"It's time my disciple."
Usagi knew that. He could feel it in his sweaty palms and hot summer air. For more than once in his life he was grateful his thick fur that absorbed any excess sweat from soaking his clothes and staining the wooden floor underneath his knees. That and the gentle cross breeze that came form the open door. The moon acting as a light, even though the small opening in the canopy. Shining over the simple wooden houses. The only world he ever knew. Maybe it was because he knew what was coming, he turned back towards the darkened room. The surrounding candles barely gave the silhouette of the man sitting in front of him, orange flames illuminating a old but well cared for dark blue kimono and white happi. A long orange beard trailed down his sensei's front. It had been hard enough to read his teachers expression before he lost his left eye, but now with the eyepatch it was nearly impossible.
"I know sensei." Usagi half bowed in his seat. Resting his hands on his thighs in an attempt to hide their tremble
"Do you understand what your village asks of you?"
"I do."
"Do you understand what I ask of you?"
"I do."
The elder lion nodded. Reaching for the bundle of cloth by him, "We obtained you some clothing for your journey, and some rice. If you are careful, the food will last you a while. But after that you'll have to find food for yourself. You won't recognize a lot of the food you'll see, but do not be picky. An upset stomach is preferable over starvation. Your English is pristine, but there will still be words you will not understand. So avoid talking to anyone. Travel by night." The bundle was set in front of him. Wrapped in blue with a long object in the mass, "Your journey will take you past your limits, but do not lose hope my student. I have trained you for two years to prepare for this journey, I truly believe you have the skills to survive however long it takes to fulfill your mission. You will leave tonight, you will have a month to make it to Kyoto and to the cargo ship headed for California. After that, it will be up to you. I know you have your honor, and your teachings. But you must do what it takes to survive. Understand?"
Salmon eyes looked to the package at his feet. Taking it up onto his lap and untying the thin rope keeping the wrapping together. The first few items were a couple of clothing items he didn't' recognize, probably meant to replace his own clothing and help him blend in better. But the dark blue cloak was meant to hide his body in general. He had known of a few mutants who had been to the 'rim' who had hidden their true nature with makeup and prosthetics. But his entire body was covered in white fur, down to his long white ears tied back into a top knot. It would be hard for even an idiot not to see he wasn't human.
He moved the bag of rice, if he was careful he could make it last a few weeks maybe. Maybe more if he skipped a few meals. To the last item, the long wrapped item wrapped in oil rags. Reverently he took the item up with both hands, resting on his palms as he dipped his head. Acknowledging his burden, his quest, what his village was asking of him. Asking for his inevitable death, for his inevitable suffering. Without a second thought, he met eyes with his teacher again. Sealing his fate
"I accept."
(#)(#)\/(#)(#)
"Leo, I couldn't be more bored if you were talking about the difference between Space Heroes the Movie and Space Heroes the Movie reboot."
Leo's eyes were already sore from rolling so much in one day. It had nothing to do with the binoculars that had been fixated over them for hours on end. With a free hand he silenced Raph's phone call. That tended to happen a lot on stakeouts though. At least Raph had the comfort of his stakeout spot. I.e., hiding from the safety of a abandoned apartment building all the way across town watching the Fortune cookie factory. Mikey was staking out the donut store from the same building and Donnie was the closest to him, staking out PS 575 high school. Leonardo himself had his eyes on the New York History Museum. Course, they weren't exactly the highest priority or most reliable rumors that lead them to their stake outs. But the truth was crime had been low lately. And the only rumors they had gotten about gang activity or the Foot Clan came from a couple crumbled notes Mikey and Donnie had dumpster dived from the Foot Clan dumpster. So it had been a stretch that the list of locations they had found there would lead to anything.
Boredom was an expected side effect of grasping at loose straws, and a month of slow nights made the slow nights even were benefits of chaotic nights, the ones where he and his brothers fought with every ounce of their lives every second of the night was that his brothers didn't have time to complain or argue. So on nights when NOTHING happened, not even anyone jaywalking, the complaining would reach monumental heights. Not that Leo wasn't boted siting on the edge of a building but he was better at keeping it to himself. But He should have known it wouldn't be too long before Raph got annoyed with the silence and would call to complain again.
