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Johnny liked Japan, but mostly because it meant spending time doing absolutely nothing with Kenshi except fighting, making out, and having perfect marital sex. When every student in Kenshi’s dojo was gone, of course. They didn’t do long distance – they simply lived between the US and Japan. When Kenshi was in America, one of his students would be granted the honor of running the dojo while he was away. Takeda was still too young to do that, but he was Kenshi's pride and joy – without a shadow of a doubt he’d inherited his dad’s skills and discipline. His mom was a doctor, and he didn’t spend a lot of time with her or his half-brother and stepfather. Mostly because he didn’t like to be there. He felt like a stranger and like he didn’t belong, so, when his dad and Johnny when to America and he had to stay in Japan because of school, he’d spend most of his time either training or locked in his room, studying. Johnny and Kenshi were both renowned competitive martial artists, though they only got the chance to fight each other in private. Kenshi fought in the Paralympics, so there was no way they could fight in an official match. Still, knowing of their “close friendship” and Johnny’s insistence that they could fight on the same level despite Kenshi’s severe visual impairment that no surgery or glasses could cure, they sometimes fought in competitions as a way to promote the sports and to showcase that “hard work makes the dream work”. Kenshi hadn’t become a “blind superhero fighter” – he’d simply practiced harder than anyone else to be among the best fighters in the world. Able and disabled.
“Do you think Takeda likes me?” Johnny asked one day when they were going over to Japan in June to spend some time resting and practicing for the summer tournaments. “Sometimes it feels like he doesn’t.”
Kenshi was confused. “Why do you feel that?”
Johnny shrugged and sighed, looking out the small window of the plane at the clouds below them. “He looks at me weirdly sometimes and he doesn’t talk much… and I’m kinda,” he made a groaning noise, looking at his daughter, who was asleep between them. She always got stressed about flying and had to be given something mild to sleep. And it worked since she couldn’t sleep before a flight. “I don’t know. What if he and Cassie don’t get along?”
That was a thing that had been bothering him. His 15-year-old kid and Takeda had never met. Takeda was slightly older than Cassie but not by much – barely a year. He’d just turned 16. His daughter could be a bit “much” – she was the mix of Johnny Cage and Sonya Blade, after all. She was confident and charismatic like her dad, but she was fierce and focused, like her mother. Johnny didn’t know how Takeda, being the son of a man who was at once gentle and harsh and a woman who had cheated on her ex-husband and felt self-righteous about it, would feel about her. He just wanted their kids to get along.
“I don’t know. I mean… Takeda is a nice kid and Cassie is a nice kid, but I’m kinda scared their personalities will clash, you feel? Kinda like us at first,” Johnny said and smiled, remembering it. Kenshi thought he was too noisy and annoying but eventually they’re warmed up to one another and well… there was a ring on it, wasn’t it?, “I just want us all to have like… a good time, as a family. The four of us.”
Kenshi was quiet and Johnny looked at him to try to assess his thoughts before he spoke and was relieved to see a smile. “I’m confident that it will be good, and we will have a good time as a family, Johnny.”
Johnny sighed and reached his hand to his gently touching it not to startle him and consequently disturb his daughter. Kenshi held it. “Let’s hope for the best. This’ll be a great bonding experience,” he said, sounding a bit more confident with Kenshi’s hand in his.
Kenshi smiled and nodded. “It will.”
And that was all they could do – hope for the best.
They already knew their way around and quickly made it out of the airport after the hassle of getting their bags. It was obviously Johnny’s task to spot them, then Kenshi would get his and hold Johnny's shoulder and walk behind him out of that busy, noisy place. Cassie was already used to having a visually impaired stepdad. Kenshi wasn’t completely blind. He could still perceive a bit of light, but that was about it. A car accident when he was a child had fractured his eye bones and debris had gotten lodged in his eyes. There wasn’t much to be done. At least nobody had died, and he’d eventually learned to live and fight with his disability.
Kenshi called Takeda, and he said he was at the dojo. They got a ride there after leaving their things at Kenshi and Johnny’s house in Japan. Cassie was very interested in the view and all the colors of Tokyo.
“Can we visit Akihabara and Harajuku?” She asked.
“Yeah. Wanna buy some anime stuff?” Johnny asked with a grin, and she snorted.
“Yeah, also the funky clothes. I’m interested in those.”
“Ah, I remember the rise of the “kawaii” style,” Kenshi said, “and how everyone hated it.”
