An Easter Holiday Story

Sensei and the Easter Surprise

By Deb
copyright © 2007

Note: This is not a complete story. For the entire story, please join our website here.

Well, it seemed like a good idea at the time...

I was taking these group Karate classes taught by this drop-dead gorgeous hunk for several months when the ‘help wanted’ sign went up in the window.  The job was part-time in the evenings, so it wouldn’t interfere with my college classes, and it included one evening a week of private instructions with Mr. Drop Dead himself.  Since I was too poor to be able to afford additional karate classes and food in the same month, it sounded absolutely ideal.  Besides, how hard could it be to do billing, answer the phone and make appointments?

Well, yeah, the sign DID say, “experience working in a karate studio required”, but I figured that my half a semester of accounting 101 should cover the hard part.  And, boy oh boy, could I talk on a phone! 

So when he asked about my work experience, of course I told him that I worked for the Karate Kicks Klub back in Florida.  I actually HAD seen the place on one of my trips to Cape Canaveral with my mom a few years back, and besides, we were in California.  It was hard to get much further from Florida than that!  He’d never be the wiser...

The first day was pretty much a disaster.  I got to the studio fifteen minutes late and got a lecture about promptness that would lead you to believe that I’d just assassinated somebody.  Jeez.  He needed someone who could be punctual and take the job seriously.  He needed someone who was professional enough to make sure that they could show up on time.  He needed someone dedicated to helping the dojo grow and thrive.

I kissed some serious butt that day.  I groveled more than I had with my parents when I wanted to break curfew on a Friday night back in high school.  I begged more than I had last month to get out of the ticket for speeding to get to that concert down near San Diego.  When the best looking Sensei on the west coast glared at me like he’d fire me on the spot, I finally forced tears into my eyes and threw in dear old Aunt Clara’s deathbed story to finally turn the tide.

This guy was tough.  He finally let me stay, but let me know in no uncertain terms that my next tardy would be my last.

Thank goodness, his four o’clock appointment came in, or he might’ve changed his mind.  With one last stern glare at me, he escorted the new guy out onto the mat to warm up.

I worked for the next five hours solid, printing bills, crediting accounts, ordering equipment and answering the phone.  Pretty quickly, I caught on to his filing system and made mental notes on how I could help him to automate some of this stuff.  By the end of the shift, I was feeling pretty comfortable with the business.

Of course, I wished I could be that comfortable around Sensei Reed.  He was easily the most intimidating person I’d ever met in my life.  He may only be a couple of years my senior, but it sure didn’t take more than a stern glance from him for me to clean up my act pretty darn quick.  I found myself actually polishing the glass of the weapons display case when the last student left at nine-thirty, staring, disconcerted, at the inscription “Honesty, Integrity, Strength”.

I heard a deep chuckle behind me and turned to see grumpy old Sensei actually smiling.  “Okay, Laura.  You can stop, now.  The shift ended five minutes ago.”

I glanced at the clock, surprised that the time had gone by so quickly.  The last job I’d had was at a local fast-food restaurant, and the time had always dragged while I recorded orders and exchanged money for something vaguely resembling food.  My I.Q. had plummeted with every hour spent in that greasy joint, and when the manager started groping me while filling the orders, I finally had the excuse I needed to walk out.  By now, he might’ve actually figured out that I wasn’t coming back.

My mind came back to the present as Sensei gently took the polishing cloth out of my clenched fist.  Blinking, I looked up into those gorgeous hazel eyes and nearly choked on the tongue suddenly hanging out of my mouth.

Sensei’s smile widened.  “Finals week, huh?  Must be a rough one.”

I nodded quickly, grabbing that excuse as quickly as I could, to try to disguise the pure lust threatening to overwhelm any remaining intellect.  Finals week really was a plausible reason for my scattered brain cells - I actually hadn’t gotten all that much sleep this week and was looking forward to being done after tomorrow’s calculus final. 

“Okay, let me walk you out to your car so you can get some sleep before tomorrow’s test.”

The next several days went much better.  I left the dorms a full half hour before I was scheduled to take over the shift at the dojo, so I was there ten minutes early.  Sensei’s smile at my enthusiasm was worth every lost minute of last-minute cramming.  He didn’t realize that at least half of my enthusiasm stemmed from watching him jump and kick and punch with his students.  What that man did to a gi….

Wednesday night, as Sensei organized the equipment for the next morning’s Thai Bo class, he seemed preoccupied.  Finally, I asked him if everything was okay.

“You know, Laura, John’s going home for Spring Break tomorrow, and will be gone for two weeks.  That’s kind of leaving me in a rough place.  Would you be interested in coming in for some extra hours?”

Oh, Lord, throw me into that briar patch.  “I’d love to help out, Sensei,” I said, demurely lowering my gaze so he wouldn’t notice that my eyes kept undressing him.  “I’m staying here in the dorms over Easter and would be glad to have something to do.” 