The oldest son sighed lightly, setting his binoculars aside before taking out his t-phone again resting the device in the palm of his hand and initiating the four-way call. Faint blue light filling his darkness. Not by much but not too much more then he'd like. Light was still light and light was the enemy of the ninja, "Guys tonight's a bust. If nothing happens in twenty more minutes, we'll call it quits."
"Can we get pizza?!" static shot through the phone so loudly that Leo was only fairly sure one of his brothers hadn't exploded into a turtle bomb. "Let's get it from Original Dave's Authentic Pizza! OR Authentic Dave's Original Pizza! No wait, Dave's Original Authentic Pizza-"
"Those pizzas all taste the same Mikey. I've told you this-"' course, it wouldn't be a pizza war without Raphael giving his opinion and stoking the flames
"YOU TAKE THAT BACK!"
Once again, Leo's eye muscles stretched as his eyes rolled into the back of is skull. His eyes were getting a good workout tonight. War of the Pizza's again. That would have Mikey going for alteast an hour. Trying to convince his brothers how Pizza by Dave's Original Authenticness'sses , Mikey's words not his, had a thicker crust then David's Original Pizza of Authentic or whatever it was. There were alteast seventy pizzas with the words that consisted of the words "Original" "David" "Authentic" "Pizza" and Mikey had memorized every single one of them. But he somehow couldn't remember to take the trash to the surface or not to poke anything glowing. Leo gritted his teeth lightly willing for patience to once again calm his nerves. Putting the phone war on mute for a moment before resetting the volume back. The empty rooftops drowned in the returned argument, "GUYS. We'll meet Donnie at the Shellraiser then we'll go home. Ok?" good luck though, he wasn't even sure he had been loud enough for his brothers to hear him. Leo let out a small groan before ending the call, sending out a text for this brother to meet him at the Shellraiser in ten minutes.
But he was fairly sure it would be atleast thirty before thy noticed he was no longer on the line.
Even so he turned from the ledge that had been his hideout, as upset as he as to cut their stakeout short for today, as upset as he was to have to cut the patrol short for the day his tense muscles relished in the gently jog and bounce from roof to roof. His arms pumping his jog as he glanced to the world around him. A year ago, he dreamt of the surface. To see what most spent their whole lives trying to get away from. To breath air that didn't have to be filtered, to see a sky that was limitless and not covered in stone.
Alongside his left he could see two taller buildings come into view, two staircases facing each other sent a flutter of amusement sent him forward, taking the top rung and flipping up to the next row of the fire escape, his toe touching the railing before bouncing up to the roof, his palm pressing on the raised half way and flipping himself around to land on his feet. The familiar tug of gravel on the bottoms of his feet did nothing to quail the sudden adrenaline rush through his heart. Stopping on the top of the roof. A fresh wave of new sweat rolled down his body stretching out his body with a smile His anxiety and nerves slowly flowing into a settle stream down his body stretching his arms over his head.
For a few moments he could forget his troubles.
Not that life had been too easy in the first place, but in the past eight months he had been beaten senseless by the Foot Clan, hidden out in the woods, watched his sensei die, forced to go on a insane space adventure and watched his past self-run onto a spaceship for no good reason.
But the worst part was how nothing seemed to change.
They returned home only to recede to their different hobbies and personalities. Only talking to each other long enough to scream and yell….Raph and Donnie couldn't get along long enough to pass by one another, and Mikey couldn't focus long enough to train or use any of his natural talent…
About the only thing the three did together anymore was make fun of him.
A faint rumbling caught his attention. Though he was not nearly as much of a Motorhead as Don, he had spent enough nights chasing them to know the sound of a Foot Clan Motorcycle. Before his brain had made the connection he was already on one knee, shell to the half raised wall and glancing over it in time to a familiar black flag sashimono disappear around a corner in the direction he had come.
Maybe he had been too quick to call the night a failure.
Leo set off running again. A ringing from his T-phone made him growl lightly as he snatched it from his belt in midstride, "Mikey we can't afford pizza every night so get over it ."
"What?"