“It was actually a feminist movement,” Cassie said proudly, and Kenshi nodded, “yeah because these girls and young women didn’t want to conform to the stern society and all that so they, like, turned to dressing like kids and looking cute so that they wouldn’t appeal to men.”
“You wouldn’t think she’s from LA judging from the astonishing lack of Valley Girl energy,” Johnny teased and she smacked the back of her dad’s head, making him laugh. The driver looked mildly startled and Kenshi was confused, “and the lack of love for her dad is heartbreaking,” he said, fake hurt.
“Shut up, idiot daddy,” she said and smiled a little, still interested in the outside, “Japan looks so different from the US… will we get to go to the beach?”
“Of course,” Kenshi said, “Odaiba in Tokyo Bay is amazing. I think you’ll like it,” he said, and she hummed, “next time you come over on vacation, we can all go to Okinawa. That’s where the best beaches are.”
“Where’s that?”
“In the very south. A different island with a different kind of people who speak a unique language, but most of them speak English, so I believe it will be better for you, personally. Johnny loves it.”
Cassie hummed. “Guess I can trust my dad’s taste.”
“Of course you can! I’m the great Johnny Cage! I have the best taste in the whole world!” Johnny exclaimed with a grin. It made Kenshi laugh and Cassie snort at her dad’s antics.
“Dunno what you see in this guy,” Cassie said, “but I think you’re like a match made in heaven.”
She’d never told them that, and they were both silent for a moment, taken aback by the revelation. Her two dads had been married for three years and still going strong like they’d gotten married the previous day. She’d inherited her mother’s sternness and didn’t express feelings very much, so that was special. Johnny hugged her and kissed her temple and she let him, smiling a little.
“Yeah, yeah, don’t let it get to your head,” she said and Kenshi chuckled, hearing Johnny coo at her and kiss her cheek, “okay you can stop rubbing your cheek on mine now. You’re not a cat, idiot daddy.”
Johnny was nervous about Takeda and Cassie’s meeting and Kenshi felt his emotions, even if he couldn’t see them. “It’ll be fine,” he whispered when they got out of the car and stopped in front of the door to the dojo.
“Praying to the Gods,” Johnny mumbled. Cassie wasn’t paying enough attention to her dads’ conversation to hear it and pushed the door to the dojo open.
“Woah, this is cool!” She exclaimed, seeing the traditional garden with the stepping stones, the koi fish lake, “the bamboo water thingy” that made a “bonk” noise now and then. “What is that thing called?” She pointed at the bamboo.
“Uh,” Johnny was at a loss because he’d never even thought about it, “Kenshi, the bamboo thing in the water, what’s it called?”
Kenshi smiled. “Souzu. It was used in the past to scare wild animals from your garden,” he explained as they walked over the stepping stones already hearing the noise of the fighting inside the dojo, “like deer and other animals,” he said and shrugged a little, “these days it’s mostly just to scare… rabbits and birds.”
Cassie laughed. “Thanks, pops. It makes a nice noise. Guess the animals don’t like it.”
Kenshi knew that place and didn’t need help to navigate it – it hadn’t changed in any significant way since he was a kid and could see it. “Shoes off, please,” he said, especially to Cassie, since Johnny already knew and was sitting on the porch to get his boots off.
“Oh, sure, sure,” Cassie said, and quickly sat down to get her sneakers off. She put them near her dad’s boots, and they all walked in their socks over the wood into the dojo. Kenshi slid the door open.
Cassie was interested in the ways of those people. They all knew Kenshi couldn’t see, yet they all bowed down, 90 degrees, to greet him. “Takahashi Shihan!” They all exclaimed in unison. Takeda also bowed, but that didn’t last long because he walked over to his dad, who smiled, sensing his presence, and opened his arms to receive the hug his son wanted to give him.
“Takeda,” he called softly and held his boy for a moment, “I’m happy to feel you healthy,” he spoke in Japanese. Neither Johnny nor Cassie understood a word.
“I’m happy to see you healthy, Dad,” Takeda replied and pulled away. Kenshi felt his son’s cheeks, and the boy smiled a little, which made Kenshi smile, too.
“Uh, well, let’s get on with the introductions, yeah?” Johnny said, trying to sound hyped. “So, this is Cassandra Carlton, also known as Cassie Cage, my daughter and this,” he pointed, “is Takeda Takahashi, Kenshi’s son. Please get along!”
