Some-thing.. very very strange had happened inside of the abandoned train station, the home of Splinter and the turtles.. the strange thing was, that it was absolutely quiet, and had been so for the last two hours.
Fifteen years, for fifteen years that train station had been the refuge for Splinter and his turtles, for fifteen years he had trained them, almost every day, so that they would be able to defend themselves, for fifteen years there had been constant life and excitement in the cave, Splinter had done all that he could do, to teach the turtles, to shield them, to help them in what-ever way he could, help them learn, help them grow... and now there was quiet.
Being used to constant noise, the quiet in the cave was more unnerving to Splinter than even the rumbling sound of construction work or the sound of pipes freeze at winther time.. even more unnerving then the sounds of the turtles tumbling into some-thing they really shouldn't.
All though, this was the second time the cave had been left in such quiet, the first time, the turtles were only supposed to go out and have a little taste of the out-side, all-ready then Splinter hadn't liked the thought of letting them go, and even less.. he had liked them going alone.
But by just one look at them, at their pleading eyes, he had known, he had to let them go. He would not be able to just hide them in the sewers for much longer, if he attempted that, they would have gone off on their own regardless. They were grown, they had explored more and more of the sewers, gone further and further away on their own, tested what they would be allowed to do and not, and if he was to strict, he could might end up risking loosing them, have them run away without even telling him where, and that was a faith much worse than any-thing else he could imagine.
Then the option of going with them… it defeated the purpose of letting them go in the first place, he couldn't be that looming shadow always following them, that would be the same as keeping them in the sewers.
Further more, the turtles needed to learn and grow on their own, he had trained them so they could be free and happy, keeping them would be defeating that very purpose, a mean without a goal could become so obscured, many people in history had often been so busy with their mean that they had forgotten the goal, but Splinter, he forced himself to remember that goal, the single goal of raising the turtles so they might become strong independent people that could handle themselves, not just keep them to himself far down here, no matter how much that hurt… beside, just a little walk upstairs, he had told himself, it was baby-steps, there were still time, still time where they could be his kids for a little while longer.
But then they had come back, told about how they had actually found some of that liquid which had mutated them all, even brought a whole canister back, told about the Krang, about the girl, April O'Neil, about their fight.. Splinter had been terrified, he had never counted on them getting into that much trouble at their first outing out-side, perhaps a little trouble, but.. not that big. He was about ready to forbid them from going up there for another year, he would not see his turtles getting harmed.
But then he heard the plea, so much stronger than before. "You didn't see Sensei, she was scared, she counted on us."
All four turtles, they were determined to go up there again, and they would do it, with or without his permission, deep inside he knew that. He had raised them to be independent and think for themselves, not to be his loyal servants.
Splinter had wanted to go with them.. he really did. But ones again, this was the turtles time to step out, he could not be their ever present shadow. Such spirited independent youngsters, they would notice, they would be annoyed, and instead of working with each other they would end up working against each other, some-thing Splinter had to refuse at all cost. They needed to do their own mistakes in their own time.
But that didn't make any-thing any less hard, as he sat there, completely alone for the first time in fifteen years, drinking his tea, in that tranquile silence that used to be hard bought, but Splinter now wished would be soon abrupted.
Eventually as he was done with his tea, Splinter decided it was no good just sitting around for all of that time, he knew it was no good for neither mind nor body, so.. he walked towards their little dojo, the dojo he had build by himself and used to it fullest, for fifteen years, he slid the door aside and in there wandered towards the hidden room, which the turtles hadn't been able to find, in where he had kept the turtles weapons until their twelve year old birthday where he had given it to them, but the space wasn't entirely empty, the wooden weapons laid out so the turtles knew where they were so they always could practise with alternative weapons did they wish to do so. But inside of that hidden room, so far out-side of the turtles knowledge were one weapon left, the single longer kantana, which Splinter now picked up, using both hands to hold it so that he gained absolute control, he left the jade-green walking stick in the room, and instead place himself out in the middle of the dojo room with the kantana in his hands.
Splinter closed his eyes and abandoned all thoughts of worry, abandoned inner struggles, abandoned any thoughts, so that the tranquil air of just the now entered him, he heard the room around him, sensed every movement, he could hear how a little rat crawled around in a pipe inside of the wall, heard an insect crawling in the corner, he heard his own breathing and felt it all the way down in his lower stomach, then he exhaled.. there was only him, the katana and the room around him.. nothing else.
