"Thank you for flying with us, we have now landed in Okinawa Naha Airport."

Kai sighed as the crowd of passengers on the airplane started dispersing, until it was just him, Takeshi and Sensei Yazuko left. There was an ache in both Kai's heart and chest that didn't seem to leave him, even after the seventeen-hour flight he had just been on.

"Cheer up Kai," Takeshi told him, "we're home!"

The three of them exited the plan and made their way to collect their baggage, it was an odd feeling. After a month in America, Okinawa almost felt alien to him, it no longer felt like the place where he had grown up.

"Tiger Claw Dojo please," Sensei Yazuko asked a taxi driver, his taxi parked outside the Airport.

The taxi driver recognised Sensei Yazuko and bowed to him before opening the door, letting all three of them enter the vehicle. The journey back to his home was a long and quiet one, instead of the light conversation he would usually have with Takeshi, there was absolute silence. There was something that needed to be addressed but neither of the boys were willing to bring the touchy subject up.

The subject being Samantha LaRusso.

It was extremely painful for Kai to hear those words out of her mouth and he blamed himself for getting too attached to her in such a short time. He knew that he was going to have to return to Okinawa yet his heart urged him to pursue her and follow his feelings. The product of that, was that he had ultimately gotten his heart broken.

Once they had arrived back at the small, yet cozy home belonging to the Yazuko's, all three of them unpacked and began to fall back into their normal routines. For Kai this would mean waking up early to go on a run with Takeshi, and after summer vacation he would go back to school for the majority of the day before coming home and doing all his school work before training with Sensei Yazuko. On the weekends, both Kai and Takeshi helped their Sensei out with his karate classes and during certain sessions, the two older boys would teach the younger students.

The day that they had arrived back in Okinawa, Kai showered to freshen himself up after the flight before he curled up in his bed and stared mindlessly at the ceiling. Occasionally he would check his phone and scroll through his Instagram and see what Sam was doing if she posted on her story.

There were a lot of clips of Sam practicing karate with Robby and various new students that Kai had recognised before from Cobra Kai, maybe the act of vandalism that some of the Cobra Kai members performed was enough to persuade some of them that Miyagi-Do was the better Dojo.

A week after they had returned back to Okinawa, the pain in his heart lesseded slightly but there was still an empty feeling in his heart. Kai regretted not trying harder to make sure Sam knew he loved her, hell it had only been a month but Kai wasn't one to move around with different people, he knew Sam was the one.

Sensei Yazuko was teaching his beginning class and both Takeshi and Kai were standing on either side of him, looking forward at the eager youngsters who wanted to learn the art of Shotokan karate.

"You must focus you mind," Sensei Yazuko told the beginners, "focus clearly on your opponent so you can anticipate their movements."

Sensei Yazuko spent most of the one-hour session going on about the technique and teaching the most basic Kata so that the beginners got a grasp of the technique required, near the end of the session Sensei asked Takeshi and Kai to demonstrate a fight to the youngsters.

"You first bow to your opponent." Kai told the kids in Japanese before bowing to Takeshi, the other boy did the same.

"Then get in your fighting positions." Takeshi informed them, readying himself.

Both boys looked at each other before nodding and their fight began. Kai launched himself at Takeshi first, striking hard with a solid kick that narrowly missed Takeshi. Takeshi drove his fists towards Kai's chest but Kai blocked him, there were gasps of amazement coming from the beginners' mouths as they watched the two boys fight each other. There were impressive movements being performed, especially when Kai performed a flying, spinning kick that managed to make contact with Takeshi.

As Takeshi stumbled back, Kai charged forwards and unleashed a series of strikes towards Takeshi that the boy managed to block. At one point, Takeshi found the perfect time to counter-attack and Kai was suddenly forced on the defence.

It was an even and balanced match, it was impossible to predict the winner.

"That's enough!" Sensei Yazuko yelled, the boys immediately stopping. "That was an example of a very impressive fight."

He turned to the two boys and nodded at them. "Go clean yourself up, we will train later."

Both boys nodded and bowed at their Sensei before leaving the Dojo and making their way back to the house.

"That was good," Takeshi commented, "I didn't think you'd have it in you after all the sulking you've done."

Kai laughed weakly. He had been sulking the last week ever since he had returned. "Couldn't pass up an opportunity to beat you."

The two boys grinned at each other before making their way into their home, cleaning themselves up before their training session with Sensei Yazuko.

After warming up quickly in the Dojo, the two boys quickly got on with their training.

"Although you performed well in the All Valley," Sensei told them, "there are always areas to improve on and when I watched you fight, I noted down some of the things you could improve on. Takeshi-San! Come here."

