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The Shredder did not perish when he fell from the Sacks Tower…
After six months both the Turtles and the Foot are avoiding each other; biding their time. There is unrest - from Oruki Saki's penthouse compound, to the streets, and in the belly of the City. Splinter withdraws from his family, Leo struggles with his obligations, Raphael pushes boundaries, and Michelangelo pushes everyone's buttons. Donnie does whatever he does, in the lab.
Soon, even Leonardo finds himself venturing out into the dark. That's how he first happened upon her, just as alone. Then they continued to find each other because they began to look.
And they were so careful…
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The Shredder summons her late at night, which is not unusual, and she ponders his current disposition based on the meeting location. Having chosen the library she had put on pair of jeans and dolmen style sweater, preparing herself for a 'cordial, private, Father/Daughter meeting.'
Karai leisurely walks down the hallway feeling only a little tired and curious.
A testament to how blind she had become.
After closing the door she realizes the fireplace provides the only light at the opposite end of the library and she must pause to adjust. She sees the silhouette of her Father. He is looking at the fire with his back to her, wearing a vest and business shirt rolled up to his forearms, paired with grey slacks.
He stands in-between the two wing back chairs next to the hearth and the shadows play across her face as she pads over. Finally crossing the large room's expanse she sees he is holding a drink in one hand. Her eyes widen. Perhaps they…
Her world explodes into a burst of stars and she finds herself falling towards the parquetry. Stunned completely, her mind slows things down for her to process, her Father had round-house kicked her out of the blue and didn't spill a drop from his glass. He takes a loud sip now, eyes alight like a demon's, as she looks up at him testing the bruise forming on her face.
"Father…hhnngg!" she utters, unable to breathe. Feeling like a rag doll she is pulled to her feet by the Shredder's hand at her throat.
He pushes her into one of the wing back chairs. She coughs and sputters wildly as he calmly sits opposite her, placing his drink on the small, glass table next to him with a sharp tap.
"Daughter." The word creaks out the hard line of his mouth, she almost cries out as he is speaking in English.
She knows her Father - what he is really telling her - and her hands become clammy, remembering all of her lessons on mercy, loyalty, and obedience.
He trained me well.
And so she waits.
"There is a special place." The Shredder slowly cracks his neck and it starts to get difficult to look at him, "In the after-life." He moves his jaw as if trying to suppress something inside him before standing. "For deviants such as yourself!" Pointing at her. "You have done much more than bring shame to this Clan, you have committed a crime against Nature itself!"
His words send her to the ground and she cries, "Master?!" Falling prone before him.
She prepares to move as he comes at her, bending over her saying, "You! And that turtle!" She yelps as he kicks her away from him, she keeps rolling as he yells after her, pounding his chest right over his heart, "It sickens me to my very core!"
Wincing, she pops up to her knees. "Wait!" Her arms spread wide, adamant. "Let me explain…"
She is flying through the air again after he had flung her towards the fireplace. She pivots her lithe body mid-air and her feet scrap the ground in a wide cat like stance; sliding backwards she comes to a stop inches of the fire. So much so that she then yelps and jumps forward rubbing her bottom.
The Shredder glowers at her, retrieving his drink, spit flecks out of his mouth. "Save your lies!" He inspects the crystal glass in his hand. "Now every time I look at you." He shoots the last of the liquid. "I taste sickness." He sits down in a wingback and floors her again, saying, "And it pains me that I cannot un-see your treachery."
She exclaims in surprise and he gestures with his empty glass, shouting, "Behold!"
She whirls around as a television is revealed from behind a picture above the fireplace. Her gut feels ice cold and she doesn't even feel the heat from the flames anymore. On the screen is a darkened rooftop. Their rooftop. Now she begins to burn.
Feeling her Father's eyes stoning her back she forces herself to be still, drinking in what may be the last happy moments of her life. Watching Leonardo and her fight on the video she thinks that no matter the ferocity of how they played together, it was as good as any embrace.
Leonardo had overpowered her on their sixth round of sparing, thrusting her against the smooth aluminum side of the rooftop structure in their midst. The wind had been knocked out of her, the thrill of his endgame had delighted her body. Still struggling in his grip as he had her crushed into place, stuck to the wall, eye to eye with him. Leonardo had waited for her to calm then slowly had taken her chin in his hand, moving it back and forth inspecting her.
His voice had been tough. "You sure can take a lick."
Blue eyes bright and full of an emotion she had never seen before, one of his finger pads had skimmed over her lips. His expression had changed so quickly, there had been absolutely no filter and she had known exactly what he had been thinking. She had known longing and pain well enough to see it starring her in the face. She had thought, 'How is it possible to make the heart start with a look?'
She had taken his hand from her jaw, judging his fingers, living in his eyes while she had grazed up his entire middle finger with the tip of her tongue. His skin so cold and rough, she had tasted his whole life, and had asked him, "Can you?"
She had then jauntily relaxed her head back against the wall behind her, writhing into him in a not so subtle fashion.
The intensity of his gaze had ignited a fire in her core and then his hips had ground into her, forcing heat throughout her entire body. She had gasped and found herself urging his massive hand down past her belly, sliding it under her waistband she had breathed, "Touch me." His knees had given way and her feet had returned to the rooftop. Their foreheads had pressed together, he had hesitantly glanced into her eyes as she had submerged his fingers beneath her La Perlas. "There."
Now, from the camera's angle, she can see her face revealed from behind Leonardo every so often. At least she could say she had seen herself like this once. He had played her body just like she had told him to, with every one of his sweet, heated questions her answer had translated through his fingers like he had always known it.
As the camera zooms in on her mouth she feels the world closing in on her, it is fuzzy first then ultra-sharp, that lens had a lock on her. It is sickening, her Father behind her as she watches this, but she tries not to feel ashamed. Now she can pretend she is on that rooftop forever.
She wishes she had something to hold onto as she watches herself clutch his shoulders and mouth his name. There is no sound accompanying the video but it did not matter, no master lip-reader is needed to know exactly what she is saying.
The video pauses, she sees herself lowered down to her knees in front of the blue-masked leader, he is frozen with both of his hands behind his head and she is looking up at him, glowing. The vice around her heart made her circulation stop, she didn't even recognize herself.
She holds her breath for as long as she can, slowly gulping down the hot lump of despair that had already formed in the back of her throat. The euphoria of that rooftop, the freedom, she had felt no need to subdue the joy on her face as he had worked her over the edge.
She is a deviant, was she not everything he ever wanted her to be?
She only turns her face to show her Father her profile, saying, "Am I not Kunoichi?" Her Master's eyes twitched and she turns towards him in a defensive stance. "I admit I am not formally trained in this kind of subterfuge against an enemy, but I thought with a little practice…"
Her heart is bursting out of her chest as she manages to leap out of his way. She actually cries out in delight as he roars on her tail. Knocking over one chair to slow him down she reaches relative safety behind the other chair to face him again. She represses a shiver that runs down her spine. He is not rabid, he had flipped his switch and quietly approaches her now standing on the other side of the chair.
She smooths the top of the wingback chair, checking for dust on her fingers. "Have I forgotten my place again, Master?" Her blood surges as she walks out in the open to address him, jutting her chin out. "We don't need an army." Heels together sharply, heart racing, she bends completely at the waist to bow. And admiring the woodwork on the floor again, she boasts, "I can destroy the Clan from the inside-out." Her eyes snap up for a moment, burning his face into her memory.
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A/N: Critiques help me get better, thank you for reading! XD
To be continued…