FOUR
bloody, beaten, and bruised

❪ tw: violence, strong language, blood, injury ❫

COBRA KAI
(season 2, ep 7)

HAWK NOTICED EARLY ON THAT SCARLETT didn't open up to people easily. she was a great friend and was always there but you never really knew much about who she really was. as he looks back on it he feels like this was the day where he actually started to develop feelings but then he was just in denial.

he wanted to know what scared her. what excited her. why she really chose to do karate. what drove her crazy. what made her happy. he wanted her to break down the wall she put up. he hoped one day she'll break it for him. and soon, she did.

it's been a few days since johnny left and he told kreese what happened to his friend. scarlett felt really bad for him and wished that she could do something. she called a couple of times to see how he was doing but he always said a simple "okay."

scarlett has even gotten closer to miguel over these past few days and she was driving him to the dojo this morning. "when's the last time you talked to sensei lawrence." scarlett asked as she got closer to the mini-mall. "yesterday actually. he's coming back today."

"i hope he's okay." scarlett breathed out as she approached the dojo. "so, i've noticed you and hawk have been hanging out a lot recently." miguel mentioned. "yeah..." scarlett trailed off as she looked over at him. miguel smiled at her and she immediately shook her head. "shut up, we're friends." scarlett grabbed her keys and they both got out of the car.

once they walked into the dojo they were immediately greeted by hawk who was by the door. "hey." hawk did his handshake with miguel before he looked over at scarlett. "hi, scar." he smiled at her. "hi." scarlett smiled back at him before fully walking into the dojo to talk to aisha and tory.

the more hawk and scarlett hung out (which was everyday this week) the more hawk liked her. at first, he thought it would pass because he just thought she was pretty. but it was more than that. he didn't exactly act on it since he just broke up with moon and he felt like he wasn't completely over it. but he knew there was something special about scarlett.

"i'm surprised she doesn't know yet. you make it so obvious." miguel chuckled. "no i don't. it's just a little crush i'll get over it." hawk scoffed. "okay, dude." miguel laughed at his defensive response.

scarlett didn't notice that johnny had come in yet until he spoke to the rest of the class. "everybody get your gis on. training starts in five minutes." johnny announced. kreese told everyone to just wear regular clothes sine they were going to be training in the woods. "yeah, what's wrong?" johnny asked, looking at the confused teens.

"nothing's wrong, sensei. i just thought we were going to the woods for a special training today." miguel responded. "what's happening in the woods?" johnny looked over at kreese.

"i thought it was a good time to separate the men from the boys." kreese explained. scarlett and tory looked at each other and made a face at him. "and the girls, too, i suppose." kreese continued. "how?" johnny questioned.

"coyote creek." kreese stated. "i'm not sure they're ready for that." all of the students murmured to each other. "there's only one way to find out."

"we're ready, sensei. we want to prove ourselves." hawk spoke up. "it's up to sensei lawrence. if he says it's okay, then, and only then, is it okay."

johnny looked at everyone staring at him before he gave in. "all right, what are you waiting for? let's go."

SCARLETT WAS STANDING NEXT TO HAWK on the red team, along with doni and aisha. while, rory, miguel, and tory were across from them on the black team. "gentlemen, ladies. welcome to coyote creek." kreese walked in the space between the two teams. "you've been split into two teams. red...and black. the goal is to capture as many headbands as possible from the other side." kreese began to explain the rules.

"today, the people across from you are not your friends. they're not your brothers." "sometimes he really does forget that girls are on this team" scarlett thought. "they are the enemy. the last team standing wins." scarlett surprisingly wasn't completely against this idea, she thought it would be fun. but, she also knew that when it comes to kreese's ideas, nothing can actually be fun.

"how do we get the headbands?" miguel asked. "by any means possible. no rules." kreese replied. "use your judgment. this is just a training exercise." johnny interfered.

"correct, but remember, this is your life. you lose it, you die." kreese held up a red headband. "hey, guys, sorry i'm late. traffic on the 118 was a real bitch." chubs walked up to everyone else. scarlett tightly closed her eyes and tried not to laugh at what he was wearing and the way he entered. a sound still came out and hawk nudged her to make her stop.

"put coyote creek into the nav. nothing came up." "what have you done to yourself?" johnny looked at him up and down.

