Just a few notes: one, where you see /s in quotations, the characters are speaking in Japanese. Two, the title "Hanadoki" is a song from Samurai Deeper Kyo. The pronunciation is "hanadoki" (roughly: flowering season or flowering time), but the kanji used to write it is "sakura-koku" (roughly: sakura season).
-/I've spent most of my life living the way of bushido... and defending those who have needed defending. Of course, in the life of a ninja - especially one like myself or my brothers, one must expect it to be a thankless job. Or so I thought.
It happened on the evening of one of my training runs through Little Tokyo. I had an encounter there that I'm not likely to ever forget.../-
--Hanadoki--
It was a chilly autumn morning, with a misty rain falling over most of Little Tokyo, just outside of downtown Manhattan. Even in weather like this, it was not unusual for Leonardo to be out and about, on a morning training run through different parts of the city. Today, as fate would have it, he had chosen the city's Japanese community.
The buildings were all still dark as dawn cast eerie shades of red and violet against the murky, soot-soaked sky, coloring the clouds from behind and bringing a shimmering sort of light to the once black world. People would be coming awake soon, and soon, he would be called upon to once again test his reflexes, if only to escape the potential of wandering eyes.
The morning was supposed to be uneventful. As usual, he had only intended to make the run through the city, break a personal record or two, and go home, too early still for any of his brothers to have awakened. He had learned from many previous encounters, however, to keep a means of contact on-hand. It would not do to be caught off-guard again, under less forgiving circumstances. Circumstances that could undoubtedly spell death if he was not careful.
Things rarely went according to plan for him. Today was, unfortunately, no different. The sounds of a skirmish of some kind in a nearby alley caught his attention, and though his first instinct was to move away as quickly as possible, the angry Japanese shout of a woman inclined him to move closer.
Peering down into the dank alleyway, he found a few thugs setting upon a much smaller woman. She was small in frame with black hair and brown eyes, dressed very traditionally and looking as if she had been interrupted from an errand of some kind, a bag clutched tightly in one small hand.
"/I don't want any trouble/" she demanded softly, shaking her head once. "/Please, just let me pass./"
Not that this was a good enough excuse for the men. One of the taller ones grinned, bullying the woman up against the wall. "/Well, you're going to get trouble if you don't hand over what's in that bag there./"
The woman stood very straight, bag clutched against her chest as she backed against the wall, staring her attacker down. "/No! It is not yours to take/"
Leonardo frowned as he watched the scene unfold in front of him. The woman was obviously a bold one. Unusual, he thought, given how she dressed.
But when one of the men, seemingly insulted by her brazen nature, stepped forward to grab at her, his thoughts broke clear. He could no longer sit on the sidelines and watch this happen. The teachings of his sensei prohibited it.
Dropping from the roof he stood on, he landed perfectly - right on the back of one of the assailants. The woman stared in obvious shock, trying to scoot back further only when the broken bottle the man had been holding shattered at her feet.
The other two men were also shocked, both by the appearance of an unknown benefactor and by the fact that said benefactor was a giant katana-weilding mutant turtle. The shock soon wore off, however, and upon deciding this must be some sort of joke, the first speaker lunged, a chain spinning over his head to attempt to take down the woman's impromtu savior.
Leonardo acted fast when the man came at him, darting to one side and allowing the chain to wrap about the blade of one of his katana. Then, with a flick of his wrist, he sent the chain flying, and a swift roundhouse sent the first of the two assailants sailing into the wall.
The second man apparently seemed to now be thinking better of attacking the green-skinned stranger. Giving a shout for help, he ran off in the opposite direction, earning himself the better fate of the three thugs.
Of course, this left Leonardo alone in the alley with two unconscious would-be robbers and a frightened Japanese woman holding a wrapped package. She did not scream, however... and she did not run. She just watched him carefully, as if trying to determine whether or not he too was a threat.
"/It's okay/" Leonardo intoned, hoping he had not forgotten the Japanese he and his brothers had been taught since they were old enough to speak. "/I'm not going to hurt you. I'm here to help./" He swallowed. She did not seem any less tense. "/...are you hurt/"
Slowly, the woman nodded, her eyes fixed very carefully upon him. For a moment, neither moved, but without warning, the small woman dropped to a kneel, rapidly grabbing a sliver of broken glass as she cried, "/Behind you/"
Before Leonardo could turn, however, the small girl had flung the shard of glass... and when he looked, it appeared it was with some kind of deadly accuracy. Struck in a pressure point, the man collapsed, rendered unconscious. "/...I... thank you, miss. It would seem we're even, aren't we/"
"/Only partly. You saved me from three men. I only stopped the one./" Calmed somewhat, although still visibly shaken from her ordeal, the woman stood. Her black hair was soaked from the steadily heavier rain, mostly obscuring the deep-set brown eyes that stared at him so boldly. "/Thank you very much, Kame-san. Your kindness will not go unrewarded. I will not forget how you have helped me here today./"
Leonardo blinked, but before he could say another word, the woman had shuffled out of the alley quickly, turning and disappearing into the awakening town.
Not wanting to be caught by an unsuspecting person coming into the alley anymore than she had wanted to be attacked before, Leonardo sighed and moved quickly to a manhole near the back of the alley. Within moments, before the authorities could even step foot into the alley where the men had attacked the woman, he was gone.
It was much later than he intended when Leonardo finally returned to the lair. His brothers were already up and about, and it seemed as if they were all but ready to assemble a search party to find him.
"We were wonderin' where ya got to," Raphael snorted, folding his arms as he watched the blue-clad turtle head towards his room. "Where ya been?"
Leonardo shrugged it off. "I got held up in the rain. I slid off a roof in Little Tokyo and attracted some attention, so I had to hide out for a little while."
This made Michelangelo turn towards him, brow raised. "You? Slipping off a roof? Man, now I've heard everything."
But the jibe fell on deaf ears. Leonardo had already entered his room, hunting down a towel so he could at least dry off before he went to meditate for a while about the events of the morning.
And most importantly, about the little Japanese woman who promised the debt of kindness would be repaid. He supposed his sensei was right. "Flowers leave some of their fragrance in the hand that bestows them."
As he sat down to meditate, he reflected on the day's events and could not help but wonder how that dept was going to be repaid, or even how she intended to find him.
With a sigh, he settled, the thoughts never once leaving his mind. And remembering the one person he had helped in a city of thousands, and how softly she had spoken words of thanks... he was at peace.
--End--