The boy walked over to his father and stood opposite him.

"If an opponent is attacking you, will you attack back?" Sensei Yazuko asked the boy.

"Yes Sensei." Takeshi said.

Sensei shook his head. "You defend and then wait for the right opportunity to attack. Fire on fire, attack on attack rarely ever works."

Takeshi nodded, understanding.

"Now I want you to spar me," Sensei told him, "I am going to attack and I want you to think logically about what would be the best move to use."

Kai watched from the sidelines, he agreed with Sensei in the sense that Takeshi lacked a bit of logic when it came to fighting, although he was incredibly skilled technically, Takeshi sometimes didn't think ahead or smartly when fighting someone.

The fight between Sensei and son began and Sensei Yazuko immediately launched an attack on his son, blocking expertly, Takeshi was struggling to find the right moment to start a counter attack and we he tried to, the timing was wrong and Sensei was easily able to stop him.

"Focus Takeshi!" Sensei Yazuko told him. "You need to think!"

Sensei Yazuko then commanded both boys to pair up and spar and have Kai attack Takeshi and see if the boy could find the right time to launch his counter attack.

In those hours of training that Kai had, his mind had been completely relieved of all the events that had happened and like what had happened during the All Valley, he cleared his mind so only karate was occupying it. This was his life, this was his passion and this was his purpose. Karate was his escape from the problems he had in life and every time he stepped on a mat or into a Dojo, everything else became a blur.

"Good work boys," Sensei Yazuko told them, "the Dojo is busy the next couple days but we will continue in a couple days time. During then, you can run and do exercise and practice meditation,"

Once Sensei Yazuko had finished, the boys helped him clean up and lock up the Dojo before the three of them made their way back to their house, ready for dinner.

Tonight, the three of them had sushi made by Sensei Yazuko, they were sitting around the dining table eating their food when Sensei Yazuko brought up a sensitive topic for Kai.

"Have you spoken to that girl? Daniel's daughter?"

Kai looked at his plate of food sadly. "No Sensei."

"Why not? " Sensei asked.

Kai sighed. "We left on bad terms Sensei, she didn't know I was leaving and got angry. She never wants to see me again."

Sensei Yazuko looked at Kai sympathetically. "Do not worry Kai-San, if it is meant to be then it will happen. Everything works out in the end, and everything happens for a reason."

Kai nodded and looked at his Sensei appreciateively. "Thank you Sensei, may I be dismissed from the table?"

Sensei Yazuko nodded and Kai got up and washed his plate before returning upstairs to his bedroom. As he laid in bed, thinking about everything in the past, yet again, a familiar figure appeared in his doorway.

"Hey Kai," Takeshi greeted, "do you want to go for a walk?"

The sun was setting when the boys left the house, they made their way to one of their favourite spots as children, it was up a small mountain but the view showed you the whole town and all it's glory. Once they got there, they sat on their usual rock and watched the sunset.

"Do you miss her?" Takeshi asked Kai.

Kai nodded. "Every single day."

"It hurts doesn't it?" Takeshi asked him.

Kai nodded.

"Just like me and Emiko." Takeshi sighed, looking into the horizon.

Emiko was a girl in their town that Takeshi instantly became smitten with, they had an undeniable bond when they were both younger. Takeshi had ranted on and on to Kai about how she was the one and how he wanted to marry her when they were older, as soon as they had gotten out of school. But then one day, she went missing and however hard Takeshi searched for her, she was never found.

The police found out about the disappearance but shortly gave up because they never found any leads, her case was closed and everyone had left it still. Kai could still vividly remember the pain in Takeshi's eyes when he found out Emiko had gone missing and the pain of losing her never truly left him.

"I'm sorry Takeshi." Kai told his friend as he noticed Takeshi's watery eyes staring into the distance.

Takeshi sighed. "It comes and goes Kai, it's the worst at the beginning but after a while it stops."

"Does it ever get better?" Kai asked his friend.

Takeshi shook his head. "The pain and the guilt never truly leaves us, but we get better at ignoring it."

Kai listened to his friend's wise words. "It feels like the pain is never going to go away."

"Yeah," Takeshi mused, "it does for a while. You just have to deal with it."

Kai turned and focused his gaze on the setting sun, the horizon was beautiful colour as day faded into night, as the boys made their way back, it was filled with silence. Once they arrived home, both of them said a quiet and quick goodnight before retiring to their rooms.

That night, Kai laid in bed, wide away, thinking. He was in such pain and suffering just thinking about her and he wondered one question.

Did she feel the same?