"oh, the...yeah, you know what, i just decided to flip the script, hawk-style. respect." he pointed at hawk which made scarlett chuckle again. "stop." hawk whispered to her. "heretofore, you can refer to me as stingray." he stroked his beard and hawk immediately looked over at scarlett.

"if you laugh again, i'm gonna kick you in the knee." he warned her. "oh, thy hawk must you be so violent." scarlett said in an accent. "i hate you." hawk chuckled.

SCARLETT AND HAWK WERE WALKING AROUND, waiting for someone to come to them. "so, how are you feeling?" scarlett asked. "great, why?" hawk looked over at her. "because i don't want my friend going all psycho again just because he's upset about an ex-girlfriend."

"i'm fine, scar." hawk leaned up against a tree. "okay, just making sure." "why do you care about me so much?" hawk asked.

"what kind of question is that?" scarlett crossed her arms over her chest. "i just haven't had someone look out for me as much as you do...in a while."

"because you remind me of me. and i wish i had someone being there for me." scarlett explained. "come on, scarlett. you're nothing like me." hawk scoffed.

"i was bullied since the beginning of middle school. that's doesn't compare to your story since that's been going on your whole life but i barely had friends. and i was sad and angry i went home crying after school. but i felt like i was home when i found karate and the reason why i don't express my anger as much as you do is because i'm scared it will get out of hand and i'll really hurt someone. and i don't want that for me and i don't want that for you." scarlett explained and hawk just stayed silent. he stayed silent because he realized that she was actually letting him know her.

"what happened?" hawk asked referring to the reason why she got bullied. "can we not talk about that right now?" scarlett walked over to stand next to him. "yeah, sorry."

"um, do you wanna hang out tomorrow? just us, not like a date or anything...i just want to get to know you better." scarlett looked at him in the eyes and smiled. "sure."

it was known by scarlett that rory had a thing for hawk. rory was always jealous of girls like scarlett. pretty, funny, caring, nice, everybody likes her. rory always had an attitude but, cobra kai kind of amplified that. and while rory was walking around she saw hawk and scarlett and immediately got jealous.

scarlett heard the sound of leaves crinkling and her and hawk looked over and saw rory standing in front of them. "i want scarlett." rory gave her a look. "kick her ass." hawk whispered to scarlett before he left. "let's go, addams." scarlett smirked.

THE TWO GIRLS STARED at each other, circling. rory decided to throw the first punch but scarlett moved her body the opposite way to avoid the hit. rory tried send a kick to her face but scarlett ducked down and stuck her foot out to sweep her legs. rory fell toward and looked back at scarlett, who was now behind her, with an angry expression. rory rolled onto her side and kicked her in the gut, making scarlett stumble back a little.

rory got up and turned around to face her. scarlett put her fists up and once rory came to her she tried to kick her in the side but scarlett pushed her leg away. she then tried to throw a few punches again to multiple parts of her body. scarlett blocked them all and once she blocked rory's last attack she sent a punch to her gut.

rory lost balance and scarlett sent another punch to her shoulder. scarlett brought her leg up to kick her once in the side of her face then moved her body to side kick her in the nose. rory got angrier by the second, mostly because she has been training longer than her but she was still winning. blood started to trickle down her nose and the adrenaline kicked in a lot more.

scarlett remembered that johnny told her that she needed to attack more with her hands and elbows. scarlett mostly sparred with boys who were bigger than her so kicks was something she got used to. but since her and rory were the same height she had a lot more she could do.

scarlett successfully struck rory in the face and threw a few other attacks at her head and and upper body that she made. rory's hands weren't up anymore so scarlett grabbed the back of her head and drove her knee into her nose. scarlett was about to try to flip her onto the ground but rory roughly pushed her away.

scarlett tried to punch her twice but rory started blocking. as she was blocking scarlett noticed she was moving backwards so she purposely threw kicks that she knew she wasn't going to actually hit her with and once rory moved back again she got her in the chest.

scarlett tried to elbow her in the face but rory caught her arm and kicked her in the side. she then grabbed both of scarlett's arms and flipped her onto the ground. now that she was finally down rory stood above her and tried to grab the red headband but scarlett extended her leg up and rory quickly moved away.