Then he opened his eyes and positioned himself, only to in deep concentration perform multiple stands, launch into the air, perform a stand of parade, deflect, dodge, launch again, all in perfect controlled movements.. though most importantly, as all of that took place, not as much as a single sound escaped the dojo, it was all complete silence.. lethal silence. Which was the trade of a nin-jutsu master, you could first call yourself that when you had gained the ability to be completely unseen and completely unheard, in one swoop move Splinter turned around and drew down his sword so he held it in front of him, and the point of the sword, were barely a millimetre in front of a spider which hung in a long threat from the ceiling, Splinter exhaled ones again and retrieved the sword away from the little spider, he raised the sword ones again, only then felt disturbance in the room, the ground slightly shaking, some-ones was approaching the lair, next followed voices, at first Splinter could not hear what they were saying, he was to far removed into the world of sensing instead of observing and had to retreat, sharpen his ears, re-emerge to the world of distraction, thoughts and sentences, finally he heard the words.
"That was so awesome!"
"You saw how I fell down after April? And grabbed her in mid air?"
"Pff that was nothing, you saw how I chubbed that mutant plant into pieces?"
"You mean how I tricked him into frying himself?"
"My sons!" Splinter realised, and felt a wave of relief wash over him as he hurried to the hidden room in the wall, where he ones again replaced the walking stick with the katana, and sealed the room with the katana in it, before he straightened up, brushed off his robe, and with a relieved smile. slowly, as if he had felt nothing and hadn't been worried at all, as if he had just been taking an silent afternoon off, walked towards the big room, slide the door aside and was met by the sight of the four bouncing turtles.
"Master Splinter." Leonardo was the first one to see him.
"So you've returned my turtles." Splinter smiled at them.
"And we kicked butt!" Michelangelo exclaimed.
Splinter raised an eye-brow. "Please." He asked. "Tell me every-thing." He asked as he neared them. "Every single detail, I want to hear of your great adventure."
"Well Sensei." Leonardo began.
Around an hour and a half after, the whole story had been re-collected, Splinter had listened intensely to every detail, when the turtles weren't fighting over the actual details of the story, and finally had gotten to a conclusion.
"So what do you think Sensei?" Michelangelo at last asked.
"I'm very proud of you." Splinter told in a genuine smile. "It has been a rough start, but you learned from your mistakes, and that is what matters. You did better than I could have ever hoped for, how-ever, there is still one matter I wish discussed." He exhaled.
Leonardo frowned. "What matter Sensei?" he asked.
"April O'Neil." Splinter at last told. "You four have sworn to help her, and have honour bound yourself to do so.. Which was very noble of you." He told.
"What else could we do, she had no one else." Donatello pointed out.
"Please let me speak out." Splinter asked. "I hear what you are saying Donatello, and I do agree it was the noble thing, as it seems now though, you have found yourself in the middle of some-thing large, and you'll be working quite a lot along-side this April, there-fore she is a part of your group, which means ours, she knows who you are." He reminded them. "She as well has now become part of some-thing much larger, some-thing we are only seeing a fraction of right now, and, I merely wish to meet her myself." He told.
All four turtles blinked. "Meet April?" Donatello asked.
"Yes." Splinter responded.
Donatello blinked.
"And I see two options how to arrange that." Splinter told. "Either I can come with you up to the surface, and you'll introduce me to her, or you could invite her down here, which one would you recommend Donatello?" he asked.
"You mean we could invite her down here?" Donatello asked. "Really?" he asked. "But, we are never allowed to bring any-one down here, we weren't even supposed to show ourselves to April in the first place."
"This situation is quite different." Splinter pointed out. "Always consider the context my turtles, every situation is unique. April O'Neil is a key in your future endeavours, and.. She herself could be in danger, you four trust her do you not?" he asked them and they all nodded. "Then I choose to trust your judgement, please invite her."
The four turtles blinked and then looked at each other, the first one to smile was Donatello. "Aye Sensei will do!" he exclaimed.
Leonardo rubbed his chin. "We promised to check up on her next Friday, we could invite her there, maybe even bring her down at ones."
"Then it's settled." Splinter bowed his head. "And I suppose you all know what that means."
"What Sensei?" Raphael asked.
"Tomorrow is cleaning day." Splinter told.
