Malachai Hilton had a confusing family life. His parents were both successful in the world of business and wished for Malachai to join their family business, Hilton Hotels and Resorts, but none of that interested him.

Growing up, Malachai spent the early years of his life traveling in first class plane seats and sitting in waiting rooms whilst his parents attended business meetings. Both William and Rebecca had no time to look after their son and as soon as he reached the age, they were going to ship him off to a boarding school. It wasn't like they didn't care for him, they just didn't have time for him.

However, Malachai avoided that when his parents landed in Okinawa, Japan to look at opening a new hotel. He met one a boy off the streets, his name was Takeshi Yazuko and he immediately warmed up to Malachai and offered him something to do whilst his parents were at business meetings.

Karate.

Takeshi's father was a well-known Sensei who ran his own Dojo, the Tiger Claw Dojo. The older man was sceptical of Malachai at first, an American boy in a very traditional Japanese Dojo. However, the dedication and natural talent that Malachai had made the Sensei take the boy under his wing.

At the end of the two weeks, when the Hilton family was due to leave Okinawa, Malachai refused. He didn't want to leave behind Takeshi, he didn't want to leave behind Sensei Yazuko and he didn't want to leave behind karate. Malachai's parents had no energy to argue and didn't try hard enough to accommodate their son's needs, so they ended up leaving him alone, in Okinawa with the Yazuko's.

Since the age of four, Malachai had been living in Okinawa with both Takeshi and his father and he had become accustomed to the different traditions in Japan and slowly left his past life behind. He had found a father within Sensei Yazuko and a brother within Takeshi and he slowly let go of his past, his family that had abandoned and left him for business and money.

"What's on your mind Kai?" Takeshi asked him in English, looking up from the book he was reading.

The two boys alternated from Japanese and English with Takeshi teaching Malachai Japanese and Malachai teaching Takeshi English, both of them had become quite proficient and fluent in the other's birth language. Even though Kai grew up in Japan from a young age, he still made an effort to learn both languages and so did Takeshi.

Malachai looked at his friend. He disliked his name Malachai, it made him sound posh, it made him sound like someone who would work in his parent's company. So when Takeshi found out, he began to call him Kai, a name that just stuck to him and became the default when anyone referred to him.

"Just the usual," Kai replied, "thinking about my family."

His family kept minimal contact with him, they didn't fully abandon him. Every once in a while, Sensei Yazuko would receive a check from his parents, paying him for looking after their son.

Takeshi nodded, understanding. "Well, Sensei wants the two of us in the Dojo in a bit."

Takeshi either referred to his father as Sensei or Otosan, a word for father in Japanese. Kai only called the older Yazuko Sensei. He was their teacher and it didn't just apply when they were doing karate in the Dojo, it applied everywhere. Sensei Yazuko had been teaching both Takeshi and Kai since they were young boys and both had picked up the art of Shotokan karate fairly quickly and now were both quite skilled, considering that they were now both sixteen years of age and both had been training since they were four.

"Sensei." Kai said whilst bowing to the older man when they had reached the Dojo. It was near to the Yazuko home. On some days it would be filled with aspiring kids and teenagers, all wanting to learn from the best Sensei in Okinawa since Mr Miyagi.

Sensei Yazuko looked and Kai and smiled at the two boys. "Kai-San! Takeshi-San!"

All three of them were in their Gis and Sensei Yazuko was standing in the of the mat. Both Kai and Takeshi removed their shoes and bowed before entering the mat.

"Fifty push-ups, on your knuckles." Sensei instructed in Japanese to the two boys. They accepted this with no question and began their warm-up. It usually consisted of a few exercises such as push-ups and sit-ups as well as some stretching. After their warm-up they would do Kihon, which is where they practiced the basic and fundamental skills of karate. Then after, both Takeshi and Kai would develop their technique even more by performing Katas, which were patterns of movement. Following that, both Takeshi and Kai would use pads to practice kicks and punches on each other, whilst their Sensei kept a watchful eye over them.

After, both would start sparring each other and put all their skills into practice and Sensei would give them all pointers and advice. Then, they returned to physical exercises such as leg-raises, sprints and any other exercise that developed their strength and conditioning. Finally, their session concluded with meditation from Sensei Yazuko who would want both boys to calm themselves and relax at the end of the session.

"Takeshi-San, do not let your guard down. If you do, Kai-San will take advantage of that." Sensei told both boys after their first round of sparring. Both Takeshi and Kai were evenly matched, their fights could go either way and both boys stood a chance of winning. Whilst Takeshi was more technically able, Kai was stronger and was more logical and smart in sparring situations.

