Japan
"...so I should be back home in a couple of days," Karai sat on a bench in the park while speaking to Raph on her phone.
That's good news. Chompy is going crazy over your absence. He's already torn up the couch pillows. I think my bed is next.
Karai giggled. "Well, glad to hear that someone down there misses me. How are things at your end?"
Peachy, Raph's voice had an exasperated tone in it.
"Oh, boy. That doesn't sound sincere. What happened?"
She heard him sigh heavily. Well, Shadow tried to take down a Foot ninja a couple of nights ago.
At that moment, Karai's brown eyes went as wide as saucers. "You're kidding," she softly said in disbelief.
'Fraid not. And what's worse is that they saw her face and even know her name.
"She's not safe in New York anymore," Karai said frantically.
Yeah, I know.
"You need to convince April and Casey to move to a new location as soon as possible, Raph."
Well, I did consider doing that, but there's another option: she could become a kunoichi and learn how to defend herself.
"...You can't be serious."
I've already talked to her about it, and she has agreed to do it. And I know that Casey will be all right with it. All I need to do now is convince April, which won't be easy.
"You really are serious."
The kid's got guts, Karai. And she's tough, like her mother.
"That won't be enough!" Karai shouted, earning the looks of the pedestrians that were close by. She blushed in embarrassment and lowered her voice. "This is the Foot we're talking about! These are professionally trained assassins!"
And that's why I'm going to train her. I'm going to make her better than all of them put together.
Karai let out a frustrated sigh and rubbed her face with her hand. "This is crazy."
Look, Karai, do you trust me?
She didn't know how to respond to that, but Raph continued on anyway.
I know Shadow can do it. I just know it.
"Yeah, well, I'm not sure if April feels..." She then noticed a familiar face approaching the bench. "I-I'm sorry, Raph, but I have to go. We'll talk about this later. Bye." She quickly hung up and got off the bench as the person got closer.
A woman with long black hair and in a black gothic Victorian dress approached her. She wore purple eyeliner and lipstick, and her eyes were a rich golden color. In her arms was a black cat.
Karai expected the lady to recognize her immediately and stop walking, but she completely ignored and passed by her. Karai was a bit confused by this lack of reaction, but she rationalized that perhaps the woman didn't recognize her.
It has been thirty years, after all.
Karai called out the woman's name. "Shini?"
The goth stopped dead in her tracks and turned her head. Her surprised expression slowly morphed into one of contempt.
"Karai," Shinigami greeted her in a rather dry tone.
"Um," Karai rubbed the back of her neck awkwardly, "it's been a while, hasn't it?"
Shinigami merely grunted in agreement and nodded.
"S-so how have you've been?"
"Fine. And you?"
"Good." Aw, geez, this is awkward.
"What are you doing back in Japan?" Shinigami stroked her black cat, which purred in contentment. "I thought you had decided to stay in America with your father?"
Karai's eyes filled with sadness at the mention of her father and she lowered them to the ground. "Father is dead," she said softly. "I came back with his ashes so that I might bury him next to my mother."
"Oh," Shinigami said with little sympathy in her voice. "I see."
Karai looked back up at her ex-best friend and let out a disheartened sigh. "Are you still angry with me about not coming back with you?" Shini didn't answer her and simply continued to stroke her cat. "I'm sorry that I hurt you, Shini. But you have to understand, Father lost a son to..."
"I know," Shini snapped. "Splinter was forced to sacrifice Michelangelo in order to save everyone else, so he was heartbroken and you wanted to be there for him. I get that."
"Then why are you so upset?" Karai desperately asked.
"You could've convinced Splinter to come back to Japan. After all, he had no reason to stay in America anymore."
"Maybe he refused to leave New York," Karai defended, "because it was where Mikey and his brothers were born. And if you really wanted to be with me, you could've stayed, too."
Shini's eyes narrowed and a scowl was on her face. "Back then, I would've followed you to the ends of the earth, but you weren't willing to do the same for me. On that day, I realized just how little I truly mattered to you."
"Shini, that's not..."
"I'm late for my date," Shini abruptly interrupted her. "Enjoy the rest of your stay here, senpai," she said the last word as though it had a unpleasant taste on her tongue and started to walk away.
"Shini, wait!" Karai cried. "I need to ask you something!"