"What!" Michelangelo exclaimed. "Didn't we just clean the whole place?" he asked. "There must be like a week before the next time we are supposed to do that."
"When expecting guests you clean your home." Splinter told the turtles. "We want to leave a good first impression."
"Yeah! Yeah!" Donatello exclaimed. "A good first impression! That's good Sensei."
Leonardo and Raphael exchanged looks. "This is so going to end so bad." Leonardo whispered.
"Yep." Raphael responded. "But at least it's going to be kind of fun along the way." He smirked with crossed arms.
"When we are not cleaning that is." Mikey muttered.
Friday evening April sat on the bed in her room, as she sighed deeply. She had been moved for own safety, had also moved to another school, and she couldn't contact any of her former friends, her only friends the same age as her now, the only ones whom knew what had happened, the only ones whom would believe her, was four turtles.
And the guys were great! She liked all of them as good friends, but only seeing them very shortly very rarely, it didn't make for much, April sighed ones again, just in time as slight knocking sounded on the window. April looked up and was faced with a turtle hanging upside down on the other side on the other side of the window.. it was Donatello.
"Hey April." Donatello grinned from the out-side so the gaping hole among his teethes really showed, and right behind him on the balcony stood Leonardo with a smirk and crossed arms.
"Hey guys." April smiled amused as she stood up and walked towards the window to open it all the way up. "Coming to check up on me again?" she asked in a slight roll of her eyes. "And then leave I suppose." She muttered.
"Actually.." Donatello hesitated still hanging right in front of her.
"Oh come on you dope, just say it." Raphael snorted from what was clearly far below.
"We sort of talked to Splinter, you know our sensei, about you, about every-thing." Donatello told.
"And?" April asked with a raised eye-brow. "He didn't forbid you to come did he?" she asked. "He did sound like a very strict person."
"Well he is." Donatello responded honestly. "But what he actually said was that he would really like to see you and that you should be more than welcome to come on a visit." Donatello finished in a smile.
"Really?" April asked, trying not to gape in surprise.
"Yes really." Donatello replied amused. "And believe me I was surprised to. We all were, but he is really welcoming!"
"Sensei is strict but fair, no need to be surprised." Leonardo stated from beneath the stairs.
"Can I go now?" April asked a excited voice. "We can hang out! And do things!" she pointed out very excited.
"Sure thing April, hop out." Donatello offered her a hand, which April gladly accepted as she with the help of Donatello crawled out of the window.
"Where from here?" April asked.
"Down the sewers I am afraid." Donatello told. "Come on, we are taking the fire stairs." He gently lead April over the balcony and towards a ladder going down, the rest of the turtles had long since jumped down by themselves, April though couldn't be as quick.
Excited she followed the turtles all the way down to the ground, and from there followed them in the shadows until they reached a manhole which the turtles opened up, the turtles very simply just jumped down, and April, ones again had to climb down a ladder.
In the sewers it was dark and wet, April had to be careful as she walked on a ledge beside the water, a very slippery ledge, gently Donatello showed her the way, and some-times took her hand when it looked like she was going to fall. "See if you can remember the way." Donatello whispered. "Then you would be able to come down and find us yourself when you need it."
"I think I got it so far." April smiled vaguely, her heart still beating with such excitement. They seemed to walk for quite a long time, deeper and deeper into the sewers, until April in spite of her affords, lost track, and now knew for certain, she wouldn't be able to find this place on her own, nor find back on her own.. at least not yet. Some-thing told her it was like that by design.
"Almost there." Donatello whispered, and then suddenly they rounded a corner and was faced with some-thing that didn't look wet, dark, cold or gloomy like the rest. But a place that was lithe up, looked warm and nice and.. genuinely homely, it took some time for April to even realise it was actually an abandoned train station.
"It isn't much, but it's home." Donatello told as he stepped aside, to show-case the entire place, complete with a place that looked like a kitchen, a corner that was clearly some sort of techno work-shop, a TV-corner, an old ping-pong machine, table corner, doors that was decorated with old Japanese looking things, a tire hanging from the ceiling which Mikey gladly jumped up in to lay in as was it a hammock, a practising doll which had obviously taken many hits, a boxing sack, posters from that old show space-heroes and still more.
"It's awesome." April breathed trying to take it all in. "So this is where you life?" She asked in a smile as she turned to Donnie, whom proudly nodded in return.
