anonymous prompted: Apologies, Leonardo & Karai
TMNT and related properties © Viacom
story © RenaRoo
Apologies
It had been years.
Before, when she had set foot upon the island of Manhattan, she had been a child and a soldier. But at that moment, landing with her guards at full alarm, cautioning herself and the rest of the helicopter onto the landing pad, she was a woman and she was jōnin.
She waited with confident quietness as her hand steadied over her lap. She was in business attire, nothing that would stand out from any other Japanese businesswoman in the Big Apple.
But beneath her surface was something brewing. Something plotting.
She had returned to America and to the site of her greatest personal and familial failures for many reasons. Some even her most trusted Elite were not aware of yet.
"Oroku-sama," her assistant said, quiet and reflective in her own youthful way. "I believe we are ready to leave."
"Are we or aren't we?" Karai demanded shortly. "We do not have time for guesses."
"We are ready to leave," she said, gathering her things closer to her chest.
Karai believed her words fully and stands without reservation, walking out of the helicopter to the dutiful attention of all her guards and ninja. Even the plain dressed soldiers functioning as her pilots and personnel stood as the fearful Oroku Karai walked past their ranks.
They held in attention for her assistant as well, leading to Karai waiting at the end of the line, looking out over the city.
"It wishes to be Tokyo," the girl joked somewhat ruefully.
"There are many things that New York possesses which Tokyo does not, child," Karai told the chūnin. She directed her attention to the distant building top where the glean of binoculars is unmistakable.
A knowing smirk made its home on Karai's lips.
"And the people are unlike any you will have ever seen."
The cool air was biting as Karai took her chūnin onto the New York rooftops that same night.
Gone were the formal business clothes of the day and instead were the uniforms of their clan, embroidered with the fearsome and respected symbol of the Foot Clan.
Though young, her assistant showed more and more promise as a kunoichiunder Karai's careful tutelage. Still, she was brash and unforgiving. Her lack of patience, while hauntingly familiar, was not serving them well as they awaited for their trap to be set.
And surely enough, their midnight run was met with the silent drop of the old nemesis of the Foot Clan.
"Turtle!" the chūnin, still wide eyed and inexperienced gasped out by Karai's side.
Without wasting the time her assistant had, Karai slid between them and stood tall, blade brandished.
Leonardo stood before her, broader than she remembered with a certain worldliness to his gaze that was unfamiliar to Karai. His swords were already drawn as well, but he did not make a hasty move. And though he stuck to the shadows like any good Master Ninja, and his limbs were more covered with wraps and guards than when they had last met years ago, Karai could make out the marks of a hard life.
Not spending a single unnecessary word, Karai stood straight and made a show of sheathing her sword. Then, when Leonardo tilted his head, Karai glared expectantly at her chūnin to do the same.
Reluctantly, she did and Leonardo responded in kind.
Karai reached up and drew down the scarf which had covered most of her face. "Hamato-san," she said simply.
"Oroku-san," he nodded. "I wasn't expecting to see you."
With a knowing smirk, Karai tilted her head in a subtle bow. "I have spent the last several years in Japan undoing the expectations all have held for me."
Leonardo tilted his head curiously at her words but seemed to ultimately accept them at face value. His attention, instead, turned to her assistant before ultimately returning to Karai herself. "What are you doing back in New York, Karai?"
"I came as an example of humility," she announced.
That caught both Leonardo and her chuūnin's attention. And when she dropped to one knee in front of Leonardo, a gasp came from the young ninja behind her.
"In my youth I was brash and I was unworldly, though I pretended to be anything but," she said, head bowed. "My jealousy and my fear led to many terrible things, not the least of which was calling upon the unrested spirit of my ancestor, or the scheming I took part in which caused much suffering of your family and… of you personally, Hamato-san.
"I required age and reason to see the folly of my decisions," she continued. "And now, as the leader of the Japanese Foot Clan, I understand my history better. Our history better… my brother of the Foot. So I ask of you a pardon for past transgressions. And wish to send thanks to your master for teaching me the hardest lesson of all: humility."
There was a chance that Leonardo was not going to accept her request. She knew that even before they left her native soil. But her heart still felt wounded by the stretch of silence after her soul was bared.
Then, in the corner of her eye, she saw a bow. "Your apology is heard. And it is accepted."
Taken the lead, Karai got to her feet once more and noticed the uncomfortable shifting her young ninja was doing by her side.
"Learn by example, my chūnin," Karai warned the girl fiercely. "Or you will be made an example of. Have I not told you before that I am all too familiar with that rebellious spirit?"
"Your lesson is heard, Mistress," the ninja assured her quickly.
"Good," Karai nodded. "Then you are ready to truly learn." Her eyes shifted back to Leonardo who was waiting patiently. "It is my humble request, as leader of the Japanese chapter of the Foot Clan, that our brothers and sisters in the New York Clan will take on a new student. My listless daughter, Pimiko."
"What?" both chūnin and Leonardo questioned at once.
"I have heard that you have students, Master Leonardo. Those under your wing – human, mutant, and some other strange assortments who are ripples of our youthful journeys," Karai said pointedly.
"I do, but…" Leonardo's eyes did not leave Pimiko.
"Mistress," Pimiko begged. "You are at risk in Japan. The wars between our clan and–"
"Which is precisely why my daughter shall be safe and shall be learning," Karai said firmly, silencing Pimiko's rebellious tongue at once. When she looked back at Leonardo, she could see the reservation clearly on his face. "Please, Leonardo. I am already in your debts for so many things. But this… this is an opportunity for you to mold the next generation, as you have been doing already. But this – my daughter – will be an opportunity for you and your family to once more lead the spirit of the Foot Clan. So please, I beg you. If you accept my apology, please also accept this opportunity."
Pimiko sent a scornful eye toward Leonardo but it did not daunt him.
"Alright," he said, offering his hand.
"Very well," Karai breathed in relief, accepting the hand in a shake.
It was the beginning of a new era, and Karai could feel it in the lightness of her bones.