It was to loud. Leo grimaced, listening to music come blaring out somewhere. It was Raph's, and it was just to loud, and way to obnoxious. In the dojo, Raph and Valentine were sparring. At first, Leo had been nervous about the girl fighting his brother, and about Raph pulverizing Valentine into the dust. After supervising the first match, and being shocked to find Valentine to hold her own and actually make Raph back off, he had let the two fight on their own. He had seen her fight the purple dragons the other night, but that had been with multiple attackers, and he knew she was good.
Almost ninja good.
Yet, when she was fighting one on one, she was lethal. Melody had stuck with Valentine at the beginning, since it was really only the deaf girl who could understand her, but she eventually drifted away to watch Donny work on something Quantum physics related. Apparently, the mute girl had a fascination with science, and the two had hit it off. Melody took to carrying a pencil and a pad of paper with her, and everyone's lives were easier when she tried to talk. Clarissa, now she didn't exactly fit with any of the turtles. The blind girl didn't click with his brothers, she always smiled politely and nodded her head, answered when spoken to, but the turtles apparently weren't good with a blind girl, and she secluded herself in her room. Heading towards the lair library, yes, they actually did have a library, Leo ducked as a water balloon flew over his head. Mikey was up to something again. Leo thought nervously, but what, that was the question. Cracking open the door, he found Clarissa sitting inside. Her eyes were closed, and a small smile on her face. Her fingers were running across the page, and Leo realized after all these years their library had actually acquired a braille book. Leo took a step away, quietly closing the door.
"Come in, Leonardo." Clarissa called out, her fingers stilling on the page.
"How did you...?" He trailed off surprised.
"Like I could forget a person's footsteps!" She laughed. "And, of course, some deductive elimination." She smiled.
"What do you mean?" Leo asked, slightly startled she had called him out by name.
"Simple, Leonardo." Clarissa began. "If it had been Mikey, I would have heard him a mile away. If it had been Raphael, I still would have heard him. Your brother likes to stomp you know, not a flattering feature if you ask me. Donatello mumbles most of the time, something sciencey related usually. If it had been Valentine, she would have spoken up, asked what I was up to, and Melody would knock on the door letting me know she was here. You, dear Leonardo, try to never make a noise. Two mistakes, trying to side step a blind girl who's ears are as good as an owl's, and the door creaked." She said, smiling softly. "And are you going to come in or stay outside? Trying to talk across the room isn't exactly the most normal."
"Yeah, I'll come in." Leo replied, walking into the library.
"Take a seat." Clarissa nodded, and Leo did what the girl said. "I was actually surprised to find a braille book in here, why in the world would any of you have a braille book?" She asked, a little laugh in her voice.
"Oh yeah, I forgot about that." He chuckled.
"How in the world do you have a braille book? Did you know we were coming?" She joked.
"If I had known you were coming, that could have changed everything." He laughed. "No, I'm not psychic, not that I know of though. Mikey got that book, years ago when we were kids." Leo began.
"Mikey, huh? I guess I'll have to thank him. Go on."
"It was a book that had been thrown out somewhere, and Mikey found it one day. He thought it was in code, that he was supposed to decipher it and go save somebody." Leo laughed remembering. "He thought it would teach him how to be a superhero too."
"Oh my." Clarissa giggled.
"Yeah. What is that book about? To many bumps and ridges, none of us could ever read braille." Leo asked.
"Oh, it's a paranormal romance type. Love, supernatural elements, intrigue, it's good. The funniest thing though? The main character's a mutant." Clarissa smiled.
"Huh." Leo replied, wondering how it was possible Mikey had picked up a book about mutants. Was that even possible?
"Exactly what I thought. Anyway, what's everyone up to? I hear music, is Melody practicing her dancing? Or is Valentine fighting again?" She sighed.
"Valentine and Raph are sparring." Leo told her.
"How nice." Clarissa said softly, shaking her head.
"So wha are you doing in here?" Leo finally asked, looking at the brunette carefully.
"Same reason you were coming, to hide." Clarissa replied with a nod.
"I wasn't-"
"Don't lie to a blind girl, that's just wrong." Clarissa said with an air.
"Okay, so maybe I was. Is that so wrong? I live with those guys 24/7, I just wanted a break. And besides, that music was driving me crazy." Leo grumbled.
"Finally, someone who speaks their mind." Clarissa nodded. "Same thing, but my life's probably a bit more complicated than yours."
"I doubt it." Leo snorted.
"Try me." Clarissa countered.
"Okay, just don't say I didn't warn you." He began. "For the past few years we've been battling this guy named The Shredder, a really bad guy who doesn't care who he has to hurt to get what he wants. He's the leader of the Foot, his goons basically, and he's really good."
"How terrible." Clarissa breathed.
"He's on of the best warriors we've ever faced, he's the stuff of legends, and he's pure evil. He's tried to kill us a lot of times, but we've always managed to get away just in time."
"Just like in the movies."
"Yeah, sorta. Now the guys under him you're probably familiar with are the purple dragons. We try to clean the streets up, but those guys just won't quit!" Leo grumbled.
"They're annoying, I will admit that."
"But they're perfect for Raph when he's having anger management problems."
"Perfect solution."
"And they're easy to beat, they don't know anything about martial arts." Leo mused aloud.
"Punks, definitely."
"Anyway, I bet you don't have to deal with death threats." Leo aid, shaking his head.
"No, but I have my fair share of suffering. You get bodily harm, I get emotional and psychological." Clarissa shrugged.
"What are you talking about?" Leo asked confused.