"Yeah." Donatello replied. "I guess it really is pretty neat."
A door opened to the left, as a new figure entered. "Ah, so this must be miss April O'Neil, greetings my young friend, it is good to finally meet you in person." A voice, much more mature than any of the turtles sounded.
April hadn't seen the person yet, but suddenly she felt very excited, this was their supposed master! Whom had taught these turtles every-thing, all of their awesome nin-jutsu she had been witness to! And they had sounded so respectful to when-ever he entered the conversation, April could barely breath, she felt so nervous, before at last, excited beyond words she turned her head… only to in shock ending up screaming, simply because of this un-expected shock.
"What? what?" Donatello asked.
"A rat!" April exclaimed pointing. "It's a giant a rat!"
The tall rat looked at her with a pretty tired face-expression. "Thank you, I how-ever, were indeed aware of that." He stated dryly.
"Why is it any deal that he's a rat?" Mikey asked confused looking up from where he was laying in that tire. "I mean, we are turtles."
"I'm sorry, it's just that, among us… from the top-side I mean." April swallowed trying to find words. "Rats are considered fifthly, decease ridden pestilences.. I mean." Scared April looked at the big rat by the other end of the room who looked sternly right back at her, even from the far distance it seemed like his amber eyes was starring her down for that comment. "It's just what some people assume of cause." She bit her lip. "I didn't mean.. I didn't." she hopelessly tried to salvage what-ever she could, but even April could tell it was hopeless at this point.
The rat took in a deep breath, and then relaxed, back to a mild how-ever slightly annoyed face. "Clearly my turtles forgot to tell you a little detail so you could not prepare yourself." He shook his head. "You must excuse them, they have never known any-thing else than this life, so for them me being a rat is as natural as going to school is to you."
"What does it mean to go to school?" Michelangelo asked as he lifted his head, looking questioning at Splinter.
"Technically you did, remember all of those noon lessons we had to have." Donatello asked. "Where Splinter taught us to read, write, mathematics and so on."
"Oh yeah, glad they are over." Michelangelo breathed leaning back in his tire.
"They are not." Raphael sneered. "We are having lessons about biology this week."
"Oh, right." Mikey laughed.
"I'm really sorry Master Splinter, I was being rude." April bowed her head for the rat, suddenly it just felt natural like a compulsion, some-how the tall lean rat oozed the kind of authority that made such compulsions just happen, even in some-one whom had grown up a new-yorker like April. "Please forgive me, it's an honour to meet you." She finally got over her lips.
"Nothing to forgive." Splinter assured as he walked closer to April. "Personally I blame my sons." He told.
"Your sons?" April asked with a lifted eye-brow, finally daring to look up again, all though she was still bowing down.
"Yeah, Splinter raised us from when we were just this small." Michelangolo measured with his hand.
"I doubt you were ever that small." April rolled her eyes as she finally stood up again.
"Actually it was more like this." Splinter pressed Michelangelos fingers together as he passed the turtle to show-case a more small space. "When I first bought four turtles in a pet shop." He told as he finally stood in front of April, he seemed to tower above her, but suddenly she could also notice how clean, lean and groomed he looked, which just made him look that much more mythical and intimidating, even if his eyes and face looked much kinder now.
"Bought?" April asked as she looked up at him, it felt like she almost had to break her neck to see all the way up to the Sensei.
"Yes, bought." Splinter told. "But then an accident happened and we were all exposed to some kind of mutagen, the turtles grew, as you can see, and so did I, as I turned into a rat."
"Turned into a rat?" April asked astounded stepping back. "You mean.. you used to be human?" she asked.
"How else would I have learned nin-jutsu so well?" Splinter asked in a slight smile. "My true name is Hamato Yoshi." He presented himself holding a hand over his chest. "But you may call me Splinter, you are not in the practise dojo so there is no need for such titles as sensei or master at current time. Come sit, and let us talk, answer each others questions." Splinter invited gesturing at the couches.
"Turned into a rat, that must have been terrible." April whispered.
"Not really, my human life at the time seemed like a meaningless lonely one, our accident certainly changed all of that." Splinter told as Raphael tripped and fell down potts and pans so a big bang sounded through the entire lair and echoed in the sewers. "For better and worse." Splinter muttered.
"You have an accent." April noted as she took place as invited in the couch. "Are you from another country?"
