PROMISE
Karai managed to slip away from the low-ranked Foot soldier charged with babysitting her in a matter of minutes. It was too easy at the crowded docks, and Father had already started teaching her how to be a kunoichi. She was drawn to the enormous, colorful shipping crates and ran down the pebbled aisles between them, arms flung out to either side, pretending to fly like an airplane.
A metallic clank made her stop in her tracks, her heart skipping. She didn't want to go back to the boring warehouse already. She heard sniffles, then the crunch of footsteps retreating in the gravel. She followed the noise as silently as possible before revealing herself dramatically around the corner of a red container. "Hah!"
Nothing could have prepared her for the shocked turtle boy that shrunk back from her. The front part of his shell was yellowish and the rest of him was green, even his eyes. He stood and balled his fists suddenly, glaring at her, his cheeks moist.
"Are you crying?"
"No!" he denied angrily.
A slash marked him down one shoulder. Whatever made the wound had embedded into his shell, taking a jagged sliver with it.
"Who hurt you?" Karai asked.
"Everyone that's seen me," he growled.
He was so small and cute, she couldn't imagine anyone wanting to harm him. "I won't hurt you," she assured him quickly.
"Huh, I'm not scared of you," he quipped, his hands relaxing.
"I am a ninja. I could beat you up if I wanted to."
"Suuure," he drawled, rolling his eyes.
"I'm Karai. I'm almost six years old," she said cheerfully.
The turtle boy looked her over and shifted his weight from foot to foot. "I'm Raphael. I'm four."
"That's a funny name," Karai giggled, and Raphael scowled at her. "Do you live here? Where is your family?"
He looked down at the ground forlornly, and his eyes misted up again. "I fell into the water and this hole opened up and I thought I was gonna drown but I got dumped out into the lake. I'm lost. My dad probably thinks I'm dead," he said morbidly.
"How about your mother?" Karai asked.
"I don't have one. I have brothers. I want to go home," he whined, his bottom lip jutting out.
"I don't have a mother or brothers," she said quietly, wrapping her arms around herself solemnly.
Raphael hadn't meant to make her sad, so he hugged her and apologized like Sensei had taught him to do when he made his brothers cry. She hugged him back and was soft and warm and the first nice thing to happen to him in days.
"Raphael, do you want to be my brother?" she asked hopefully. "I'm always by myself. I could take you home with me on our plane tonight."
Raphael shook his head no. Surely his father would find him soon. Right?
"I have to go back now before I get in big trouble," Karai sulked, letting go of him and walking away. She turned once to wave, and Raphael automatically lifted his hand to copy her.
He shivered as her warmth left him. He had passed day after day waiting for Sensei, tired, cold, hungry, hurt, scared and lonely. His lip trembled with indecision as Karai started to disappear down the row. He could have a home. Today.
"Wait!" he called shakily. "Karai, I wanna go."
She stopped and her face lit up in a giant smile. Raphael ran to her, his arms circling her waist as he buried his face in her stomach. He squeezed his eyes shut and clung to her, letting the terrors of his time fending for himself melt away. Karai pet his head and took his hand, leading him out into the world of men.
His hand trembled as they walked out into the open. Karai turned and looked down at him, an amber glint in her eye. "I'm your big sister now," she said seriously, "and I promise no one is ever going to hurt you again."