"People attack you directly, you can fight them head on, but I deal on a different level. People ambush me indirectly, never truly fighting but always in a round about way. Because I'm blind, people tell me all the time, oh you can't do it, they treat me like a child! They don't ever acknowledge the fact that I can do almost everything they can. People hold me at arm's length, tell me that I need them, that I can't walk a measly hallway by myself. They don't think I can do what they can, so I'm belittled on a daily basis, I can't have a normal conversation outside my family because people get weirded out by that 'blind chick', and then it's like, do you want me to take you somewhere? Do you need help? Oh my gosh you're about to walk into that door! Like I don't know the door's there." Clarissa sighed, shrugging. "Its a strain, an annoying strain."
Leo was silent a moment, pondering her words. She was right, no one had ever told him he couldn't do something. Master Splinter always encouraged him to do anything he set his heart on, except going top side (to many complications), and no one ever treated him like a little turtle, he was the leader after all.
"Melody and I are twins, and I'm older than Mel, but everyone treats Mel likes she older than me. They expect Melody to look after me, but it's harder that way. Do you have a brother you can't connect to?"
"Raph." Leo sighed. "He and I aren't exactly cut from the same cloth."
"But you can still talk to each other. Melody and I hardly talk, I have to read her hands, and she has to go slow for me. Usually, I'm the one talking on and Melody listens, its the only way I know how to communicate with her. It's to complicated though. If it weren't for Valentine, we'd be lost most of the time. Valentine the oldest, you knew that right? But she keeps us together." Clarissa spoke softly, a smile on her lips. "Oh, that brings me to my second question. The day our house exploded, why were you following us on the rooftops?"
"How did you...?" Leo trailed off startled.
"Ears like an owl, I told Val someone was following us, I just didn't think it was a giant turtle!" She laughed.
"How did you even figure it out?" Leo asked, taken aback.
"Please, we live in the same house now." Clarissa replied rolling her eyes. "And like I told you, I always remember a walking pattern. As long as I know how fast or slow someone walks, I can get behind them and not worry about running into them. It's a life skill, Leonardo." She said seriously. "And since you ran during your training the other day, I matched the pattern to the other day. It really was bugging me why your pattern sounded so familiar."
"I saw you and Valentine get attacked by the purple dragon. I was afraid someone would come and get revenge, and I wasn't sure if that clash Valentine had with the dragon was a fluke or not."
"Playing big brother now are we?" Clarissa giggled. "Thank you, Leonardo, that was sweet." Leo didn't reply for a second, and Clarissa frowned. "Something's different." She murmured.
"What's up?" Leo asked confused.
"Something's different." She repeated, getting up and heading for the door.
"Okay, but what's different?" Leo asked following behind her.
"I hear something, something's off. Melody's with Donatello, Valentine and Raphael are sparring, I'm with Leonardo..." She thought aloud. "Michelangelo." She breathed aloud. Oh no. Leo thought with a grimace.
"What's he doing this time?" Leo wanted to cry.
"I hear something, like a whirring, something mechanical." She mused aloud. "Take my arm please, I don't want to run into a wall today." She said briskly, and keeping her on course Leo let her lead him farther back into the lair. "Wait a second." She said, and edged towards the wall, running her fingers over a pipe. "That's where the sound's coming from." She nodded happily. "Feel it? The buzz?" She questioned him, and Leo ran a green finger over the pipe, feeling the humming sound coming from within.
"Yeah." Leo replied.
"Follow the pipes, at the end's where the sound's coming from." Clarissa said resolutely, trailing her fingers along the wall as she moved forward. At the end of the pipe was a door, and pushing it open she looked inside hollowly. "What do you see?" She asked calmly, moving aside to let Leo in.
"Um..." Leo replied looking at everything slightly stupefied.
"Yes?"
"It's Klunk." He replied surprised.
"Excuse me?"
"A cat." He replied dumbfounded. Klunk was running on a wheel, an oversized, gerbil wheel looking thing, with a catnip tease dangling just out of reach of the running kitty. The wheel was connected to some machine, and it was buzzing and humming and creating the whirring sound Clarissa had heard.
"Aw, a kitty? I love kitties!" Clarissa cooed. "Here Klunk." She called out softly, reaching her hand out in the direction of the kitty.
"Mrow?" Klunk asked, hopping off the wheel and coming to sniff the outstretched hand. "Aw, she's so sweet." She murmured, picking the cat up at petting its fur softly. "The sound stopped. What was it?" Clarissa asked confused, cuddling the kitty in her arms.
"I'm not sure, but I'm betting Mikey knows." Leo mused.
"It's best we don't find out." Clarissa finally sighed. "What if it's a surprise?"
"What if it's a prank?" Leo countered.
"Fair." Clarissa replied. "But I think we should go anyway, I need to check up on my sisters. Besides, I can't let Valentine beat Raph up to bad." She laughed.
"Yeah, she's beating Raph up." Leo snorted.
"Hey!" Clarissa grinned. "Vallie is one of the best fighters in the country, she could take down one of you ninjas easy."
"I doubt that."
"She could! Challenge her and see if my deaf sister could take you on, Leonardo. I bet it would be a wonderful match." She smirked.
"You're on, and when I've beaten her you have to do something for me."
"Like what?" Clarissa replied carefully.
"Not sure yet, but I'm sure I'll figure it out afterwords."
"And when Vallie's cleaned your clock, you have to be her personal assistant for a day."
"You're on."
"Deal." Clarissa smiled, petting her new found kitty deviously.