"Japan originally." Splinter told. "I moved here while I was in my thirties, Would you like a cup of tea?" he asked.
"Yes please, that would be great." April replied.
"Tea?" Michelangelo asked as he lifted his head ones again.
"It's common manners my turtles." Splinter replied. "To be welcoming to a new guest, and offer items of peace offerings." He told pouring up hot water in two cups, the ones without handle he always used. "It's a way to show that the guest is welcome and honoured in the house, in some cultures to do it correctly can become a matter of agendas or not, wars has been fought simply because a person weren't probably welcomed in another mans home, and weren't showed the prober respect. Here in America though. It's just common manners." Splinter told in a slight shake of his head. "Which you all should learn no matter case." He added sending a sharp look at the turtles.
"I guess manners are a very important thing in Japan." April noticed. "But it's really nice when some-one bothers here in America." She smiled as she accepted her tea. "Thank you." She replied bowing her head for Splinter.
"Now, let me hear about you April O'neil, my sons told me a great deal, but I like to hear what you have to say." Splinter told.
"Oh, there's not much to tell, to be honest." April replied blushing slightly.
"They tell me your father was a kidnapped scientist." Splinter tried as he sat in front of her, at a couch opposite to her, and suddenly, he wasn't intimidating at all, this sensei the turtles had talked about, whom had sounded so harsh and strict, now seemed so warm and concerned about her well-being. The tea cup felt good in Aprils hand, and tasted good as she took a sip, as well did Splinter, which made the situation feel that much more relaxed.
"Yeah." April finally told. "Some alien creature called the Krang took him, fortunately your sons were there to safe us."
After a surprisingly nice and warm evening, where April had told every-thing to Splinter, whom had patiently listened to all of it, some-times asked questions, and even when April asked questions, they were all honestly answered, Splinter was a very warm man as it turned out, which almost surprised April, but in retro-spect only made sense, considering how respectfully the turtles spoke of him. The turtles showed her around in the entire lair, and at last, Donatello had showed her the way back again, this time April managed to map the way inside of her mind, and as she the next day tried to find down there, she actually succeeded!
Then of cause only to be faced by the stern strict side of Splinter as she witnessed what the turtles were in what they called a morning work-out, and wide-eyed April had to realise, there was no mercy in master Splinters training sessions, as the turtles were thrown left and right, constantly lectured in their stands, and when they became a bother, Splinter proved to be a master in talking the only languet boys in that age could understand, the physical languet! The turtles could try and attack Splinter, and he would let them without becoming angry, but he would also defend himself, and as April could see, the turtles were absolutely defenceless against the rat at this point... Oh the turtles were good, but he was definetely a master.
As fascinating as that was a first thought, after a while that got boring, and soon as the turtles were on a break, Donatello offered her their daily routine, which was all-ready planned and formed, and April got a good idea of when it would be safe to come down and the turtles would be free for the rest of the day.
The days went past, and April was happy to be allowed to spend time with the turtles, it was like they were growing closer and closer as friends, she told them about how it was being young on the upstairs and the turtles listened intensely, asked a lot of questions about clubs, cinemas, new movies, television, all that stuff, and she asked about the nin-jutsu skills, which they almost sounded bored in replying about.
And then one day, it finally happened, Splinter asked for April to sit down with him for a moment, to share some thoughts.. and he asked her. Would she be interested in also get some training to become a konuich?
April was so excited by the prospect, to learn how to do all of that cool stuff, just like the turtles! She met up at her first private lesson with Splinter in their dojo, and was faced with the tall lean rat whom stood in front of her, suddenly looking a lot sterner than April was used to, all though she had realised by now, the Splinter in the dojo and the Splinter out-side of the dojo could come across as two completely different persons some-times.
"So April, you would want to give this a try." Splinter nodded.
April smiled vaguely. "Yes." She responded.
"Then inside this dojo, behind that door when in here." Splinter pointed at the slide door. "The same rules applies for you as my sons." He told. "Inside of this room, I am Sensei or Master splinter, understand?" he asked.
"Yes Sensei." April replied.
"You'll do as I say, and not ask any questions, or leave the room." Splinter replied. "Understood?" he asked.
"Yes Sensei." April responded.
"And it's called Aye Sensei." Splinter corrected her.
"Yes- erh I mean aye Sensei!" April managed to correct herself.
"Good then." Splinter nodded. "Lets sit down and have some tea."
