The Dark Forest
Disclaimer: I do not own the TMNT. It belong to their rightful owners, Peter Laird and Kevin Eastman.
"Yay! It's done! I must show this to mother!" shouted a young little girl who was about 4 or 5 years old as she put her crayons down. She has blue hair, green eyes and a red ribbon that sat on top of her head, that suited very well with her red checked dress and polka dot shoes. She grabbed her picture and ran downstairs to her mother, who was sitting on her chair, reading a book. Her mother looks just like her daughter; blue hair, emerald eyes and a nice smile.
"Mother, look! Look what I've drawn mother!" little Mizuki waved her picture as her mother closed her book and gave her a warm, comforting smile. She put the book on the desk next to her, stands up and walked towards her. She took the picture that Mizuki had drawn. She is happily surprised.
"Oh my, what a beautiful drawing! You draw beautifully, Mizuki. You're quite an artist." Inori said as she pats her daughter's head. Mizuki giggled and thanked her. She ran to the other side of the house and looked through the window. The weather is great.
"Ah..." Mizuki leaned to the window to get a better view. "Mommy! The weather is really nice today! Look at the birds!" Mizuki pointed at the couple of blue birds singing, flying around together. "They are having so much fun, and they're in a good mood today!" she noted.
"Hey Mommy! Can I..." Mizuki stopped talking as she saw her mother with a frown on her face. She looked depressed. Was it something she said?
"...Mizuki..." Inori said. Inori really want to let her daughter go outside and play in the small field with the wildlife, but...there are some people who can't accept them for who they are. They think they are monsters, which made Inori anxious and scared to lose her only daughter.
"Umm... It's nothing." she smiles at her mother. "Hey Mommy! Can you sing a song to me? A song?" Mizuki changed the subject and ran towards to her mother, who is smiling again. Inori look at Mizuki and smiled.
"Okay. Let's sing together." Inori replied as she smiles at her daughter. Mizuki nods and she sits close to her mother. When they are comfortable, they took a deep breath and started to sing.
Mizuki and her mother, Inori, lived in the middle of the forest. In the night, it was so dark and pitch black that you can't see anything. All you could see through the window are a bunch of trees surrounding the house they live in. In fact, it was Mizuki who came up with the name; The Dark Forest.
Mizuki never met her father, but her mother would sometimes tell stories about him. His name was Shinku, a kind, sweet, but at times, a childish man. From what her mother knows about him, she told Mizuki that he was a student of a man named Hamato Yoshi. He's very respectful and loyal to his Sensei. They both made a promise that they won't see each other for their sake because someone thinks the monster is still alive. "What monster? What's a Kraang?" Mizuki thought. She never knew.
Her mother also told Mizuki that she has a twin brother. His name is Leon and he's the eldest. When she gave birth to Leon and Mizuki, her father Shinku decided that he will take Leon with him to Japan, so that he can live there in peace, but also find his Sensei, if he's still alive. As for Inori, she will stay in New York to raise her daughter and live in her grandparent's house, which is the house they live in now. Before they said their goodbyes, they told each other that they wil never forget them and never stop loving each other.
Mizuki wanted to go outside so badly, but her mother told her that once she grows up as an adult, she can go outside. Inori said that the world is beautiful, but also dangerous. There are cruel, selfish people in this world, but there's also kind and friendly people to. The world is filled with adventures.
"Mizuki. When you grow up, you will understand why I'm keeping you inside. Promise me that you'll not go outside until you are old enough." Inori told her. Mizuki nods.
Mizuki then starts to wonder what could exist outside of the forest. Do the heroes and princesses in books and fairy tales really exist? Mizuki has also been wondering how long she has to wait to become an adult, just like her mother. Everynight, when she can't sleep, she always thinks and wonders with the the same thought that had been stuck in her mind: "Will I really be able to become an adult?"
