A/N: The one-shot plot bunny strikes again! That, combined with 's word of the day, means I didn't get much homework done today... :)
Disclaimer: I don't own the turtles, or Karai. Not that I'd want Karai. But who DOESN'T want turtles? Regardless, I don't own.
Confabulation
"Whaddya mean, you don't remember?!" Raph demanded. "How can you forget where ya were for almost an entire day?! How can you forget ending up in a bloody heap in the back of an alley?!"
"Leave me alone," Mikey sniffed, curling up in a ball on the couch where he had woken up to see his brothers surrounding him with worried faces. "I said, I don't remember."
Heaving a sigh, Leo stood from his position on the floor in front of his youngest brother. Motioning for the other two to follow him, Leo forced a smile to his face as he glanced down at Mikey.
"I'm sure it'll come back to you eventually," he said, keeping a note of optimism in his voice even as he half hoped his brother would never remember what had happened to him that day – whatever it was, it had been a long time since he had seen so many bruises on Mikey. "We'll let you rest. If you need anything, just give us a call."
"Leo-" Raph started, but he snapped his beak shut when he caught the look in Leo's eyes. Growling low to himself, he followed Donny and Leo out into the kitchen. "Well, Fearless?" he hissed quietly so Mikey wouldn't hear from the other room. "Now what?"
"I don't know," Leo hissed back. "Donny, why would he not be able to remember where he was?"
"Well," Donny started slowly. "If he has a head injury, that could cause a temporary amnesia. Or if…" he trailed off, unhappy with where his train of thought was going. Leo's eyes bored into him.
"Or if… what?" he prodded quietly.
Donny sighed miserably. "Or if it was traumatic enough, he could have repressed the memories subconsciously."
"What are ya sayin'?" Raph demanded. "He was hurt badly enough that he don't want to remember?"
"I don't know," Donny said quickly. "His physical injuries didn't seem to be all that bad, but…"
"Not that bad?! There's bruises all over him!" Raph yelled, earning a reproachful glare from Leo.
"There's bruises all over him," Raph repeated, dropping his voice back down to a whisper again.
"I know, but that's my point… he's just bruised, and a little bloody. It's possible that someone hurt him much worse without leaving any marks, of course, but I've been checking his vitals and there doesn't seem to be any severe internal damage. It's also possible that he's repressing memories because of emotional torture rather than physical."
"Emotional… torture?" Raph repeated, breathing heavily to keep himself from going postal. "What, ya mean someone was messing with his head?"
"I don't know!" Donny sighed in frustration. "I don't know what happened! And neither does he, so there's not much we can do!" He jumped back as Raph released some of his stress on the kitchen table beside him, leaving a substantially sized dent in the heavy wood.
"I'm going topside," Raph growled, spinning around and stomping out the door. Whoever had done this to his baby brother would pay, and pay dearly, even if he had to interrogate every person in New York City to find out who was responsible. Watching him leave, Leo and Donny exchanged worried glances.
"Is there any way to know how long it'll take for him to remember?" Leo asked quietly. Donny shook his head, and Leo sighed. "Master Splinter finally fell asleep, but he wanted me to let him know when Mikey woke up. I'll go tell him what's happened."
In the other room, Michelangelo listened unhappily. He knew his brothers were worried about him but he honestly couldn't remember how he had ended up in the alley; he remembered going out early in the afternoon, heading for April's house for some supplies that Donny had wanted but was too busy to get. The next thing he remembered was waking up, apparently having been found by his brothers just after nightfall. All he knew was that he hurt... BAD.
"Come on, Mikey… think!" he whispered to himself, closing his eyes and focusing as hard as he could. He didn't want the memories repressed… he wanted to know what had happened just as much as his brothers, preferably before they got hurt trying to figure it out for him.
"I was on my way to April's… I was on my way to April's… come on! What kind of idiot doesn't remember getting beat up?"