Oh Don. Leo's Without looking he reached behind him and put his hand on the half raised wall. His palm pressed flat and twisted his body, redirecting his momentum on up on the ledge he turned towards the loud roaring motorcycles. He never could figure out why the Foot Clan had motorcycles. It was loud enough to wake the city and ruined the 'stealthy' element.
And by the sound of it, there was army of cycles,'
"sorry thought you were Mikey, "Leo said in mid leap back to the roof that had been his prison for the night. Donnie had told him the biggest reason most people didn't like living in New York was the commute, how it took five hours in traffic to change parking spots. But honestly? if people heard how fast I was to run across rooftops and how it killed the commuter time the rooftops would be crowded with hipsters trying to parkour their way through life
Well, the hospital and coroner business would boom.
Even if it had been a private joke for himself he couldn't help the small laugh that escaped his lips. Sliding on his knee and probing his arm up on the ledge. Aw ew it was still warm from when he had been sitting on it, "Foot Activity." Nothing seemed any different other than the large Dragon Choppers now parking at the Museum like a Biker Bar. The building was as artistically expensive and fragile as ever. But the only thing as beautiful and expensive as the building was the garden surrounding it. The only difference is the garden was open to the world to enjoy. For Children by day, and for homeless hobos by night.
Actually that was a really depressing thought and removed all elation he had felt about his joke
Moving on
"Really? They picked the museum? Think they're trying to get an internship?"
"considering the Shredder's standard, I'll say no." That was actually pretty funny, especially coming from his normally stringent younger brother. It was enough to distract him from his previous attempt at humor. Leo wasn't the only one being hilarious tonight," Meet me in the Shellraiser. Send a message to Mikey and Raph to tell them where we'll be. Are they still arguing about pizza?"
"Yeah, they're trying to decide between David totally Authentic Original Organic Pizza and Pizza's Original from David's that's' Authentic."
"Those guys need to come up with a more original restaurant name or a shorter one. It doesn't seem good for business." The Dragon Choppers rode around in a circle for a moment before coming to a halt. In the middle of the mass stood a unusually tall looking soldier with a thicker build-oh shell, "Be careful little brother." He said as he hung up. Watching Tiger Claw climb down from one of the bikes. Shell how had missed him?!
A part of Leo felt bad for not telling Donnie about Tiger Claw. Had it been Rahzar, Fishface, Rocksteady and Bebop he would of easily mentioned them with an eye roll and a joke. Tiger Claw was something different though. It had been months ago, but in the dark of his nightmares, eh could see himself in that construction site. More then when he saw any of Shredders other lackeys. Leo could feel the metaphorical hairs rise on the back of his neck. Shadows shifting with a orange offset as a familiar tiger stepped from the darkness. Somehow anytime he saw that mutant he felt a pit twist in the bottom of his stomach. Dread. Remembering feeling every defeat he ever had at the hand of that beast..
It didn't matter that Leo had defeated him, in the end Tiger Claw was the one winning the war.
It didn't help to imagine his brothers coming to his location. Don would have the sense to park far way and not attract any attention, but the minute they saw Tiger Claw they'd probably react first and not bother to listen to any plan he might have. If only to have vengeance for throwing Leo through that window during the invasion.
Leo reached back into his belt and drew up the binoculars eh had been using. More than keeping an eye on the foot, he remembers his earlier monologue about how the homeless liked the sleep in the park at night. While he did have concern for the homeless usually he felt his stomach tighten when he recalled his night watching the museum. He hadn't seen any activity in the park. Not the rustle of a newspaper blanket or shimmer of a grocery cart filled with aluminum cans for recycling. He glanced to make sure none of the Foot bots or Tiger Claw was looking before vaulting over the edge, sliding down the side of the building bottoms of his feet before pushing off. His hands catching one of the large tree branches of the garden, making sure to spin around on it to kill his momentum before dropping to the ground. The soft grass absorbing his body with barely a sound as he crawled forward on his stomach.
Sometimes he wandered what it was like to an outside person to see the things he and his brother could do.
He parted the leaves of a bush and crawled close main stem of the bush, grateful for the underpaid gardneers who took care fo the garden and held up his binoculars again. Nope, no on in the Garden as far as he could tell.