Takeda was a bit awkward staring at her – a pretty foreign girl his age – and his face turned a bit pink. He cleared his throat, and he rubbed the side of his neck. “Nice to meet you, Cassie,” he said in his best English, reaching his hand to greet her and she smiled, stepping forward and gripping his hand, looking him in the eyes, which made him blush harder.
“Nice to meet you too, Takeda!”
Johnny was relieved that they seemed to be getting along and felt dumb for doubting that they would get along in the first place.
Kenshi was oblivious to his son’s embarrassment and was more interested in dusting his bones and fighting. “I believe the best thing to do in a dojo is fighting,” he said and smiled, and Cassie grinned, which made Takeda seem a bit confused.
“Let’s get ready then!” Johnny exclaimed. “Calling dibs on my hubby!”
“You already have dibs on me, idiot American, we’re married,” Kenshi said as they all walked to the room where they kept the clothing and the training materials.
Takeda was insanely embarrassed by Cassie’s lack of embarrassment when she stripped down to her underwear and Johnny found a set of clothes her size. She found Takeda’s embarrassment kind of cute, especially when he turned around so fast he almost tripped. He was the only one already dressed to fight.
“You have a very well-behaved son, babe,” Johnny said, teasing, and Kenshi raised an eyebrow after putting on his clothes and tying a black strip of fabric around his eyes.
“What?”
“He’s very embarrassed that Cassie took off her clothes in front him,” Kenshi was quiet hearing that. “She’s wearing underwear. Let’s make that clear,” Johnny added.
Kenshi hummed and smiled. “He is not familiar with the American ways.”
“I am sorry,” Takeda said, covering his eyes, “I have seen girls in-in bikinis and things but-but not in a dojo.”
Cassie put on the fighting outfit and Johnny looked at the belts and at his daughter, who gave him a look. “If you…”
“Purple.”
“Good.” she said briskly, taking the belt and tying it around her waist.
That seemed to bring Takeda back to reality and turn around seeing her dressed, with the purple belt around her waist. “Purple? That means she’s a 4th Kyu,” he said in Japanese and looked at his dad, who nodded and then at Johnny, who smiled proudly.
“What did you say?”
“Eh… to… your… belt is purple,” Takeda said, and she nodded proudly.
“It sure is,” she said and pointed at him, who stepped back, a little startled, “and I want to fight you!”
Takeda was a 1st Kyu brown belt, which meant he was technically above her as a fighter, but he was being challenged and she was a 4th Kyu. That meant she was a good fighter.
Everyone paired up and started practicing. Johnny was elated to fight with Kenshi at last but they were more into getting their contact fix after a while of fights and practicing that meant that they didn’t get to be lovers as much as they’d like, and Johnny was distracted checking how Cassie was doing fighting with Takeda.
“Ah!” Kenshi gasped when a straight jab that was easily parried connected fully with Johnny’s chest. “Johnny! Are you okay? How did you not parry that!?” He exclaimed when Johnny gasped for air and gripped his shoulders for support. Kenshi gently massaged and his chest. “How!?”
“I’m… fuck, that hurt,” he wheezed. “I was looking at our kids. God distracted.”
Kenshi was upset at having hurt him more than you were supposed to get hurt during a fake fight and he hugged him. “You know I can’t see,” he mumbled.
“Baby, it’s okay,” Johnny said, but welcomed the hug like a blessing. “I’ve gotten much worse blows.”
“Yes, but not from me, someone who loves you,” Kenshi said, sternly and pulled a little away to rub at his chest, “are you sure you are okay?”
“I am,” Johnny said and smiled, kissing him briefly on the lips, “I love you, too,” he said, and Kenshi sighed, “and our kids are bonding… kinda wish you could see it. I mean… Cassie is getting her ass kind of kicked, but Takeda was going soft at first and got Caged.”
Kenshi chuckled. “So, would you say their levels are close?”
Johnny hummed and observed the sweaty children, fighting and finally getting rid of any awkwardness and embarrassment. He wouldn’t say his daughter was quite on Takeda’s level yet, mostly because she didn’t train as much and the training in LA was nothing compared to the training in Japan, but he was proud. “She’s giving him a run for his money even though she’s on the tatami a lot. She’s got that fire in her eyes,” he said and smiled, “and keeps getting up, ready for more.”
“See?” Kenshi said and smiled. “You had nothing to worry about. Our kids are bonding just fine.”
