April wasn't sure what to expect on her first trip to the Hamatos' house. The only member of the family she'd met was Donatello, who had invited her over to study and eat dinner. April walked up to the town house and rang the doorbell. About ten seconds later Donnie opened the door, a wide, slightly gap-toothed, grin on his sweet bronze face. "April! Come in, take your shoes off in the doorway please." Donnie said as he stepped aside to allow April in. She'd always thought it was odd that he had such an Asian sounding last name, since he was very clearly Hispanic, with golden tanned skin, warm brown eyes, and curly brown hair.
"Okay." April responded as she complied, she took one more step into the house and as was hit was a medley of wonderful smells.
"Mikey's cooking tonight, so I hope you're hungry." Donnie remarked, "He's making all the good stuff."
"Like what?" April inquired happily, breathing deeply through her nose as she followed Donnie into, what she assumed was, the dining room.
"Like dal batti, curried vegetables and tempeh, and roti. Everything's homemade." A voice with a thick, sweet Indian accent, answered from across the room. April looked over to see a boy leaning against a doorframe, his raven hair falling around his shoulders and over half his face. The one eye she could see was sorrel, and his face was a sun kissed russet hue. "And," he continued, "even though Teej was last month, I made ghevar."
"April, this is my little brother, Michelangelo. Mikey, this is April." Donnie introduced them.
Mikey put his palms together in front of his chest and bowed slightly. "Namastē" He chirped. He straighten and opened his mouth to continue, but was interrupted by a sudden pounding on the flight of stairs beside them. Two more boys appeared, leaning over the railing slightly. One of the boys had ivory skin, neatly combed sandy blond hair, and amber colored, almond eyes. The other boy had mahogany skin, a mess of short black hair, and round copper eyes.
Donnie rolled his eyes and turned to April, "These are my older brothers, Leonardo and Raphael. Guys, this is April."
The boy with ivory skin bowed to her as well, but he kept his arms at his sides and bent from the waist. "Hello. Please, call me Leo." He spoke in soft voice, April could hear a slight accent, but couldn't quite place the origin.
Raphael turned to her only long enough to say, "How's it goin'?" before turning to Mikey and inquiring about the ghevar, something that had Leo enthralled as well. Mikey began chewing them out in, what April assumed to be, Hindi, and put the two of them to work setting the table.
Mikey turned to Donnie and asked, "Do you mind running down stairs to tell Splinter and Ma that dinner is ready?" Donnie just nodded and ran off, leaving April with Mikey.
"What can I do to help?" April asked.
"Tell me what you would like to drink." Mikey responded with a sweet smile, as he walked into the kitchen.
"A guest is to be taken care of, not put to work." Leo explained quietly from behind April.
April looked at the table and silently counted the places, there was one for each brother, two for their parents, one for her, and one more. She was about to ask Mikey who it was for, when a girl walked down the stairs. Like Leo, the girl had Ivory skin and almond shaped eyes, but her eyes were honey colored, and her hair was a rich brown.
Mikey walked back into the dining room, upon seeing the girl on the stairs, he spoke, "April this is our older sister, Miwa. Miwa, this is Donnie's friend April."
Miwa bowed slightly in the same form as Leo, and said, "Hello. I'm glad to meet you."
"Likewise." April responded.
Donnie reentered the room, followed by a man and a woman. The man had ruddy skin, short black hair, and amber eyes. The woman had Ivory skin, deep brown hair, and eyes the same honey color as Miwa's. Donnie spoke up, "April these are my parents, Yoshi and Tang Shen." Each parent bowed slightly in turn, matching smiles on their faces.
Mikey emerged from the kitchen holding a large platter laden with food. Yoshi went to help him, closely followed by Raph. "Sit, sit." Mikey ordered everyone else, as the three set the dishes on the table. Donnie held out a chair for April, then plopped himself in the seat beside her.
April was soon very glad Donnie was close, because he stated explaining to her what each dish was. Fortunately there wasn't anything too weird, which, Donnie explained, was mostly because Mikey was a vegetarian.
Dinner was nice, April only burned her tongue on the curry twice, and found out that dal batti is really good on roti. April learned that Mr. Hamato works as a martial arts teacher, Mrs. Hamato owns a sweet shop in the city, Raph has plans to try out for the school hockey team, and Miwa is working towards becoming a videographer. The last was evidenced by Miwa pulling out a handheld camera, and videotaping dinner, until Splinter told her to put it away.
While Leo and Raph began clearing away the dinner dishes, and Mikey and Miwa went into the kitchen. Raph was now bouncing with excitement, and Leo was very willing to help Miwa set out a second round of plates and forks. April watched in slight confusion as this occurred, until Donnie leaned over close enough to whisper the word "Dessert" in her ear.
Mikey emerged from the kitchen with a large disc shaped cake, that turned out to be the coveted ghevar.
After dessert, April and Donnie went up to the attic to study. It was an amazing room, there were four tables, a few wooden chairs, several beanbags, and a large book shelf lined with everything from textbooks to Harry Potter. The walls were lined with maps, and posters of things like: the periodic table, a list of U.S. Presidents, and a chart of piano chords.
After about an hour and a half of studying, April put down her book and turned to Donnie, "You have a lovely family." She stated. "It's such a diverse home."
"Yeah, Miwa's the only biological kid in the bunch." Donnie explained, "She, mom, and dad are from Tokyo, and Leo's from Kyoto, the four of them moved here after Leo's bio dad, who was practically dad's brother, died in a fire. Then they decided to adopt some more, I'm from Guatemala City, Raph's from Pretoria, and Mikey's from Jaipur." Donnie grinned, at April's slightly confused face, "I dare you to try and find all our cities on a map."
April smiled a bit, "It can't be that hard. Okay, Mikey's obviously Indian, so that narrows his down." April walked over to the map on the wall and began to scrutinize India. After a minute or two, she finally shouted, "Found it!"
"Yep. Jaipur, Rajasthan." Donnie beamed over April's shoulder, "Now find Raph's." He challenged, his grin turning sly as he pointed at the picture of Africa.
April's smile faltered slightly. The darn thing was huge, this was going to be like finding a needle in a haystack! She stood there, staring at it for about two minutes before Donnie started laughing, "Do you want a hint?" He offered.
April nodded, "I don't even know how to pronounce most of these places." She added in a defeated whisper.
"It's a southern capital." Donnie stated.
April's smile returned as she scanned Mozambique, "That was two hints." She replied.
"You needed them." Donnie laughed.
She looked over Batswana, Zambia, and Zimbabwe to no avail. Finally, she examined South Africa, after another moment she shouted, "Pretoria!"
"Correct." Donnie beamed.
"And here's Guatemala City." April stated after another moment. "And here's Kyoto, and Tokyo!"
"Ding, ding, ding! You win a prize!" A voice cheered from behind them. The two turned to see Mikey standing at the doorway with a big grin on his face. "Seriously, we're going to watch a movie down stairs, and you two are welcome to join us."
It took some coxing from Donnie, but April agreed to movie night, and soon found herself on the couch between Donnie and Raph. April felt Raph nudge her upper arm with his elbow, and turned to see him holding out a bowl of popcorn to her. She jumped a bit when all five Hamato children shouted in unison "A long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away." Followed by the "Star Wars Opening Theme."
April had a feeling she would be great friends with these guys.