Since Shredder gave up on human companions in favor for an army of mutants and robots. He found it odd heh ad even caught sight of he learned anything, it was that Shredder had Stockman program his robots with a level of ruthlessness his ninja had not had. It wasn't' even something he had realized until a few weeks ago, after a battle he had searched the surrounding area with his brothers. A formality, filled with shoulder shoving till Mikey had wandered off, in his usual way. But the sound of his panicked scream had sent them to his side, stumbled back against a wall staring a large dumpster. At first Leo hadn't been sure what he had seen…. then Leo had seen it. The hand hanging from the metal box, dripping with blood
Shredder had finally obtained the heartless army he craved.
But he felt himself releasing a slow breath when he realized he didn't see any sign of struggle or bloodstains. Either way he was going to have to check the garden when he was done-
If Tiger Claw hadn't ordered the Foot to check the garden, it could mean he wasn't planning to be here for too long. Why? Was this a simple meet up? OR had he hoped the motorcycles roar would scare off the inhabitants? Even if Tiger Claw was haunting his dreams, he did seem to have a sense of honor. Maybe he was meeting up with another smuggler since Rocksteady was out of the business-
Was he seeing things? Had rolling his eyes too much permanently damaged his eye? He found himself rubbing his left eye furiously. Squeezing it shut as he peered through with his right, more reliable, eye. No, he wasn't seeing things. There was another shift in the shadows. A part of him wondered his brothers had decided to sneak through the garden and not the obvious secure buildings they always used. But if it had been his brothers he would not have been able to notice them. Truth be told, it had been hard to see in the first place. And he sure wasn't going to trust his left eye with his life anymore. The figure passed by the scarce moonlight for a moment enough to catch sigh of a midnight blue cloak before it disappeared from sight again. Was this the smuggler-
Without so much as a twitch Tiger Claw's body turned with his larger pistol out and aimed into the thickly wooded forest. For a moment Leo was sure the tiger assassin had seen whatever had been in there. But the beast turned back to the Clan. He wasn't perfect at it, and it was harder to read tiger lips, "there can be no witnesses."
His hand brushed against leather almost making him jump. Cursing his own stupidity, when had he reached for his katana? He was more tense then he thought. Even so he felt this lips curl lightly. He wasn't' about to let the Foot Clan take someone else's life-
Something wrapped around his neck and a palm to the side of his head. His hand shot back to grab his swords when something knocked into the back of his legs forcing him down onto his knees. Hundreds of methods to free himself fled from his mind as he choked on his own throat. His vision growing blurry-
"Watashi wa," a rough voice whispered by his head, wait what? "watashi wa totemo zan'nen mōshiwake arimasen yo, kore wa anata jishin no rieki no tamedearimasu."
Japanese, that was Japanese. His mind couldn't come up with the translation but one last cognitive thought caused his entire body to go limp, even going so far as to close his eyes. The hands went from chokeholding to supportive as his attacker suddenly took him by the back of the arms, dragging him backwards till his head touched soft sunless grass, "Gomen'nasai'." The voice whispered before footsteps rushed away. Barely waited a moment before opening his eyes and gasping deeply, rolling over onto his side and hacked. That had been too close. If Splinter knew he had been caught off guard like that he would randori him into the ground-
Another engine roar destroyed the silence echoed over his aching oxygen deprived brain. Leo probably would have jumped if he hadn't been too busy slapping a hand over his face.
Don.
The sound of laser bouncing off of metal followed. Leo reached back and took up his other sword. So much for stealth, he lamented Leo charged from his hiding spot. His legs wobbled but he trusted them enough to keep him going. Just past the garden edge he could see red explosions of Tiger Claws red laser against the Shellraiser and the dark cloak he had seen charging in the same direction. With a deep growl he snatched the katana from its spot on his shell and hurried after him. The hooded head turned for a moment to glance behind him, leaving him a moment to think maybe he'd come back to finish the job but instead the person burst into speed.
Either he really hadn't wanted to kill Leo or there was a more pressing issue.
The stranger burst from the garden first but Leo was barely a step. There was a shimmer of steel as the FootBot nearest fell to the ground, the sharp katana in his hands brought down again. One of his feet was slid out lightly from his spot as he ran into the group
He was FIGHTING the Foot?