"My son!" Mikey's eyes snapped open as he heard the familiar voice. Splinter hurried into the room, his face creased with worry. Leo and Donny both came in behind the rat as their father knelt by Mikey and grasped his hand.
"My son, I'm so relieved to find you awake!" Splinter said, his voice filled with emotion. "Leonardo tells me that you cannot recall who did this to you?"
Mikey shook his head slowly. "I'm sorry, Sensei… I'm trying to remember…"
"Was it the Foot?" Leo demanded. "I've been tracking their movements… there's been some activity around the area where we found you. Do you remember running into any of the Foot ninja?"
"I'm… I'm not sure…"
"That would explain a lot," Donny said thoughtfully, rubbing his chin. "Bishop wouldn't have left him there, and any other stranger would've called the media."
"And the Purple Dragons have been focusing all their efforts on the other end of the city," Leo continued. "Who else does that leave?" He turned back to Mikey, repeating his original question. "Do you think it may have been the Foot?"
"Focus, my son," Splinter said encouragingly. "Focus your thoughts… your memories may be buried, but you need only to dig deep enough to uncover them."
"I…" Mikey trailed off, looking helplessly up at the faces that stared hopefully down at him. He closed his eyes again. Focus… he thought to himself. Focus on the Foot. They must have been there, just REMEMBER!
Concentrating with all his might, Mikey jumped slightly as an image sprang into his mind. A crowd of black-clad Foot ninja… a fist flying in his direction… a woman smiling viciously down on him…
"Mikey?" Donny asked, concerned.
"Karai…" Mikey whispered shakily. Tears came to his eyes but did not fall. "It was Karai…"
oOo oOo oOo
Raph's feet pounded on the rooftops beneath him, his breath coming heavily from the exertion of running as long and hard as he had. His head refused to clear, always returning to the image of his youngest brother, lying on that cold alley floor. It was a good thing that he had listened to Leo's worrying for once and gone to look for their wayward brother. He hated to think how long it would have taken them to find Mikey otherwise, or worse… who else might have found him first.
The turtle slowed to a stop as he realized he had found his way back to the alley where they had discovered Mikey in the first place. They had been in too much of a hurry to get Mikey home before, they hadn't really had time to look around for some clue of who was responsible. Maybe he could poke around a bit now…
He suddenly dropped to the rooftop, flattening himself against it as he heard the tell-tale rustling of cloth as Foot ninja filled the alley below. Almost simultaneously, his shell-cell started buzzing and he quickly flicked it open.
"Yeah?" he grunted softly, keeping his eyes fixed on the woman at the front of the pack of ninja.
"Raph? It's Leo. Mikey's remembered what happened to him. He was ambushed by Karai and her Foot ninja. They're the ones who hurt him."
"How lucky for me," Raph whispered dangerously. "That means I ain't gonna hafta track anyone down. She saved me the trouble and came right to me."
"What?" Leo's voice rose in worry. "Karai's there? Where are you, Raph? Stay put, we'll come back you-"
"Sorry, Fearless," Raph whispered as he closed the phone. "I ain't waitin' around for nothin'."
Getting back to his feet, Raph jumped from the rooftop, latching on to a fire escape and sliding down to land with a thud behind the ninja, yelling as he did.
"Karai!"
The Foot spun in response to his voice, Karai drawing her sword in one swift movement. Her face barely concealed the shock of Raph appearing out of the gloom behind her.
"Raphael," she acknowledged with frosty wariness. Her eyes probed the shadows around them. "And where are your brothers?"
"Funny you should mention that," Raph growled. "I'm gonna settle that score right here and now. Just you an' me, Karai."
Karai raised an eyebrow, huffing in impatience. They were never going to make their deadline at this rate… taking a calculated risk, Karai motioned for her ninja to continue on. After all, she could easily handle one turtle, if it came to a fight. Knowing their penchant for honor, of course, Karai seriously doubted Raphael would attack her first, unprovoked as he was. Since she'd had no contact with any of them in months, there was clearly some sort of misunderstanding afoot.