"What?" April blinked. "But.. I thought we were going to."
"You thought I would just teach you how to make a kick that splinters wood in one day?" Splinter asked.
"Yeah sort of." April replied.
"First off, that is going to take a very long time." Splinter told. "The art of Nin-jitsu isn't some-thing you just learn like that, I started teaching my sons how to fight even before they knew how to talk probably, so that their fighting moves would be as natural to them as their ability to speak." He told. "And because of your age, I'll have to teach you differently." He told. "there's things I couldn't explain my sons right away, but we can start on that at ones." He told. "Nin-jitsu is as much about spirituality, about sensing the world around you as it is about fighting stands." He told. "So, lets us talk about the spirituality side of things today, lets try and achieve clearance of mind, and find the prober mind-set so you may absorb quicker." He told.
"Erh.. aye sensei." April blinked.
"Beside, it was because of your ability to sense the people around you that I thought this could be possible." Splinter told. "Technically you should be to old all-ready, but I want to explore the possibilities."
"Thank you." April blinked yet again.
And surprisingly, their first session was what one might would call.. boring actually, as April was instructed to sit with closed eyes and sense the surroundings with her other senses.. it didn't really happen.
The next lesson, was thankfully actually inside of the dojo, but also rather boring, as all Splinter did, was instructing her how to stand probably, and then forced her to keep standing quite a while in the various positions.. for a long time. "How long?" April finally asked.
"Until you can immediately assume all of these positions correctly as I shout the word." Splinter told sternly. "Breath you are to tense."
April exhaled, only to almost loose balance as she did so, and then actually did as she fell to the ground.
"Not really that easy." Splinter acknowledged with a smirk.
"It is for the turtles." April muttered annoyed rubbing her sore back.
"I informed you, I taught them these things at the same time I taught them how to form words." Splinter told. "You how-ever, are at basics, you all-ready have a way to stand that feels natural to you, but for nin-jutsu that stand is wrong, and we must exspell it from your body. Do you understand why we have to get this down before we can continue?" he asked.
"Not really." April admitted.
Splinter sighed, before he at last offered April a hand and pulled her up on her legs. "These are simple basics." He admitted. "Your stand, is the basis for your attacks, without a prober stand your attack will fall apart, and this stand has to become natural to you, as natural as taking a breath, so natural as when you stand in the middle of a fighting situation, you can react without even thinking." He told. "For instance." Suddenly and without warning a fist flew directly in April's direction, April screamed as she jumped up, but then the fist stopped five centimetres away from her face and didn't even touch her.
"Your natural reaction is to jump and scream." Splinter pointed out as he retrieved his fist. "We have to change such basic natural reactions in you, it should be to lower your knees, take a stand and.. I don't know, maybe dodge and respond with a kick in my stomach."
"Am I allowed to do that?" April asked.
"April O'Neil, I assure you, the day you actually manage to kick me in the stomach, I'll teach you what-ever move you like." Splinter replied. "Place yourself in defence position." He demanded.
And April did so ones again, with lowered back, and slightly hunched knees.
"To tense!" Splinter snapped.
"What again?" April asked.
"Yes." Splinter exhaled. "You need to connect yourself with the ground, feel the room around you, right now when you are so tense you have no earth connection, look." He slightly pushed April on the shoulder, and ones again she was just about to trip, if it wasn't because Splinter firmly grabbed her shoulder and hauled her back up. "But if you just relax, exhale April, relax your body, feel the ground beneath you, the connection, close your eyes if you must." And April did as she was told. "And then." He pushed her the exact same way again, only this time all that happened was the April moved a big backward only to wobble straight back into the same position. "You'll absorb the attack and move straight back." Splinter told.
April opened her eyes as she surprised blinked over the new experience.
"Also when you hit some-thing in front of you, a shock-wave will be send back, and you'll need to right stand to absorb the energy." Splinter told. "Other-wise your own attack will send you right in the ground, stand.. is the first thing."
April nodded. "Aye Sensei, I understand."
"Now, try an offensive stand." Splinter instructed, and April did as instructed.
A later session April had with Splinter, the turtles were out.. out to get her mobile phone from the purple dragons, and all-ready they had been gone a very long time, way longer than they should, any idiot could tell some-thing had happened, and yet, without the turtles there Splinter took the time to just train April.