Leo didn't have time to think about that. Let him do what he wanted. Leo took out his T-phone and pressed Dons' icon, his free hand slicing through FootBots heading his way, "Don!?" He yelled over the lasers the volume of his voice breaking and reminding him of his sore throat. Static Broke over the line as the familiar panicked voice filled him with cheap relief, "I'm ok."
"Are Mikey and Raph with you?"
"They're on their way, why is Tiger Claw here? Who's the Fellowship of the Ring?"
Fellowship of the Ring? Cause he had a cloak? Leo took a step inward before turning, letting a foot ran run himself through on his sword, "No idea, for now leave him alone. Focus on the FootBots and Tiger Claw." Whipping his sword around again.
"what are you going to do?"
"I'll tell you when I think of it!" Leo ducked his head in time to dodge a spinning razor, his foot shooting up and kicking the robot straight in the chest and sending him flying. He hurried over the robot corpses and pressed his shell against the Shellraiser, sword up to face the remaining foot. A roar of motorcycle filled the air again. He barely had time to see A FootBot shoot by him on the bike, for a moment Leo thought he was trying to escape till he saw the sharp front heading for the eye of the FootBots where a cloak caught his eye
The stranger
He really wasn't sure why, but he grabbed the top rung of the Shellrazor and heaved himself up, shouting, "Watch out!"
The figure turned its head in time to see the motorcycle heading his way. Taking a step to the left before raising his katana up, slicing it diagonally as the motorcycle shot by. Metal sparks filled the space like fireworks for a moment, though several feet away, the sheer brightness sent needle like pain through Leos' eye as his forearm came up as a shield. The sound of crunching metal following soon after, before the secondary squealing of tires. Leo barely had time to look up and see Tigre Claw glare at him, before shooting away on his bike
"Katmandu!"
The Stranger! Leo turned to see a mass of a smoking motorcycle laying in ruins on the ground, the FootBot sharing the same fate in many pieces. The stranger had his hand stretched out towards the direction Tiger Claw at gone, " Kuranburazā!"
Kuranburazā, shell if Leo's brain worked half as well as it should of in the moment he would of known that word. But all he knew was how he felt in the moment, surrounded by Foot Bot Corpses and breathing heavily, his lungs struggling to make up for the lack of oxygen in his brain and body. The Stranger looked like he was paining too, till his body turned around and Leo could see the whites of his eyes dance around for a moment before falling on him with a deathlike glare
Oh b—
He may not of had ninja stealth, but the Stranger was definitely fast, before Leo knew it, the hilt of the strangers katana was slammed into his stomach and Leo was sent flying on his shell. His elbows scraping against the rough ground. His katana hand flew up to defend himself when a foot fell on it, pinning it to the ground, his other foot on his chest and a steel blade on his neck.
Really fast
"GET OFF OF MY BROTHER!"
Donnie! His Brainiac of a younger brother was already out of the giant tank, standing only three feet from the two of them with his bostaff out. The sharp nagatina edge aimed right for the stranger, but his weapon held none of the fierceness his mahogany eyes held.
The eyes of the Stranger turned to Don for a moment as though maing sure he knew where he was at before turning back to Leo, glaring "Naze anata wa watashi no hōhō de shutoku shita nodesu ka? ! ? Ninja sukamu!" his words bit off every piece of anger and frustration. Salmon colored eyes shone out of his ratty blue cloak. The white furred hand holding the sword to his neck looked tight enough to break his hilt in half-
White furred hand?
A mutant hand. Four fingers, opposite of his three. The salmon enraged eyes, the shadow of his cloak barely held the humanoid shape of a figure, dressed in clothes that matched the torn cloak and a dark stain on his knee ran down his pant leg, slowly pooling on the chest he had his foot on. Stumbling off Leo's chest as he fell to his knee. Without taking his eyes off the stranger, he felt Don take his he and drag him away, pulling him to his feet leaned and against his taller brothers side in a show of support. The stranger was focused on his bleeding leg at this point, now hidden from view once again by his cloak, the strangers face turned to the side as something long and white fell out of his hood
Long white ears
Oh god
It was a white bunny.
