

"How did you know?" You asked, mildly curious. He gave you a smirk that seemed a little out of character from what you had seen so far.

"I guess you could say I'm good at sensing the mood." And with that, he pulled you in for another kiss.

You had a feeling you were going to enjoy these karate lessons...