Disclaimer: I blame marathons of Karate Kid movies on TV for making me writing fanfic of it, haha.
Story: John Kreese wants revenge and Terry Silver helps him get it. But along the way, he finds himself having a change of heart and falling for Danielle LaRusso.
Set as a genderbent AU of the third Karate Kid movie.
Spoilers: Yeeeessss. Yes, yes, yes. Beware?
Warnings: Age difference, initial racism towards Asians, excessive drinking, some violence and language, PTSD, gender roles and gender expectations, societal expectations…
Pairings: John Kreese/fem!Daniel, one-sided Terry Silver/fem!Daniel and one-sided Mike Barnes/fem!Daniel.

Revenge Wasn't Cold
Chapter One: Back in Black, But Pretty in Pink

He was John Kreese, damn it. He wasn't some punk kid that was beaten by a girl in a tournament with everyone watching! He was a Captain of the Special Forces in the United States Army. He had fought for his life in the Vietnam War, had even avoided a terrifying encounter with that she-devil Apache.

So how was it that there he was, looking like a bum as he entered the empty Cobra Kai dojo and trying to ignore the pile of bills and the numerous calls asking for money to pay those bills?

"To hell with everything," he glared at the floor.

It was all that girl's fault. Her and that slope. If it hadn't been for them, his dojo would still be thriving right now and be filled with students. He wouldn't be broke and practically jobless.

He gazed at his military photo, feeing pride well up. Then he remembered an old friend, the very same one who had given him this dojo.

Maybe it was time to visit Terry and give him back the dojo.

Terry Silver was the same age as he and had been assigned to his unit early on, back when he was a First Lieutenant. But they had quickly become friends and John had eventually saved the other's life several times through the war. And, having studied under Kim Sun-Yung of South Korea, John had (by then) become very proficient in the art of karate and had taught it to Terry, when the other man had asked.

After the war, they had remained friends and Terry had given him this dojo in gratitude once the other man had hit it big and became a hotshot CEO.

"This is bullshit, man. Come on, what do you need? Money? You know I'll give it to you," Terry frowned.

John shook his head. "No, I don't want money."

"I know you'll be good for it," Terry insisted. "We can get the dojo back in order! I'll open a chain of Cobra Kai dojos!"

John's lips twitched up, but he shook his head regardless.

"I owe you, man," Terry gave him a hard look.

"You don't owe me anything."

Terry snorted. "Yeah? What about Vietnam? How many times did you save my ass?"

"I don't know. I lost count," John answered wryly.

"Now seriously, how about a little revenge?" Terry suggested, a large grin forming on his face. "It was those two that ruined you, yeah? Well…let's make them pay."

John straightened up at that, extremely tempted. "I don't know…" he still hesitated.

"Come on, John! I know you want to…"

Eventually, John thought about it and then smirked at his friend. "Yeah…yeah, let's do it!"

He felt all fired up. He couldn't even remember the last time he was this fired up! He was going to make Danielle LaRusso and that old man pay for ruining his life.

"So how was Okinawa?"

"Er…cold?"

Ali Millis was the sort of girl that boys normally go for –pretty, popular, and pretty much the girl next door type. She loved that about herself and had no trouble going for the boys she liked.

Danielle LaRusso on the other hand…

Now she was something else. Ali could eye the olive skin of her fellow female, the soft and almost pouty lips, and the chocolate-colored doe eyes that worked so well and was perfect with dark mascara and was made all the more intense with it. And now that she had grown her locks, Ali was envious at how silky it looked. She kind of wanted to thread her hands in it and keep them there.

That said, as exotic as her friend looked, Danielle was a bit of a different sort personality-wise.

If boys weren't already intimidated by her looks, her personality was something else. Danielle had a habit of being really easy-going and talkative, and almost overly familiar. Ali sure did get a shock when the other girl had kissed her cheeks the first time she'd met her, but she had heard that was some kind of European custom…

That wasn't to say Danielle didn't know boundaries. Of course she did. But she was extremely affectionate and touchy feely, and she didn't mind sharing her opinion and saying aloud whatever was on her mind. She was pretty bold and opinionated, which combined with the fact she was now some sort of karate expert made her pretty intimidating.

And well, people were pretty stupid too, so it didn't help that people assumed since she was Italian that she probably had ties to the mob or something…

Danielle chuckled then and Ali rolled her eyes at the other girl's answer from earlier.

"Okay, it was pretty fun. I got to travel around Japan, plus I got to attend Obon –it's a Japanese festival that honors the dead –and I got to make a pretty lantern boat with a candle and put it on a river for the festival. I even got to wear these pretty kimono dresses while I was there!"

Ali was tempted to pout, but instead sighed as she tried to imagine it. She would have liked to have worn a kimono…

"Chozen was a stupid idiot though," Danielle scrunched up her nose. Ali nodded, like she knew who Danielle was talking about. "I know we settled things and everything, but he's still an idiot. Because of him, we went up against Yakuza."

Ali coughed and stared at her friend. Danielle was still flipping through the book on Okinawa she'd gotten for the trip. In the meantime, unconsciously having reached for Danielle's hair and starting to brush through it, Ali had stopped mid stroke.

