This story takes place before "annihilation earth"; it's inspired by the moment in "tale of the yokai" where you see Master Splinter's (Yoshi) dad. I thought that maybe he might come looking for his son, after he disappeared in America.
The four ninja turtles were on patrol one evening...
"What's that noise?" asked Mikey suddenly. All the turtles stopped for a moment to listen. They were on one of the many roofs on New York, very close to the area that the purple dragons liked to call "theirs".
They could hear shouting and then a " thud".
"It's coming from over there..." Leo jestered to the side alley, that was on the right of the building that they were on.
"Sounds like a fight," Raph grinned, cracking his knuckles, " I could do with a warm up,"
The four brothers quietly walked over to the edge of the roof, that was above the side alley, and stared. An old guy was beating up the purple dragons! He was obviously an experienced ninja, and was very strong, even if he looked old enough to be the turtle's grandfather.
"Guys," Donnie whispered suddenly, " Look at his pendant!".
They all stared. It was the Hamato clan symbol!
"He might know Master Splinter!"Leo breathed excitedly.
"How do we know he's not a spy from the Shredder?" Raph asked quietly.
"That's an authentic wooden Hamato clan pendant, I don't think that even the Shredder could have got his hands on that," Donnie replied.
"Guys, he's getting away!" Mikey pointed out. Indeed, after defeating the purple dragons, the mysterious stranger who bore that Hamato symbol was working away.
"Then let's follow him!" Leo said, getting up.
Five minutes later
The old ninja had led them to the post office, then the newsagents, and was now bringing them to a back alley for no apparent reason. Earlier the turtles thought that he was looking for something or someone, but now they were just confused.
When he was out of the view of the street he stopped and called out:
"I know your there," he called out. The turtles stayed silent. What struck Leo though, was the similarity of this strangers voice and Master Splinter's. The stranger possibly had a stronger Japanese accent. But apart from that small difference, they sounded the same.
"Come out and fight, if that's what you want, though I warn you, even if I look old I am a Kyōryokuna ninja,"
"We don't want to fight you," Leo finnaly called out, deciding to at least reply to the guy, even if they stayed hidden.
"Then what do you want?"
"To know where you got the hamato clan pendant," Donnie called out.
The man fingered the pendant. "It is my heritage," he replie simply.
Mikey was leaning over the edge of a roof, trying to get a clloser look. He lent to far.
"Mikey!" Raph yelled, jumping out of the shadows to catch him.
"Thanks man," Mikey smiled, oblivious to the fact he could have been seriously hurt.
"You are Yokai? In New york?" The man was staring at them; they were now standing infont of him. Leo and Donnie decided that there was no point in staying hidden when Raph and Mikey had already been seen, so they walked out of their hiding places too.
"It's OK, we're good yokai," Leo said.
"How did you recognise the Hamato clan symbol?" asked the man. He didn't seem at all disturbed by the "yokai" but the turtles decided, that, being an elderly ninja, he had probably seen his fair share of weird.
"Well our father was part of your clan, his name was Hamato Yoshi, did you know him?" Donnie asked.
The man froze and stared at them.
"Your father is Hamato Yoshi..." he said very slowly.
"Yeah, and he's the best ninja master in the whole world!" Mikey said doing a back flip.
"I am Hamato Qiang, and I am looking for my son, Hamato Yoshi,"
...
There was silence in the back street. You could have heared a pin drop.
"So you're, like, our grandfather?!" Mikey exclaimed, and received a punch in the arm from Raph for his trouble.
"Indeed, but how come you are Yokai?" asked Hamato Qiang.
"Well we aren't really Yokai, really we are mutant turtles. Master Splinter, that's what we call Yoshi, adopted us when we were turtles, and then we got mutated," Donnie explained.
"I see..." said Qiang, though really he didn't.
"Please take me too your father," he continued. He had come to new York every summer since Yoshi had disappeared, in hopes of finding his son alive, living peacefully in some place. Finding out that his son had sons of his own, and that he was safe and well, all he wanted was too see him.
"Man, Splinter's gonna be so glad to see you!" Mikey said excitedly, leading the way.
A few minutes later in the sewers...
"So, what was Master Splinter like when he was our age? " asked Mikey.