And so they were. After getting her ass majorly kicked and learning some new moves from Takeda himself, who offered to teach her some things and she happily agreed to it, they all sat down for refreshments and a chat and started talking about fighting. Johnny and Kenshi eavesdropped like it was nobody’s business.
“You are an excellent fighter, Cassie-san… eh, Cassie, just… Cassie,” he said and smiled, and she chuckled, “I still have much to learn. I will become the next master of the dojo. I want to become the best,” he told her, and she nodded, “but you can be a good fighter if you keep fighting and learning more… eh… things to do,” he spoke with his hands a lot. His English was quite good, but there were some things he simply didn’t know, “to defeat the person you are fighting.”
“Yeah…” she said with a sigh, “I really wish I could train every day like you, but I need to go to school and then, like, practice is only twice a week, it’s kinda shit, you know?”
Takeda hummed and nodded.
“Your dad and mine teach me things sometimes, but you know, they’re like big name fighters, so they don’t have a lot of time for that… though I spend a lot of time with them. They’re kinda more, like, there,” she showed her palms, “than my mom. She’s always working. I see her maybe once or twice a week and she’s like…” she shrugged, “always in America, so… I don’t know.”
Takeda paid attention to what she was saying, trying not to miss anything and understand everything. “Ah, I see,” he nodded. “I do not get along well with my mom, either. She is a doctor, and she is married to another man. I have a half-brother. I do not enjoy spending time with their family,” he said, not smiling, “I spend more time with our dads than with them.”
Johnny held Kenshi’s hand when he saw his jaw clench and he the anger building up. Kenshi sighed and held his hand, gripping it.
“Baby, we spend enough time with our kids, okay? You heard Cassie, and you heard Takeda.”
Kenshi huffed and nodded. “Yes. It still angers me that she neglects our son when we’re away.”
“Yeah… I mean, Sonya doesn’t neglect Cassie, she’s just not very motherly…” Johnny said quietly so the kids wouldn’t hear that they were talking about them. Johnny snorted, “I still remember when Cassie had her first period… she was panicking and I was panicking,” he said and chuckled. Kenshi laughed softly, “I gripped her by the shoulders and said ‘everything will be okay, baby girl, you are not dying! Daddy will take care of everything!’ and she was crying in the bathroom, and I was a mess of stress and not knowing what to do and then,” he sighed, “I went to the nearest Target and found a random girl working there and almost pleaded with her to explain to me how periods worked and what I should do. I was fucking crying by then, because my baby girl was alone and in distress, bleeding and I didn’t know shit about what was happening,” he said and Kenshi sighed and made a face, “yeah, thankfully this girl was very nice and helpful and told me all I needed to know. I ended up filling a cart with boxes of all the best pads and she told me to get ibuprofen if I didn’t have it because sometimes periods gave cramps, and I was even more scared, because what if my baby was in pain, you know? In the end I knelt in front of her and told her all I’d learned form that girl and gave her a hug…” he said and sighed, “but it was stressful as fuck, we had a laugh later, but at the time… I panicked for real.”
Kenshi relaxed a little, hearing the tales of Johnny’s woes with his daughter’s bodily functions and how he’d handled it. How he’d been there for her and done everything he could on short notice to help her and comfort her. Being the father of a boy, Kenshi didn’t really have that harrowing experience, since he’d gone through all the same things his son had. Even having “the talk” had been relatively uneventful. Takeda had just listened and thanked his father for teaching him all that.
“And we don’t talk about when I had to have “the talk” about sex with her,” Johnny said, shivering. “I still cringe thinking about it. I felt like a priest, and she was looking at me like a child who didn’t want to go to church.”
Kenshi chuckled. “I can imagine.”
And in the end, Johnny had nothing to worry about – Cassie and Takeda got along fine even if he got startled by her American ways, which greatly amused her. Truly Johnny Cage’s kid.
The summer had arrived early, and the weather was smouldering, so they were all happy to rent a small flat in Tokyo Bay to spend a week and go to the Odaiba Beach, which Kenshi swore by, and Johnny knew was a great beach. It wasn’t LA, but it was good enough.
Before Tokyo Bay, they went to Harajuku and Akihabara, and Cassie convinced Kenshi to let her visit Kabukicho in Shinjuku, even though he knew that was not a reputable place. He knew the place was very gentrified and wasn’t what it used to be, but it wasn’t really a place children should be hanging out.