“Jacob’s expanding his shift until one, and some moms are volunteering until two-thirty, so if you can be here from that time on, it would help.”

I smiled.  “Sure, Sensei.  I’ll be here!”

The added hours were welcome after the hectic pace of finals week, and I enjoyed spending time at the dojo.  The first week passed quickly as I tried hard to learn and help out where I could.  Several times a day, I’d get a chance to watch Sensei teach, and I found myself enthralled by his lithe body as he demonstrated the techniques to his students.

But every day I also polished the case that whispered to me of Honesty, Integrity, and Strength.

My first private lesson was the next Friday, and I had a hard time concentrating through the group class and my five-hour work shift.  Eventually, though, good things come to those who wait - and Sensei’s last appointment left at eight.

“Okay, Laura, close out the computer and lets get started.”

I finished printing out Mrs. Miller’s bill for the twins and hurried out to the mat.  He led me through a series of warm up exercises and stretches, and then put me in ‘attention’ stance.

“Okay, Laura, today we’re going to try working on your reverse hook kick and your take-downs.”  My heart sank as he listed the two things that had frustrated me the most in the group class.  I heard him chuckle.  “No pouting, my dear.  You’re turning into a fine martial artist, but you need to work on your confidence with those two things before you can move on.”

“Now watch.  When I start the reverse hook kick, I lean my torso down towards the mat as my foot goes up and back.  My hips act as the pivot point, and my body stays straight all the way through the kick.  The lower my head goes towards the mat, the higher my kick goes behind me.”  I watched the fluid moves, looking effortless as he whirled and kicked. 

“Okay, my dear, now get into the stance and you try one.”

I placed my feet and twisted my torso back and forth, getting a feel for the motion that I needed for the complicated backwards-spinning heel kick.  Before I could let go and spin, though, I felt Sensei’s hands on my shoulders. 

“No,” he said, “your shoulders go down towards the mat as you spin.”  His hands helped me twist my shoulders down and around as I rotated back and forth.  My skin burned where the fingers rested, but I managed to feel the motion through the distraction.  I nodded, and he withdrew his hands.

Before I could think about it, I spun, dipping my head and shoulders towards the mat and kicked backwards with my heel.  I grinned as I completed my best kick ever.

“Excellent!” Sensei congratulated me.  But before I could bask in my glory, he added, “Again!”

And so I spun and kicked and kicked and spun until the kicks became more effortless, and I wondered how I ever had problems with them.  We tested several different kicks and punches, and then returned to another series of reverse hooks.  My legs were a little shaky from the exertion when Sensei stopped and motioned me back to attention.

“Okay, you’re doing great, Laura!  See how easy that was?  You just need to feel the moves and flow with them.  Karate is all about the flow, not just the impact!”

“Let’s try some sparring, now.  I’ve noticed that you were a little tentative with your take-downs today - let’s see if we can’t get you a little more confidence with those.”

I nearly died, standing there in front of the most attractive man I’d ever met, thinking about wrestling the man to the ground.  I felt a bit of a flush crawling up my neck at the thought of grabbing those delicious shoulders and pressing my flesh against his. 

Yikes.

Luckily, he didn’t seem to notice my distraction.  He moved behind me and grabbed me around my waist in preparation for the first of the defensive take-down positions. 

“Okay, Laura, now push down on my hands so you can bend over to grab my leg.”

I breathed deeply, trying to distract myself from the feel of the hard body pressed up against my back and the strong arms wrapped around my waist.  Before the slightly spicy, warm scent of his body overwhelmed me, I put the heels of my palms over his clenched hands and pushed down with all my might.  His arms moved down a bit, allowing me to step back slightly, bend at the waist and reach for the leg slightly between my own.

But he didn’t move.  I grabbed harder and yanked, but only succeeded in nearly falling on my face.

Sensei raised his clenched arms up and lifted me off the mat slightly as he set me back upright.  “Laura, you forgot to push me back with your hips so that I’d be off balance when you grab for my leg.  Here, let’s trade positions for a sec.”

My face flushed even more as he stood in front of me and pulled my arms around him tightly.  I wanted nothing more than to close my eyes and enjoy the moment, but the darned man just kept talking.

“One – press down with the heels of your hands, then two, step back into your assailant.”  He pushed down on my clenched hands, and then stepped back into me, pressing that wonderfully built body against mine.  “Now, you thrust your hips back as you lean over, pushing them slightly off balance as you grab the leg and pull.”  Like it was no big deal, he pressed into me and grabbed my leg, pushing me backwards onto the mat as he pulled my leg forward.  I enjoyed the sight of that lovely posterior as it hung before my face enticingly, until he turned and held out a hand to help me to my feet. 