"Well, he was the best of his class, and very dedicated to his training," started Master Quiang, Leo smirked,
"and he loved to play pranks, I will never forget the day he and Saki ambushed me and Cheiko, then threw paper lanterns filled with water at us,"
Mikey laughed, trying to imagine Master Splinter as a human fifteen year old, throwing home made water bombs.
"He also learned to read and write, no mean feat in Japanese, since we have over a thousand characters. He used to spend ages studying and sometimes forgot to go to bed,"
Now it was Donnie's turn to smirk, remembering all the times Master Splinter had had to remind him to go to bed when he had forgotten.
"And of course there was his formidable temper, and stubbornness. Once he made up his mind to do something, he did it, no matter how hard it was,"
"Master Splinter had a temper?" asked Raph, surprised, and adding "like me" in his head.
"Oh yes, though he basically learnt to control it in later years,"
They walked in silence for a few minutes before Master Quiang asked:
"So how is Yoshi doing these days?"
The four turtles looked at each other uncomfortably. They hadn't mentioned that Master Splinter was now a mutant rat.
"Uh, he's doing well, but his appearence has changed a lot since you would have last seen him..." Leo said.
"Well he is a grown man now, it is natruall for him to older," Master Quiang smiled.
"You remember when we said about us being mutated?" asked Donnie, "Well, he also, sorta, got mutated, so strictly speaking, he doesn't really look human..."
"Mhm," Master Quiang didn't seem that fased, " I do not really mind what he looks like, he is still my son,"
Just then they arrived in the lair.
"This is it, " Mikey smiled.
In the dojo...
Master Splinter had heared Mikey's laughter long before the four turtles arrived back at the lair. At first he had been going to go and wait for them in the living room, to ask them why they were back so early, but then he heared a voice.
A voice he had feared that he would never hear again.
His father!
What was his father doing with his sons?!
At first Master Splinter wanted to run out to greet them. He wanted to give his father a hug, to say sorry for running away, to assure himself that his father was really alive and well.
But then he remembered... He remembered the last time he had spoken to his father. It was while he was still in Japan, and he was planning to go to America. He had yelled at his father, blaming him for telling Saki about the foot clan, and hence Saki's turn. He remembered all the mean things he had said that he now regretted. How he wished that he could take all that back. He had wished that wish more often than he could remember, and now he wished it more than ever.
"Master Splinter, Master Splinter, we're home, and there's someone with us that you might want to meet..." A voice called out from the living room.
Master Splinter stayed silent.
He didn't exactly want to have another shouting match with his father, especially in front of his sons. He wasn't the cowardly type, but right now the last thing he wanted to do was face his father. Still he was going to have to at some point, so it might as well be now...
He quietly walked out of the dojo, and into the living room.
Indeed his father was there.
He did the only thing he could think of, he bowed to his father.
"Master," he said.
"My son, you have students, sons of your own, I am no longer your mater, just your father and your friend," Master Quiang smiled at Master Splinter.
"私は何年も前に言ったことのために申し訳ありません" Splinter said (I am sorry for what I said all those years ago)
"私はすでにあなたを許し、私たちは私たちの後ろすべてを入れてみましょう" Master Quiang replied (I already forgave you, let us put all that behind us).
That was the last thing Master Splinter had expected to hear. He could not beleive his ears, but when he looked into his fathers smiling face, he knew that it was true. Suddenly he threw himself into his father's outstretched arms. He had wanted that hug for so long, and now he finally had it. He was slightly embarrassed to feel hot tears roll down his cheeks, but he just let them flow, now that he felt safe in his father's arms.
The four turtles were surprised at the reunion, but they soon got over it and joined in the hug.
Master Splinter was happier than he had been in a long time, he was finally with all his family. Almost.
"Where is mom-mother?" Master Splinter asked his father.
Master Quiang looked at him sadly. "Cheiko passed away last winter, but I am sure that if she were still with us she would be so proud of you,"
This sadend Master Splinter greatly, but his whole family was there to comfort him.
A little while later in they all say down to exchange stories and catch up. Mikey was the first to fall asleep, and then Donnie, trapping Raph and Leo, so that they had to spend the night in the big sort of hug they had made aswell. Then they fell asleep too.
For the first time in many years, Master Splinter fell asleep in his father's arms.
Master Qiang looked down fondly at his son and grandsons.
"I love you," he whispered, before falling asleep aswell.