Shini sighed in annoyance and turned to face her once again. "You've got one more minute."
"There's a new Foot Clan in New York," Karai explained in a hushed tone. "I don't know who their leader is, but he's just as dangerous as Oroku Saki was, if not more. You wouldn't happen to know anything about that, would you?"
Shini seemed genuinely surprised at the announcement of a new Foot Clan. "No, I wasn't even aware of that. After you sent us back to Japan, I left the Foot Clan business behind. I work as a psychic therapist now."
"I see," Karai softly said. "Well, thank you, Shini. You know, for everything. And again, I'm so sorry for hurting you." She gave her old friend one last sad smile before walking away. Shini sadly watched her leave for a moment before heading in the opposite direction.
New York
"Everyone, we have a new student joining us today," Mrs. Keller, the homeroom teacher announced to the class. "Please welcome Daniel Pennington."
A boy with curly brown hair and light blue eyes walked into the classroom and stood in front of the blackboard. He gave everyone a friendly smile. "'Sup? My name's Daniel, but only my mother calls me 'Daniel'."
The whole class chuckled at this, including Shadow.
"My friends call me 'Danny'. My Dad, Charles Pennington, works at the T.V station Channel Six News."
"Really?" Mrs. Keller then pointed to Shadow, who was sitting a few rows away. "Well, miss Shadow here is also related to someone who works for Channel Six. Her mother is April Jones, the reporter."
Danny looked directly at Shadow and smiled at her. "Really? That's cool."
Although she wasn't too fond of boys due to her constant struggle with the bullies, Shadow felt...butterflies in her stomach as she looked into his blue eyes and studied every feature on his face, from his Greek nose to his round chin...
Shadow snapped back to reality.
God! What is wrong with me?!
"Please take a seat, Daniel...er, I mean, Danny," Mrs. Keller gestured toward the empty desk...right next to Shadow.
Oh, crap!
Danny sat down and looked at Shadow, greeting her with a nod. A blush appeared on Shadow's cheeks and she smiled shyly at him. She felt someone nudge her from behind and turned to see Sloane giving her a teasing smile. Shadow glared at her and mouthed, "shut up."
"See you later, Sloane!" Shadow waved goodbye to her best friend and started to walk across the school yard.
"Shadow! Wait up!"
The teen immediately stopped at the sound of the familiar voice and her heart began to pound wildly. Slowly, she turned to face Danny, who was running to catch up to her. "Hi," she squeaked, before clearing her throat and repeating the word in a normal voice. She mentally slapped herself for the pathetic squeak noise she made and could just imagine her face becoming as red as apples.
"Hey," Danny smiled at her in a friendly way. "So, uh, your mom's April Jones the reporter?"
"Uh-huh," Shadow tucked a strand of hair behind her ear and smiled weakly at him.
"So what's it like, having a celebrity for a mom?"
"Well, it...you know, has it perks and downsides."
"Really? What kind of downsides, if you don't mind me asking?"
"Um," she awkwardly scratched her nose, "people tend to get jealous of you. A lot of the kids here think that I'm this snooty rich girl who thinks she's better than everyone else."
"Are you rich?" Danny asked with an amused smile on his face.
Shadow chuckled. "No, not really. I mean, I guess we're more privileged than others but..." She was interrupted by the ding nose made by her phone. "Sorry, excuse me for a sec." She pulled her phone out of her pocket, and the message on her screen read:
HAMATO RAPHAEL: just talked to your parents. the meeting will be in the lair at 4. don't be late k?
Oh, that's right...
At that moment, Shadow realized that she didn't have time for boys and sighed sadly. "I have to go," she told Danny with a crestfallen expression on her face. "Urgent matters at home."
"Oh, okay," Danny said, seemingly disappointed that their conversation had been abruptly ended. "Well, it was nice meeting you." He politely offered a hand for her to shake and smirked. "See you tomorrow in class?"
She nervously reached for his hand and shook it. Don't sweat, don't sweat, don't sweat. "Yeah, see you tomorrow," she smiled at him shyly before darting off.
Oh, god, my hand was sweating. Stupid!
"Thanks for coming, guys."
Raph stood in front of April and Casey, who were sitting on the couch in the lair. Shadow sat on the beanie bag, nervously glancing at Chompy every now and then. The giant space turtle stared at her from the other side of the living room, his tongue sticking out and his tail wagging.