While Mizuki is asleep at night, her mother would write on her dairy for her daughter to read when she grows up. On her diary, it said that she loves her daughter so much that she wanted to protect her from cruel people so that nothing bad ever happens to her. It also said that she started to miss her true love, her husband, Shinku, back in Japan. She also misses her son, Leon. She tries to send letters to her husband. On the diary, it has a little message which appears to be one of the letters she wrote. It said:
Hello Shinku. How are you? How's Leon? I miss you both very much. How are you both? What's been going on there in Japan? Anything new? I wish we could meet one day. I miss everyting about you and Leon. Mizuki wants to meet you both so badly. Please come back.
Your true love, Inori.
The next morning came, and Mizuki was bored, so she decided to help her mother clean the house. Her mother gave her the cloth to clean the cups, plates and tables while her mother sweeps the dust away with her old broom that Mizuki's grandmother used. They both sang and whistled their favourite songs, making cleaning up fun. Eventually, they finished cleaning the house and sat down on the chair so they can have their break for a minute. Despite Mizuki cleaning the house with her mother, she is still bored, so she grabs her sketch pad and her crayons to draw. When she finished drawing her picture, she was going to show it to her mother. She ran to her mother, but when she got there, she saw her mother sleeping on the chair.
"Mother is sleeping." Mizuki thought. She then pulled an annoying face to her mother to be sure that she really asleep, but then she heard a whistle. Mizuki ran to the window and smiled when she saw the two blue birds flying around the other day.
"Hmm...Mother is still sleeping." Mizuki grinned as turned her head to see her mother still sleeping, possibly she could have heard a little snore from her. "Maybe I should go outside. I'm sure mother won't mind if I was outside for a little bit?" Mizuki took one last look at her mother to be absolutely sure that she's still sleeping, then she turned around to the front door. She couldn't stop smiling when she reached and held the door knob. She soon started to have second thoughts about what her mother would say if she found out, and how she broke her promise, but completely forgot about it when she pushed the front door open. She can smell the flowers and the fresh air and took her very first step outside of the house. It feels nice to be outside. Plus, she didn't know that there were so many flowers in the garden.
"Perhaps I could make mother a flower crown. I know she will love it!" Mizuki smiles as she sits on the grass and picks some flowers for her mother.
When she finishes building a flower crown for her mother, she heard some twigs snap. Mizuki turned her head to look at the forest and saw two teenage boys approaching. One was big and fat while the other was small and skinny. They were both wearing black clothes, they looked like robberers. The fat teenage boy thought that she's a monster.
"Let's take her!" the skinny boy said. The fat teenage boy agreed, so while the skinny boy grabbed some wooden sticks from the forest, the big one held a giant bag to kidnap her. They both slowly approached her, laughing and grinning at the same time, making Mizuki scared. She didn't move.
Inori woke up from her sleep and noticed her daughter was missing. She ran upstairs to her room while calling her name, but no answer. Inori called her name one last time and finally she heard something.
"MOTHER!" Inori looked though the window and saw her daughter being taken away. She ran downstairs as fast as she could. When she was outside, she found her daughter in the garden, screaming while the two teenage boys bullied her. The skinny boy was pulling Mizuki's blue hair while the fat teenage boy was ready to kidnap her. Just as the fat boy was about to put the bag over her head, he looked at Inori and felt like something was crawling inside his skin. He screamed as he couldn't move, slowly turning into stone.
The skinny boy screamed in fear and ran towards Inori so he could hit her with his stick. Inori ran back to the house, but she tripped and fell to the ground with her foot trapped in weed and branches. As he jumped in the air, ready to attack her with the heavy wooden stick, he looked into Inori's eyes and immediately turned to stone, but despite that happening, the statue had removed the stick from his hands and fell. Inori didn't have enough time to react and soon, she felt a slight bang and crack on her head. As the statue fell to the side, she started to feel weak. She was starting to have a headache and felt something coming out of her head. She put her hand to where her head hurts and cried when she looked at her own blood on her hand. She can feel her blood rapidly coming out of her cracked head.