As the rest of the Foot melted off into the night on their way, Raph began circling Karai slowly, his sai at the ready.
"What's this, you're actually gonna fight fair?" he said mockingly, with a hint of actual surprise. "No crowd of ninja to help you gang up on one turtle? You shoulda given Mikey the same consideration, and maybe I wouldn't hafta be here for my pound of flesh. You're gonna pay."
"What are y-"
Not waiting for her to finish, Raph launched himself forward, sai spinning like giant, steel pinwheels of vengeance. Karai parried his attack automatically, shocked that the turtle had actually attacked her. What was going on?
Her confused thoughts slowed her down only a fraction of a second, but when facing a furious turtle who had been trained in the art of ninjitsu, a fraction of a second was the difference between triumph and failure. Raph pressed his advantage relentlessly, attacking again and again while Karai hopped acrobatically around him, blocking desperately. She wished now she had not sent her warriors on ahead of her – whatever reason the turtle believed he had for fighting her, he was out for blood. Facing him alone was, in retrospect, not the smartest decision she had ever made. But then, she had made more than one bad choice in her life.
Feinting to the left, Karai swung her swords around to the other side, scoring a deep gash in Raph's upper arm. Raph roared in pain, moving with lightning speed to trap her swords in the prongs of his sai. With a flick of his wrist, he twisted the swords out of Karai's grasp and flung them to the side. Karai flipped away from him, but the turtle was now standing between her and her only weapons.
"You shouldn't have messed with our little brother, Karai," Raph growled, twirling his sai casually. "Did you think we would stand by and let you get away with that? You're going to pay for what you did."
"I have done nothing!" Karai growled back, still stepping slowly away from the angry turtle. "I have not seen any of you since our last fight!"
"Don't lie to me, Karai!" Raph snapped. "You hurt Mikey bad enough that he couldn't even tell us what happened at first!" He smiled grimly. "But he remembered eventually, Karai. You couldn't break him!"
"I did not try to!" Karai insisted. "I tell you, I never touched him! If he says that I did, he is lying!"
This, as it turned out, was the worst thing Karai could have said to Hamato Raphael. With a roar of fury, the red-banded turtle threw himself forward, Karai ducking just in time. Rolling out of the way, she dashed towards her fallen swords, but a pair of strong arms grabbed hold of her before she could reach them and she felt herself flying through the air to land heavily on the ground, the air knocked out of her.
"You deserve this, you know." Karai looked up to see the huge turtle silhouetted against the bright moon. There was no mercy in his eyes.
"I may not be innocent in all things," Karai gasped out, wheezing for breath. "But I tell you, I am innocent of hurting Michelangelo. If you kill me for this crime, unarmed as I am-"
"I ain't gonna kill ya, Karai," Raph sneered. "We turtles got more honor than that… unlike you! But I am gonna make sure you never try nothin' like this ever again. I am gonna make sure Mikey's avenged… mark for mark."
Karai glared at her opponent, letting out a cry of pain as he moved forward and struck, scaring away a bird that had been perched nearby.
If the bird had been witness to the strange events that had transpired much earlier that day – an enormous turtle, goofing off, prancing around the rooftops, losing footing, hitting his head and falling down nearly twenty stories, bouncing off outcroppings and ledges, to land miraculously alive and unconscious on the alley below, protected by its shell – the bird wasn't saying.
A/N: Different? Um... yes. But hey, even turtles can make mistakes. This may seem a little OOC, but confabulation is a legitimate psychological occurrence, so this isn't really all that unbelievable. And let's face it... who would YOU have believed? Mikey or Karai? ;) Reviews are great!
PS... it's ok to feel bad for Karai. I actually really like her character, but I had to abuse her rather badly for this story. Sorry, fellow Karai fans. :(