"Sure thing, pal," Casey said. "So what's this meeting about?"
"Well," Raph cleared his throat, "I've called you here because we have a new problem: the Foot Clan knows the identity of the person who chased down one of their guys."
April's face lost it color and she worriedly looked over at her daughter. Shadow merely shrugged and looked away in shame.
"Are...are you sure about that, Raph?" April asked her friend, trying to deny the reality of the situation.
"They saw her face," Raph said. "And she even told that Foot ninja her name. They'll be keeping an eye on her from now on."
Fear and despair gripped April's heart and she buried her face in her hands. Casey scooted closer to his wife and soothingly rubbed her back.
"I was afraid this would happen," April said in a muffled and choked up voice.
"Red, it's going to be okay," Casey spoke softly to her.
"How, Casey?" April didn't look up and continued to cry silently. "How is it going to be okay?"
"Mom?"
April finally lifted her face and looked at her daughter with tear-filled blue eyes.
"I know I screwed up big time," Shadow said. "But I'm willing to deal with the mess that I've made. And Raphael is going to help me."
Her mother looked immediately to the Ninja Turtle for an explanation.
"Shadow is going to train under me as a kunoichi," Raph said.
Both April and Casey looked at their friend in absolute shock.
"WHA..." April couldn't believe what she was hearing. "You, too?! Now you're encouraging her to...ugh, I can-NOT believe this!" She gripped the sides of her head in a frustrated manner.
"It's not like she has a choice, April," Raph calmly explained.
"Raph's right, honey," Casey agreed.
"NO!" April stood up and angrily pointed a finger at Raph. "I'm her mother, okay?! And I REFUSE to let her go and risk her life fighting a bunch of...!"
"April!" Raph roughly grabbed her by the shoulders, though he didn't hurt her. April stood still and stopped her ranting, staring at him with wide eyes. It was so quiet in the room, not even Chompy was making his usual grunting or panting sounds. "April..." Raph spoke in a softer tone and loosened his grip on April, "look, I get it. You're scared for your daughter, and you have every right to be. But the fact is, you can't protect her forever. She's going to have to learn how to defend herself, especially now."
April started to retort. "But...!"
"I promise," he gently placed his hands on her cheeks and smiled at her reassuringly, "I won't let anything happen to her. And if she's anything like her mom, then she'll be just fine."
"Listen to him, April," Casey got off the couch and stood next to her. "Our daughter's a strong person, both physically and mentally. She'll be a great kunoichi, like her mother before her."
"I can do this, Mom," Shadow joined the group. "Please believe in me."
April felt conflicted. Shadow was her baby, her precious gem. She'd be in danger if she was allowed to go fight the Foot with Raph. But she'd be in even more danger if she didn't learn ninjustu and fight back. If anything happened to her, April would've failed as a mother, and she could never live with herself.
She approached her daughter and stroked her cheek. "Baby," she choked. "I do believe in you. It's just...you're my daughter, and I'd be devastated if you got hurt...or worse. I don't want to lose you, Shadow."
Shadow wrapped her arms around April in a hug and rested her cheek on her shoulder. "I know, Mom. But you won't lose me."
April bit her lower lip and returned the hug, finally letting the tears flow down her cheeks. "You're growing up so fast," she whispered.
"Yeah, and I don't plan on slowing down anytime soon," Shadow joked.
April could only laugh tearfully and held her daughter closer. Casey walked over to the pair and playfully ruffled his daughter's hair.
"Good," Casey chuckled. "Don't stop."
Raph watched fondly as Shadow gripped Casey's sleeve and pulled him into the hug. The touching scene reminded him of the group hugs that he shared with his father and brothers. The memories both warmed and pricked his heart.
He cleared his throat to get their attention. "Well, I guess that settles it." He looked directly at Shadow and smirked in a cocky manner. "Your training begins tomorrow. If you think gym class is tough, then you'll really feel the burn in my class."
Shadow only scoffed and a cocky smile formed on her own lips. "Bring it on, Sensei."
So Shadow's on her way to becoming a kunoichi! YAY!
Another character from the 1990 movie, Danny Pennington! Seems that Shadow has a crush on him... ;) But is that a good thing...? 0.0