Both boys were sweating and panting once they had finished their final sparring session. Sensei Yazuko looked extremely pleased and both boys. "Now who wants to spar me?"

"It's your turn this week." Takeshi grinned at Kai who simply shrugged.

"Me Sensei." Kai said to the man who nodded and gestured him onto the mat, opposite where he was standing. Kai made his way there and looked at his Sensei and they both bowed at each other. Takeshi, who was acting as the referee, counted down.

The fight began and Sensei Yazuko made the first move and lept towards Kai who blocked his kick with his right arm. Swiftly moving to the left, Kai struck and attempted to punch his Sensei, however, the older man anticipated this and blocked it before fighting back.

It was a series of rapid, fast-paced movements with each blocking the other. There were times where Kai almost caught his Sensei off guard but the older man always bounced back and regained himself.

"Ay! Ay! Ay!" Kai yelled as his Kiai, grunting as he let out a series of strikes against his teacher.

However, Sensei Yazuko blocked all of Kai's punches and executed a perfect sweep of the leg, catching Kai off guard and leaving the younger boy gasping for air on the floor.

"Very good Kai-San," Sensei said, offering the boy a hand up, "however you must also remember to defend as well as attack. Not everything is about the offence."

Kai nodded and accepted his Sensei's hand and got back onto his feet, he gave Sensei Yazuko a bow.

"Thank you Sensei."

After guided meditation, both boys were dismissed and they followed their Sensei back into the house. Takeshi excused himself to shower, leaving Kai and his Sensei in the living room of their house.

"A letter came for you today Kai-San." Sensei Yazuko told the younger boy.

Kai stopped wiping the sweat off his face with a towel and looked at the envelope sitting at the table. He could recognise that handwriting anywhere, it was his father's sophisticated writing.

Kai picked the letter up and inspected it, did he really want to open it? It had been a while since his last letter from his family and the last letter contained barely anything.

"Open it Kai-San." Sensei Yazuko told the boy with an encouraging smile.

Kai fiddled with the envelope before opening it and taking out it's contents. He unfolded the paper inside it and began reading.

Malachai,

Kai cringed at the mention of his birth name but carried on reading.

Your mother and I have settled down in California, we feel like there isn't much need for us to be travelling much nowadays since we have established a name for ourselves globally and have many employees working for us in different countries. We want you to know that there is a place for you always in our home and I will attach the address to our place of residence. We have also included a poster to a competiton we feel may interest you.

Hoping that you are well,
Your mother and father.

After reading the letter, Kai fiddled with the corners of the paper before grabbing to envelope to place it back in. However, as he was doing so, another piece of paper fell out and Kai looked at it.

ALL VALLEY 2018 KARATE CHAMPIONSHIP

The large words at the top intrigued Kai, he had only competed properly a few times, coming out as victor at each competition, maybe it was time to see if any of the Americans doing karate were worth his time.

"Sensei," Kai said, showing the older Yazuko the flyer, "would you be interested in coming to America?"

He was sceptical at first, but then he opened up to the idea of going to America to take both boys to compete in the All Valley Championships. The tickets were no problem, the Hilton family always sent the elder Yazuko more money than needed so they were in no financial difficulty. Takeshi returned, looking at the two of them with great confusion.

Kai showed the other boy the flyer.

"Karate Championships? In America?" he exclaimed. "Sensei wouldn't agree."

"He already did." Kai stated plainly, and Takeshi was shocked, but then came to the joyful realisation that they would be travelling to another country, to compete.

Takeshi was ecstatic, the two boys proceeded to go to the local library to access the internet via the public computers since the Yazuko family owned no computers. The two teenage boys browsed online and purchased their tickets. After plane tickets, it was time to book their hotel.

Kai sighed as he realised that he would have to book at the Hilton Hotel of Los Angeles as it was the only decent hotel nearby.

After clicking around for several minutes, it was time for Kai to fill out the form they had to complete in order to book their rooms.

"Name...Malachai Hilton...Takeshi Yazuko...what's Sensei's first name?" Kai asked Takeshi.

Takeshi took the keyboard and typed it in.

"Alright, and then we just have to fill out all this other stuff," Kai commented, looking at the form, "why do they need to know all this stuff?"

Takeshi shrugged. "Just hurry up and fill it in, I'm hungry and Otosan was making dinner before we left."

Listening to the other boy, Kai filled out the form as quickly as possible so that the two of them could make thier way back home.

Once home, they informed Sensei Yazuko of when they were going to fly out. It was very last minute and they would be flying out that coming weekend.

After dinner, both boys were sitting in a room downstairs, playing a card game.

Takeshi grinned at Kai. "All Valley Championships, here we come!"

Kai smirked.

"Time to kick some ass in America."