Maybe bunny wasn't the right word, atleast not to use on someone who had just cut an incoming motorcycle in half and tried to knock him out. The stranger was definitely in pain as salmon eyes once again turned to them. Rather to Leo, which confused him for a moment since Don was the one had the weapon out. His heart was still pounding, clashing against the adrenaline of a fight, and the panic of being nearly choked to death…
Except he hadn't'
If the stranger had wanted to snap his neck, he would have. He had the strength to, but instead he had strangled him, with the intent to knock him out.
Leo raised his katana and slid it back on his sheath before stepping past Don. Logic taking a step back for instinct, "are you alright?" he asked loud enough for the rabbit to hear, wait he had spoken Japanese right? ""D-Daij-ōbudesu ka?"
Salmon eyes that had been ready to cut him down, suddenly filled with familiarly, his stance following in an almost relaxed state. Well that was-
Shuriken suddenly struck near the rabbit's feet, causing him to scoot back an inch before glaring in there projectile position angrily that Leo almost shared if not recognizing the two shell encased shapes making their way from the alley across the street. Mikey and Raph. Leo turned back in time to see the rabbit on his feet, favoring his injured leg with eyes on him. "Wait!" his hand outstretched in a task of futility-
Had the rabbit just smiled?
It wasn't a coy smile that mocked him, but rather almost a pitying sad one, stepping closer to the darkened ally with each step his remaining brothers were running closer, "Genki de." Came the voice again before disappearing into the alley. Leo had already set off into a run, reaching the alley and grabbing the buildings corner before looking in. But the rabbit was already gone,
"What the hell happened here Leo?!"
The blue ninja gritted his teeth lightly before turning back, Raph and Mikey had reached Donnie. Green eyes and baby blue ones fixated on him in confusion. Not that Leo could blame them, "What does it look like what happened!?"
"It looked like someone from Lord of the Rings knocked you on your shell and took off."
It was nice to know that Donnie and Mikey were both Lord of the Ring's nerds., "More like Tales of Otori." He mumbled to himself. Looking back down the alley before hurrying back to his brothers, "He just popped out of nowhere and leapt into the Foot fight."
"Well he said something right?" Raph asked with his arms crossed, "What'd he say?"
"I-" that was a good question, Genki de. He was the most fluent in Japanese amongst his brothers but it was harder to remember in a high stress situation, "I don't know if he spoke English, but he kept talking in Japanese. Genki de…Master Splinter used to say it all the time, "He said..." was this right? " 'take care of yourself' "
He didn't realize how ridicules that sounded till he saw his brothers faces. Glancing at one another as though hoping one of them would make sense of the situation. But even Donnie gave a shrug. A shrug that only make Raph look even more irritated. Whether at missing the entire fight or the situation itself Leo didn't know, "so the guy who almost cut your head off wants you to have a good day?" yup, now it really sounded ridicules, "anything else we need to know?"
Though it was purely sarcastic question Leo crossed his arms,' feeling a age defying pout form on his face and finding himself only able to tell the truth
"He was a freaking white bunny with a samurai sword."
a/n
Hiiiiiiiii guys! I know I hate the 2012 series, but I love Usagi! Since I doubt they're going ot bring him in at this rate, I decided to do my own interpretation of how he'd get into the 2012 verse. Haha….I'm tired.
Sashimono: a small banner that is attached to the back of the dou
Dou: one of the major components of Japanese armor worn by samurai and the ashigaru (aw…timothy…)
Watashi wa, watashi wa totemo zan'nen mōshiwake arimasen yo, kore wa anata jishin no rieki no tamedearimasu: I'm sorry, I'm so sorry, this is for your own good
Gomenasai: I'm sorry
Randori: a term used in Japanese martial arts for free style practice, mostly uke
Uke: (NOT WHAT YOU'RE THINKING OF) the one who receives the attack in Japanese martial arts
Naze anata wa watashi no hōhō de shutoku shita nodesu ka? ! ? Ninja sukamu: Why did you get in my way?!
Daijōbudesu ka?: Are you alright?
Genki de: All the best Take care fo yoruself