They had come to him in a dream.
Four toddlers, bathed in varying colors of light lied at his feet. Above them stood a figure cloaked in shadow, his eyes grey and ghostly in the darkness. He gestured down at the children and grinned.
"Hamato Yoshi," it rasped with a voice like crackling autumn leaves. "I bring you your sons." The ninja cringed, and then looked down at his feet once more.
"What are they?" he whispered, gaze snapping back to the stranger at his doorstep.
"They are yokai, of course." The figure laughed. "Japanese demons. As you can see, they are part kappa, but I believe they have other abilities as well." The man gently picked up one of the yokai, and Yoshi gasped as the toddler's grin revealed a pair of long, sharp teeth.
"How can you call these my children?" Yoshi demanded. "They are monsters!" The stranger frowned.
"So, you will not take them?" he asked, his head tilting to the side in question.
"No!" Yoshi yelled angrily. "I want nothing to do with these… these demons! Now get them out of my sight!"
"I see you have made your choice." The stranger whispered. "Until we meet again, Hamato Yoshi." With a swish of his cape, the stranger and the yokai disappeared. Yoshi breathed out a sigh of relief.
That night, everything he loved was taken away from him. His dojo burned, his brother gone, and his wife and daughter seemingly dead. He lied in the woods, crying, when a small hand grabbed his elbow. One of the little kappa had had crawled over to him, and soon the others followed. Yoshi looked around for the stranger, but saw no one. He gathered the turtles up and carried them away.
"Don't worry my sons," he whispered. "I will protect you."
~I\I~
It had been almost 15 years since Hamato Yoshi began to take care of the turtles. Since that fateful day, the once proud Hamato Clan leader had retreated to the sewers of New York City. An accident caused his mutation, into the rat known as Splinter. The turtles themselves had grown immensely during those years, each being a little over four and a half feet tall. Splinter had even named them himself, pulling titles from his favorite book on Renaissance Art.
The first turtle, the eldest, Splinter had named Leonardo. The youngest was Michelangelo, while the second oldest was dubbed Raphael, and the second youngest was called Donatello. Despite the scare from the first time they had met, Splinter had yet to witness any more yokai activity from his sons. That is, until today…
~I\I~
{Hi! Welcome to my newest fanfic. This is kind of a mix between TMNT and the hit anime Nurarihyon no Mago, or Nura: Rise of the Yokai Clan. (If you haven't seen it, it is truly amazing!") I hope you enjoy it!}