Cassie was thrilled with her anime merch and the amount of cute clothes she’d bought in Akihabara and Harajuku and Takeda found it nice that she was looking a bit more like a Japanese girl – even if it was just the outfits – because it made him feel more comfortable, sort of like he was talking to a friend, maybe a classmate he got along with.
But everyone was delighted to lounge at the Odaiba beach, bond with one another, eat street food and overall have a good time. Takeda didn’t mind Cassie’s bikini – context mattered – and had fun playing beach volleyball with her as their dads lounged on a beach rug under a parasol and were grossly in love with one another, making out under a straw hat that covered their faces. Johnny glanced at their kids now and then to check if they were alright.
“Don’t go too far into the water!” Johnny yelled and Cassie waved him off.
“You heard him, Takeda. She isn’t used to our waters!” Kenshi yelled as well, in Japanese.
“Understood!” Takeda yelled back.
Takeda made sure that Cassie was safe, and they played in the water after she got used to the temperature.
“Ah! Why is it so cold!?”
“It is warm in Okinawa. Maybe when you visit again, we may go there.”
“Your dad said the same! God, this fucking water is freezing!” She exclaimed, but then got used to it and had fun. She didn’t feel like going far, though, the water wasn’t as calm as what she was used to but she enjoyed herself and the company, anyway.
“I think we’re friends,” she said when they were getting prune-y from being in the water for too long, “I like you. You’re not like, you know, boys in America. You’re cute and polite, not handsy and stupid.”
Takeda smiled a little shyly. “I think we are friends, too. You are very different from Japanese girls… I like that you speak your mind and are not afraid to be… eh… yourself, instead of acting shy… I know girls like this, and I do not appreciate the dishonest behavior.”
Cassie liked the way Takeda spoke. Kenshi had spoken like that when she’d met him, too. Stiff, very correct, very polite. She knew that the Japanese had levels of politeness in the way they spoke – Kenshi had told her that – but that wasn’t really a thing in English, so she imagined that Japanese people who weren’t familiar with English and how politeness worked in the language, just resourced to textbook English. Which was fine. She liked it. It wasn’t every day that you met a teenage boy who was kind and polite.
“I do hope our dads bring me over more often, I like Japan and the Japanese,” Cassie said as they walked up the beach to join their dads, “and I think I want to spend more time with you, like training and hanging out,” she said and Takeda smiled a little coy, “maybe you can introduce me to more people our age. I think I’d like that. I’ll work hard on learning Japanese and make my dad learn it, too,” she said, and Takeda chuckled, “yeah, honestly, he’s been with a Japanese man going on five years and doesn’t speak Japanese. What a dork.”
“Who’s a dork?” Johnny asked.
“You are.” Cassie pointed at him and rolled herself up in a towel. Johnny gasped. “You’re married to a Japanese man and speak no Japanese. Shame on you, and your cow! It’s my first time here and I already want to learn it and return!”
Johnny laughed. “We don’t have a cow!”
“Metaphorical cow,” Cassie said.
“I think she has a point,” Kenshi said, and Johnny looked at him. “You could learn it… I would be happy,” he said, looking ahead without seeing, feeling the sea breeze.
And hearing Kenshi say that made Johnny decide that, yes, he was going to learn Japanese. He would sit with his daughter and Kenshi and learn Japanese if it meant making the love of his life happy.
Takeda was used to goodbyes, as was Cassie, so it wasn’t a huge deal when Kenshi, Johnny, and Cassie returned to America. Takeda hugged his dad tightly and hugged Johnny as well. Cassie gave him a big squeeze and kissed his cheek, which made him gasp and turn beet red, widening his eyes and covering his cheek. “it’s not a big deal in America! It’s just a goodbye kiss on the cheek.”
“It isn’t a big deal. It just means she likes you,” Johnny assured and smiled, and Takeda nodded but was breathless.
When they were already on the plane, Kenshi spoke. “I think that was Takeda’s first kiss, Cassie.”
“On the cheek!?”
Kenshi smiled. “It’s not normal to kiss people like that in Japan. You kiss babies, family members and even there it’s kind of unusual, and you kiss lovers.”
“Oh… well, cultural clash,” she said and shrugged nonchalantly, and Johnny laughed. Kenshi chuckled. “Where’s the melatonin? I’m going to sleep,” she said, and Johnny was already getting it for her.
And so, the Takahashi and Cage families connected and bonded and had a great vacation together with the promise of more occasions like that in the future.