Again, he went behind me and grabbed me around the waist.  Again, I resisted the temptation to lean my head back against that broad chest and instead concentrated on the defense moves.  Push down, step back, now push my butt back into the firm pelvis behind me (whoo boy!), grab the leg and pull hard.  This time, he collapsed behind me, and I found myself sitting on his lap.  His arms tightened in a brief congratulatory hug, and then shifted to boost me to my feet.

“Great job, Laura!  See how easy it is when you understand the trick?  Let’s try it again.”

By the time we’d completed a dozen of the take-downs, I was completely overwhelmed by the man inside of the gi.  Thank God, he wasn’t psychic, or he’d have tossed me out on my ear with some of the raunchy thoughts that kept forcing their way into my brain. 

But then we moved into some ground sparring.  My, oh my.  Struggling with the most gorgeous man-flesh on the planet squished up against me was almost more than my poor libido could handle!  At one point, I twisted myself into the mount position atop him and had to work really, really hard to keep from pressing my mouth against the smiling lips beneath me.  His hazel eyes seemed to burn into me, and I gasped as he took advantage of my distraction and reversed our positions.  Before I could interpret the hooded look he gave me, he squeezed my shoulders briefly, rolled off of me and onto his feet.

“You’re doing much better, Laura.  I knew when I got you here one-on-one, I could help you get there!”  The smile seemed more sensual than normal as he stepped back.  Glancing at the clock, he winced slightly.

“I’m sorry, I seem to have kept you later than I intended.”  I was really surprised to see that it was ten already, and my lesson should’ve been over an hour ago.  I smiled at his slight awkwardness.

“Well, I’m not upset over getting an extra hour with you!”  I looked away before he could read the truth in my eyes and grabbed a bottle of water.  I took a quick sip, tried to wipe the lust off of my face, and then turned back to him.  “Thank you, Sensei.  I really learned a lot tonight.”

“Okay,” he said smiling.  “I’m not too upset over an extra hour with you, either, if you want the truth.  What do you say I buy you a smoothie next door before they close?”

It wasn’t until I got back to the near-empty dorms hours later, took a quick shower and climbed in bed that I remembered that I was getting the free lessons - and the possible start of an entirely different type of relationship - based on the lies I’d used to get closer to him.  Hours later, after writhing sleeplessly in my silent room, I promised myself that I’d tell him the truth in the morning and hope he didn’t toss me out on the street in disgust.

The next day was Good Friday, and when I arrived at the dojo around one, I was surprised to see absolute mayhem.  Dozens of children were running around with small Easter baskets full of karate stickers, miniature foam nunchucks and brightly colored plastic eggs. 

“I found one!” screamed a little tyke around four years old as she dove under the chair next to the door.  She crawled back out and held a green egg up to me in triumph.  “See!  It’s GREEN!” She waved her captured egg in the air and ran back to show the prize to her smiling mom. 

I watched, bemused, as Sensei sprawled comfortably on the mat with children swarming around his normally quiet dojo.  One student’s little brother crawled up to Sensei and looked up expectantly.  He grinned and pulled a small stuffed bunny out of a bag near his knee, handing it to the toddler.  The child cooed happily and hugged the toy to his chest.

Looking down at a tugging on my gi pants leg, I saw a teary eyed little girl who must have been one of the tiniest students.  When I bent down to her, she told me that she couldn’t find any eggs and that they were all gone.  Pretty soon, we were crawling around behind the boxes of sparring equipment and peering under chairs, hunting the illusive Easter egg.  My new little buddy found two in the end, and her happy squealing warmed my heart. 

Eventually, the last of the children left, and I busied myself helping Sensei clean up the strands of Easter grass and spilled punch.  Before I was ready, the dojo was again clean and organized, ready for the next class in an hour and a half.  As I was steeling myself to tell him of my lies and beg his forgiveness, Sensei pulled a big Easter basket from behind the counter and held it out to me.

For some reason, he didn’t find it odd that I immediately burst into tears, and then he led me back into his office.  He set the basket on the desk, hugging me quickly before setting me in a chair facing him.  I saw a sad smile flit across his face as he sat across from me, and then his stern Sensei expression hid his emotions.

“Do you have something to tell me, Laura?”  he asked softly. 

I sniffed back my tears and nodded miserably as I stared down at my hands clenched in my lap.  I must have opened and closed my mouth about a dozen times before I could croak out the reason for my outburst.

“I lied to you.” I finally whispered quietly.  “Just so I could get the job and the extra classes – I lied.  I never really worked at the Karate Kicks Klub.  And I don’t even HAVE an Aunt Clara.”  I scrunched my eyes closed, so I wouldn’t have to see his anger and disappointment.  “I just wanted the extra classes, and I couldn’t afford them.”

“Mmmm” said Sensei quietly.  “Have the courtesy to look me in the eye when you talk to me, young lady!”

To Be Continued...