Chapter 7
"Let's go Leo, let's show these guys who they're messing with" he said after he saw Dax fly into action taking on two with his bare hands.
Leo nodded and ran at one of them full force and so did Raph. He easily plowed through one gray one that held a spear. Once he did he ran behind a tree, he pulled the young lakra off his shoulder and set her down. She looked up at him with sad pale green eyes.
"Don't look at me like that, I'll be back" he rubbed her head "Until then stay low"
He wasn't sure if she understood until she crouched down low behind the grass. He left to go join the fight again.
Soon there were only a few of them left and just as they were about to strike a roar could be heard from within the forest and a full grown lakra made its presence known by latching onto one of the bodyguards' shoulder with its teeth and throwing him all the way across the clearing. The turtles and Dax watched as the body slumped to the ground unconscious then looked back to the lakra who was having a staring contest with three other clearly frightened guards.
"Is that the mother?" Leo asked nervously
"Worse" Dax answered "It is the father"
The lakra gave another loud threatening roar that caused the rest of them to run off
"Raphael where is the cub" Dax asked
When he said this, the little cub came from behind the tree and jumped in front of Raph, trying to protect him from her enraged father. They stared at each other for a while before the father slowly approached Raphael. Dax motioned for Leo to step back
He cautiously sniffed him and visibly tensed.
"Be calm Raphael, any sudden movements can set him off"
When he was done he backed away and turned to his cub, who was waiting patiently for an answer. When he gave her the go ahead she ran to Raph and jumped into his waiting arms.
"He has decided to let you keep her, but not now"
"Why not?" Raph asked almost showing his disappointment
"She is still young, she needs to learn to protect herself and how to hunt, but once she has grown fully you may keep her"
"How will I know where she is?"
"She will come find you…by any means necessary
He sat her down hesitantly and she ran over to her father, but not before looking back to Raphael.
"Do you wish to name her?" Dax asked
"Hmm… how about Pinstripes?"
The cub answered by running around him excitedly
"Pinstripes it is. Now go on home" Raph said nodding toward the father and she ran off with him.
"Alright let's go get those plants" Leo said finally remembering what they were doing in the forest to begin with
"Right"
XXX
Back in the pavilion
"Avery"
"Yes what is it Donatello?"
"Do you mind if I ask you something"
"Of course my friend" Avery turned away from what she was doing to him her full attention
"What happened to Nati? Why doesn't she talk?"
"Oh" she said "Well I believe she has taken a vow of silence until Kai either steps down from power, is overthrown, or killed"
"Why would she do that?"
"No one really knows" she explained "Since she saw her parents die she has been doing some strange things"
"What? What happened?"
"Kai"
"Again with this guy does he ever leave you alone?" Don asked
"I am afraid not, if you ask anyone in this village they will probably tell you their own story about Kai"
"This is nuts, why doesn't anyone stand up to him?" Don asked feeling angry
"Why do you think Nati's parents were killed?" she said sadly
"So you really can't do anything about this"
"You could try, but I would not recommend it. Fighting him would be suicidal"
"I have a feeling Mikey wouldn't mind fighting for you" Don smiled
"So… you noticed too"
"I think we all noticed the way he jumped in to protect you even in his weakened state. He cares for you a lot."
"I do not understand why he would try to protect me, or why anyone would want to protect me" she turned away from him "I hate being the reason someone gets hurt. It is not worth it"
"You don't understand Avery. Back at home on earth we've always fought to protect others so what he did for you wasn't new to him, but it just seemed different with you"
"Different how?" Avery asked curiously
"On earth when we saved people we always had to run off afterward because the humans were afraid of us. Now you look at us and see us as actual people, not the monsters that humans thought we were. We only had two friends back on earth and they didn't take our appearance well at first either, and now they're married" Don explained and looked away
Avery noticed his facial expression and asked "Tell me Donatello did you have feelings for this woman?"
"…I did" he said shyly and realized that she just tried to change the subject"But not anymore. Look all I'm saying is that since Mikey met you he feels like he has a chance to love and be loved by someone"
"I understand and… I do have feelings for your brother. Is this alright with you?" she asked looking down at the floor
"Yes, it's perfectly okay with me, just promise me one thing"
"Anything"
He walked up to her and a put a friendly hand on her shoulder "Promise me that you won't hurt him"
"Never! I would never do that to him" her violet eyes stared into his brown ones
"Good, now what do you plan on doing about the wedding?"
"Oh" up until now Avery actually forgot about her situation and why Mikey wouldn't be able to approach her. She had wondered what it would be like when he wrapped his strong arms around her, to feel his body close to hers, to kiss him. All of these visions were wiped away from her mind with that one simple question "I… I don't know" she stammered as she felt warm tears roll down her cheeks "But I do know that Kai is not the person I want to spend the rest of my life with"
"Are you sure there's no way out of this?" Don asked
"None that I know of"
"Don't worry we'll figure something out" she opened her mouth to say something else, but Don stopped her "And don't try to stop us"
She only smiled and said "I won't"