"You…you fought Yakuza?"

Danielle made a face. "It was kind of scary. I mean, I had already fought to death against Chozen a few times in the beginning, but these guys were tough as nails and scary people. You know what I mean? It was like the whole thing with Johnny and his gang on steroids."

"I hope they didn't mistake you as a boy like Johnny did," Ali huffed, remembering her ex-boyfriend. Looking at Danielle again, she really couldn't understand how that understanding had happened.

"Nope. I was just next to Chozen and guilty as an associate. Don't worry though, the whole thing was resolved and I even managed to share saké with the head guy," Danielle said in a pleased tone.

For some reason, Ali thought there was some sort of significance to that. She couldn't remember for the life of her, but she knew she might've learned about it in school.

"Father and Mother would like you to attend their dinner party next week," Ali remembered, telling her then in exasperation. Despite their initial wary and off put reaction to Danielle (especially because of her poor status), they'd grown quite fond of her, especially when she broke out into scattered or even full out Italian in excitement.

Danielle beamed at her. "Really? Of course I'll come!"

Ali gave her a small smile and put their conversation to the back of her mind, focusing on brushing Danielle's hair and giving into the urge to want to style it. At least Danielle never complains whenever Ali did this.

Now if only she could convince Danielle to let her dab a soft shade of pink on those lips of hers…

With her hair now in an elaborate updo, courtesy of Ali, Danielle was calmly walking the streets of Los Angeles, breathing in the cold air. It was getting late and would be fully dark soon, but she didn't regret forgoing her car to walk around and enjoy the scenery.

It had been nice seeing Ali again though. After prom, she hadn't had the time to see the other girl, especially once Ali had started dating that footballer from UCLA. Then Danielle went with Mr. Miyagi to Okinawa and spent further time away and unable to talk to Ali. So this little time together had been great and she really had missed the other girl.

Lost in her thoughts, she almost missed the familiar dirty blond-haired male that was stumbling out of a bar. Looking around, she might have been too lost in thought that she hadn't realized the night had turned dark on her already. Still, her thoughts were quick to jump back to the man that was straightening up.

Of all the people, she hadn't expected to run into John Kreese that soon. Or ever.

But she couldn't just leave him stumbling around like that. She wouldn't feel right, no matter what grievances they had between each other. So, making herself walk over, she tapped him on the shoulder. He turned around and the grin on his face died down as he saw her. Instead, a sneer marred his lips.

"Oh, it's you. What do you want?"

Danielle cleared her throat nervously. "Um…are you alright?"

"Fine," he said shortly and went to walk around her, only he tripped over his own feet, and she was sure he'd had too much to drink.

"Not fine," she muttered as she helped him up.

"I said I'm fine," he grunted, pushing away from her.

The door to the bar opened again and a few more drunks exited. Danielle tensed up, unable to not feel worried. She hoped they would ignore them and just leave, but one of them caught sight of her and Kreese.

"Hey, pretty girl," he hollered, practically sauntering over. "What are you doing with this guy? Come hang out with us!"

Danielle gave an awkward smile. "Nah, sorry, man! I've got to take him home. Maybe next time." No, never.

However, he didn't leave and his other cohorts had come closer as well. "Don't be a tease," he jeered.

Danielle steeled her look and ignored them. Turning with a suddenly quiet and rather docile Kreese, she was determined to just leave and not bother with those men. Only the first guy had grabbed her arm and was starting to pull her away from Kreese. She was just beginning to feel dismayed, when more shock came to her as Kreese suddenly grabbed her other arm that had been supporting him and easily yanked her back to him and away from the others.

"I think she said no," Kreese spoke calmly but his face was hard as steel.

"Yeah, old man? Maybe she just likes being coy," one of the other men smirked.

Kreese snorted. "Or maybe she's repulsed. Go away. You're annoying." He then kept a firm hold on her and started to keep walking, when Danielle was grabbed again.

But before she could leave Kreese's side, he grabbed and held her still, and was quick to then lash out and hit the other. That didn't take long for the others to launch themselves at them, but within a few seconds, Kreese (drunk or not) had downed all four men onto the floor.

"Fuckers," Kreese muttered, and Danielle's ears reddened a little. She was by no means unfamiliar with cursing or hadn't heard it before, but she wasn't used to it being so casually said or frequent. "C'mon."

Kreese, though still drunk, led the way away from there, and Danielle just kept a tight hold on him and made sure to help him stay upright and steady as they headed to wherever it was Kreese was leading them to.

Maybe she should call Mr. Miyagi to let him know what was going on?

…Well, she wasn't exactly sure how that conversation was going to go.

She held tight onto his black jacket and wished she wasn't wearing that ridiculous pink lipstick Ali had put on her lips.

Started 1/24/16 – Completed 1/24/16

A/n: Haha, since some people wanted to see the first chapters of the other Karate Kid fics I'm working on in my spare time, here's the first one I'll put out! The next one should come tomorrow~ I hope everyone enjoyed this and will review with their thoughts!