Mask and the Leader
Early morning found Leonardo awake and on his way to the kitchen for his tea.
This first cup of the day was the only caffeinated drink he allowed himself; after the difficult task of waking his brothers for practice and then brow beating them into some semblance of order, he switched to green tea for its mellowing effects.
As he approached the kitchen he heard sounds and assumed Master Splinter had beaten him to brewing the tea. No one else in the household was an early riser unless forced.
Instead of his Father, Leo saw Raphael standing at the counter mixing something into a bowl. With a deep frown, Leo noted that Raph's new pit bull dog, Mask, was seated near her master's feet.
Mask either sensed or smelled him as Leo approached; he was much too silent for even her sensitive ears to detect. Her head turned swiftly, ears pointing forward and top lip curling back to show sharp teeth.
"Raphael," Leo said in a low, warning tone.
Raph glanced up and then quickly stomped on Mask's leash, which lay on the floor nearby. She was on her feet in almost the same instant and the leash pulled at the collar around her neck, giving her no room to move.
Unperturbed, Leo observed mildly, "She doesn't like me."
"Hey, I can't help it that she associates your fancy Ginsu steak knives with the guy that sliced her up. Maybe if ya' didn't walk around with 'em strapped on all of the time she'd get used ta ya'," Raph said, setting the bowl on the ground in front of his dog.
Mask ignored the freshly prepared meal in favor of maintaining a rigid, watchful stance. Her fangs were still prominently displayed and where her flank touched his leg, Raph could feel the faintest vibration of a low growl.
"There is as much chance of that happening as of you leaving your sais in your room," Leo said. "Neither of us is foolish enough to be that unprepared in case of an attack."
"Ain't that a fuckin' sad commentary on our lives," Raph said, leaning down to knead the skin on the back of Mask's neck.
"Unfortunate, but true," Leo acknowledged.
Going around the table and thus avoiding getting near the dog; Leo pulled the tea jar down from the cabinet and then filled the tea pot with water.
"Go ahead and eat girl; he ain't gonna bother ya'," Raph murmured to Mask.
Despite his efforts at soothing her, Mask refused the food as her body turned with each of Leo's movements.
"Practice in twenty minutes," Leo reminded Raph as he waited for the water to boil. "What are you going to do with her?"
He was leaning back against the counter and indicated Mask with a nod of his head. The gesture earned him a sharp bark.
"I guess I'll take Mask and her food up ta my room. She sure as shell ain't gonna eat while you're in here. I guess your ugly mug made her lose her appetite," Raph said with a grin.
"And yet somehow she manages to look at yours," Leo murmured. "There is no accounting for taste."
With Mask safely ensconced in his room, Raph joined his brothers in the dojo for morning practice. Leo paired Don with Mikey; then he and Raph faced off to work on their falls.
Only a few minutes in, the sounds of Mask's excited barking echoed throughout the lair. Leo lifted an eye ridge as he stared at Raph, who merely shrugged and returned to practicing.
After another ten minutes the dog's barks turned to frenzied howls, followed by loud banging and the sound of her nails scrabbling at Raph's wooden door.
"She sounds pissed, dude," Mikey said, pausing to look towards the bedrooms.
Raph was concentrating on trying to get a solid grip on Leo's arms and didn't bother to answer. He was determined to ignore Mask; not doing so would just give Leo more ammunition in his arguments about the dog.
Just as Leo hooked a foot behind Raph's ankle and swept his leg out, a loud crunching noise and a crash resounded from upstairs. Raph fell back on his carapace and before he could roll out of it, something flashed past the corner of his eye.
Mask swept past him, running fast and straight at Leo.
The dog was all business now; fur bushed on the back of her neck, tail straight back, teeth showing and eyes wide.
Leo heard Mikey and Don yelling something. He was aware of Raphael attempting to get to his feet but knew his brother wouldn't be quick enough.
With narrowed eyes, Leo watched Mask come at him. His mental training reduced her movements to a slow motion dance. Ignoring his katanas, Leo's hands came forward just as she leaped for his throat.
Spinning to the side of her flying body with snakelike speed, Leo caught the back of Mask's head and her shoulder blades and shoved her to the ground.
Growling, snapping and writhing beneath Leo's hands, Mask's frenzied movements became more agitated with each passing moment. Foam flecks dotted the corners of her mouth and her nails dug at the floor.
Raph rushed to Leo's side and grabbed Mask's collar.
"Back up Leo; I've got her," Raph growled.
Leo quickly released the dog and stepped away. Mask slid and slipped until her feet were on the ground; her eyes quickly locating Leonardo. Barking and lunging at him, Mask tried to tear herself free from Raph's grasp.
"Calm down, Mask. Enough girl. It's okay baby; I'm here, I've gotcha," Raph crooned to her in his deepest, most soothing tone.
"Why'd she go all crazy like that?" Mikey asked after Mask began to settle down.
Raph shook his head. "I have no idea."
"I think I do," Don said from the doorway.
He had disappeared after Leo grabbed Mask and now he stood there holding a broken board; the scratches from Mask's nails fully evident in the wood.
"Is that from my door?" Raph asked incredulously.
Don nodded. "Yep. Looks like she was battering her head against it and clawing at the wood until she worked a piece loose. After that she just latched on with those incredibly strong jaw muscles of hers and ripped an opening that she could fit through."
"Why?" Raph squatted next to her, draping an arm over her shoulder and pulling her still quivering form against his plastron.
"If you want an educated guess, I would say she heard you and Leo down here practicing and thought the two of you were fighting. Normally pits aren't guard dogs, but her past experience with whoever gave her those scars has colored her outlook. She was trying to save you," Don said.
"Oh yeah?" Raph asked rhetorically, a big grin on his face. Looking down at his dog, he said, "That right girl? Were you trying to protect me from big, mean Leo?"
Mikey snorted and Leo crossed his arms over his plastron. The familiar gesture pushed the grin off of Raph's face. If Leo protested the dog on the basis of her being a safety concern, Raph knew Master Splinter would banish her.
Raph looked up slowly, trying to read from his older brother's expression just what the leader might be thinking. Raph's face was an open book; fear and consternation both quite evident.
Mikey and Don were also watching Leo's body language for some clue to what he was thinking. After a long, silent moment; Leo sighed.
"Raph, you and Don are going to have to repair that door and I'd suggest making it Mask proof this time," Leo said, his lips curving upwards slightly. "It would also be a good plan for the two of us to interact in a more amicable fashion in front of her; maybe then she'll begin to understand that I'm not the enemy."
The grin reappeared on Raph's face and he stood up, his grip on Mask's collar still solid.
"Come on then; I got a great idea how we can start doin' stuff together. Mask ain't had her morning constitutional yet," Raph said.
Raph led Mask from the dojo so he could go and grab her leash. Leo rubbed a hand over his face and eyed a smiling Michelangelo and a smug Donatello.
"Not a word you two," Leo warned with a sheepish look on his face. "I've suddenly gone from training ninjas to dog duty."
Mikey was practically laughing out loud. "Yeah and you just signed on to be best pals with Raph. I always heard pit bulls were strong, but damn, I never knew they were that powerful. She just brokered a peace accord that the United Nations would be proud of."