"Defensive." Splinter instructed April and she did as she was told. "Offensive." Splinter then said, and ones again April took the stand. "Sheild, offensive, attack ready, defensive, at ease." Splinter nodded at April. "You've been practising." He told.
"Every-day." April replied in a smile. "Before I got to school, in my school break and when I come home from school."
"It shows." Splinter told. "Almost flawless, bravo." He applauded. "We can move on." He told. "Stand in offence." He asked of April and April spread her legs and bowed down as taught as she stood with a straight back. "Try to drive forward a fist." Splinter instructed and April did so.
"Good." Splinter told. "now the other one." He asked and April did. "Now exchange them in a steady pace." Splinter requested and April did so. "Mind your stand, keep it." Splinter asked as he circled her, before he at last stood in front of her. "Good, you did good." He told her. "Now comes to hard part though, meeting resistance without loosing your stand." He told and raised his hands. "On shift, hit my hands." Splinter told as he himself took a defensive position, which April could suddenly recognise, whit raised hands the palms towards April. "Your left hand must hit my left on your right." Splinter told. "And your right my right on your left."
April nodded.
"Take your time, that your stand remains correct is much more important than the speed of the hits, and do not feel like you have to force it, that you hit the spot is much more important than the force of the hit." Splinter told April.
April nodded, and then slowly started to hit Splinters hands, at first being surprised by the push back-ward she would receive as her hit was being stopped, some-times she was almost tripping again, but soon she found a prober stand, and hit with a steady rhythm.
"Good." Splinter told her. "You are indeed a natural."
April continued, and suddenly it was a steady rhythm, left, right, left, right.. there was only April, her stand, her fists, and the two hands in front of her she had to keep hitting, left, right, left, right.
"Stop, at ease." Splinter at last told. "Very good." He told April as she stopped. "Take a break."
April wiped her brow, suddenly discovered that she was dripping with sweat, some-thing she hadn't even realised, and took a drink of water from her own bottle, then she turned to Splinter and realised, he was glancing at a turtle com, laying on a little table.
"Do you have any idea when they will be back?" April asked also looking at the turtle com.
Splinter shrugged. "Hopefully only in a few hours."
"What if they aren't?" April asked.
"Then I'll have to look for them don't I?" Splinter asked in a slight smile.
"You are very worried for them aren't you?" April asked.
Splinters vague smile faltered, and then in a sigh he shook his head.
"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to pry, it's just.. For a second there, you reminded me of my own father." April admitted. "He always worries for me."
"No, April, just now, you sensed the situation, sensed another creature in front of you, never apologies for that, treasure it. That is a trait worth training and admiring, that is what makes a Kunuich." Splinter told.
"Some people just call it female intuition." April pointed out in a slight smile. "It's not really the only reason you wanted to train me was it?" she asked. "I mean…" she hesitated.
"It's part of the reason, I do see much potential in you." Splinter admitted. "But also, you are in grave danger, and you are now part of a net so much larger then just us five.. us six." He corrected himself. "I don't wish to be the reason you got hurt, so I want to give you the best chance of defending yourself when the situation demands it, the boys thinks of you as their close friend." He noted. "Almost as a new family member, perhaps a close cousin?" he offered.
"I know." April exhaled. "The feeling is mutual." She smiled vaguely. "And I'm grateful you would include me as a new cousin." She told. "I'm honoured in fact." Then she glanced at the turtle com. "You are really fine with letting them fight on their own?" she asked.
"No." Splinter admitted. "But I know I have to let them test their own strengths on their own, and let them grow in their own right, learn their own lessons, so that they might life their lives to their fullest. How-ever, if their trouble becomes to deep, if they ever ask for my help. I'll be there." He told. "I'll be there in a instance."
"I don't doubt it." April smiled. "They are lucky having a sensei and father like you, willing to go against own feelings for their well being. Can't have been easy being alone with the four of them down here for so long."
Splinter gave her one look, it looked appreciative enough, but then, the moment was over. "Lets assume, stand in offence." Splinter demanded, as he stood ready with his hands.
"How long are we going to do this?" April asked.
"Until it's your natural instinct, and then still some." Splinter responded in a smirk.
"Are the turtles still doing stuff like this?" April asked in a tired sigh.
"Oh yes." Splinter responded. "All of that we have done, we brush up on that now and then, the basics are the most important thing you know."
"Oh." April realised, but then took a stand, and continued with her hits.