while scarlett was still on the ground she saw rory bring her leg up making it look like she was going to kick her. scarlett quickly sat up so she would miss and while rory's back was turned scarlett laid on her back and moved her body backwards with her hands and kicked her with both legs in the back. she fully flipped herself back onto her feet waited for rory to face her again.

rory slowly turned around and took a deep breath. she was mad that she was being defeated, she was mad about hawk. she was just mad. she charged at her and grabbed onto her head and repeatedly kneed her in the side. rory's arms moved down a little bit and and she spun both of their body's halfway and threw scarlett into the tree behind her.

scarlett back and head hit the wood and once she fell on the ground she yelled out in pain. rory had zero concern and yanked the headband off of her head. scarlett's breathing started to pick up, the pain was a little too much for her to handle.

tears ran down her face as she continued to cry out in pain. "what the hell, rory. fuck!" scarlett yelled. now rory's face fell in shock of what she just did. hawk was still not too far away from them so he heard her yells and recognized her voice. scarlett put her hand inside of her shirt and lightly touched her back and she felt a warm liquid. blood. the tree was a very rough texture so once scarlett hit it, it cut through her shirt and some parts of her skin bled.

once she pulled her hand out her eyes widened at the color on her fingers and she looked up at rory. "scarlett—" rory spoke lowly. "don't" scarlett cut her off. "scarlett!" a boy's voice was heard. the leaves crunched as he walk closer and rory took one last look at scarlett before she ran away.

"scarlett?" hawk came from around the tree scarlett was laying against and she slowly turned her head to face him. he looked down at her bloody hand then right back at her. "shit, what happened? come here." hawk kneeled down to help her up. once she was standing up he got a glimpse of her bloody back. her shirt was thin and white making the red appear more. "what the hell did she do?" hawk's tone went from soft to angry.

"she threw me into the tree." scarlett spoke weakly. hawk threw her arm over his shoulder and wrapped his right arm around her waist. scarlett groaned as a pain shot through her head. "you okay?" hawk quickly looked over at her as they began to walk.

"you don't have to walk me, i'm fine. just go finish this thing." scarlett breathed out. "i know it hurts, you can't walk like that." hawk argued. "i'll be fine." hawk hesitated for a second but he let her go.

scarlett walked back to where everyone else who got out was even though it took her a little while. "hey, scarlett." doni greeted her but he looked at her in concern at her state. "are you okay?" tory rushed over to her and saw the blood on her hand and doni noticed it too.

"sensei lawrence!" doni yelled. "what's wrong?" johnny asked, walking over to the three of them. he looked down at scarlett then at her hand.

"who's blood is that?" he pointed at it. "mine." she breathed out. scarlett slowly turned so her back was on display. the top half of her shirt had rips in it and you could see the blood clear as day. it wasn't a whole lot but, it still wasn't nice to look at.

"who did that?" johnny raised his voice and scarlett couldn't help the tears coming out of her eyes. "scar, you need to tell me who did that."

"rory...but, it was an accident." scarlett looked up at him. "it doesn't look like one." yelling was heard in the distance and everyone knew by now, that there was only two people left.

"is that miguel and hawk?" aisha questioned. "tory, help her walk." johnny ordered.

EVERYONE WALKED TOWARDS the sound and now hawk was laying on the ground and miguel was holding his headband. "finish him." kreese nodded towards hawk. miguel leaned down and kicked him in the side of the face and scarlett's clean hand flew up to her mouth.

"team black!" miguel yelled. the rest of his team ran up to him, cheering and hawk got up and walked towards scarlett. "you okay?" scarlett mocked hawk's voice from before.

"i should be asking you that question." hawk looked down at her. "i told you i'm fine. i told everyone that." scarlett lied, she was still in pain but she tried to power through it. "you're the worst liar i've ever met." hawk shook his head and gently put an arm around her.

scarlett looked up once she heard everyone ask and her eyes widened at the sight of stingray putting his arm around miguel's throat. "the red team just won!" he announced. "what the hell..." hawk trailed off.

scarlett felt someone staring at her. she looked to her right and saw rory standing by herself annoyed at the sight of hawk comforting her. scarlett just looked away because if she didn't she would have gotten all emotional. at first she thought things just got out of hand but as the minutes went by she wasn't so sure anymore.

a/n: scarlett and hawk's friendship era>>