"MOTHER!" Mizuki cried as she ran to check on her. "Mother! Oh no!" She fell on her knees and started to cry as soon as she saw a lot of blood coming out of her head. "I'm so sorry!" Mizuki apologised. "Please stay with me mother!" Mizuki cried.
"It's okay, Mizuki." Inori whispered her last words as she moved her hand to wipe the tears that were falling on her cheek. She slowly closed her eyes and fell back. She was gone. Mizuki cried for her mother. She cried for hours.
Later that day, as the sun slowly starts to set, she dug a big hole next to her house, long enough so that she could bury her mother. Mizuki was able to stop the bleeding by putting some cloth and bandages from the first aid kit around her head and was able to get her out of the branches. It was a struggle, but she managed. She started to cry again as she put on the flower crown that she made for her mother. Mizuki then dragged her body to the hole. She watched her mother in the hole, now sleeping peacefully. She took out Inori's blanket from her room and covered her body with it. She then took out her pictures that she drew, the ones that her mother loved the most, and threw them on top of her body.
As night fell, the sky was covered with grey clouds. Mizuki had finished burying her mother, putting the stone stick that killed her mother above her grave and stuck a piece of paper on the stone with her mother's name on it: Mother Inori. It then started to rain.
"Mother! I'm so sorry!" Mizuki screamed as she fell on her knees, regreting what she had done. "If I never left the house, you would still be alive!" She looked up at the sky, letting the rain fall onto her face and started to sing. It was a lullaby that her mother used to sing to her when she couldn't sleep.
When she finished singing, she went inside the house and locked the door with her key. She sat on the couch and started to miss her. She misses the sweet warm hugs that Inori gave her, the songs they sang together. Everything.
"In a world like this, I really hate it. I wish...I wish it would all just go away. I wish all of this never happened." She whispered as she buried her head to her knees. When she looked up again, she saw a book. She opened it and started reading it and soon realised that it was a diary, but not just any diary. It was Inori's diary!
She started reading it and the more she turned the pages, the more she knew not only about her mother's powers, but what shocked her the most, was that she had powers! And her grandmother too!
"Oh my gosh! Grandmother, mother and I have powers! We're like the monsters, like in the books!" She gasped. "That's why my mother always told me to stay inside! Becuase I can get killed, like the monsters in the books!"
Mizuki then remembered her mother's promise that she won't go outside until she became a adult...
"I'm really sorry for breaking our promise mother. And I'm so sorry for being so stupid. Even when it's just us, you made me feel as if I was the happiest person in the whole world. And now you're gone beacuse of me, I'll never see you again..." Mizuki sniffed when she finished her sentence.
She then realises that she has a problem. A big problem. Now that her mother is gone, she is all alone. She has little food, little water and little heat and warmth. She can't stay here. She wouldn't be able to take care of herself. She's too young. She'll die if she stays. At first, that's what she wanted, so she can be with her mother, but at the same time, she wanted to meet her father and brother. And she always wanted to know what else was outside of the forest. Mizuki would have to break her mother's promise if she wanted to leave.
And that's what she did the next day. She grabbed her backpack, put all of her belongings inside and took the picture of her mother and herself. She started to think positive and act all brave now that she knows that she has powers, but she wonders what powers she could have. It never said in the diary because Mizuki never used them.
When she finished packing her stuff, she got dressed, wearing her red dress and red ribbon, and went downstairs. She left the house and locked the door with the key. She went down the steps and walked away from the house she grew up in with her mother. Just before she enters the dark forest, she looked back one last time at the house and her mother's grave.
"Goodbye mother..." she frowned when she said that. She looked at the forest and made her way in, where she would later find her way out of the dark forest and into the big city of New York, being adopted and raised by several people, later growing up as an adult, then meeting Chloe and Ben, April and Casey, and eventually, the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, where they would go and have several adventures together, but there's still one thing she still wonders. Will she ever meet her father and brother?