Karai sat on the dais in front of Shredder's chair. Shredder had been silent for several minutes, and his recalcitrance to talk about the Satou—Kobayashi—woman was unsettling. The woman must have been involved in something very serious, must have done something against the Foot at some point.
And Karai had just entered into an agreement with her. Finally, she could bear it no more. "Father, please. I need to know the truth about this woman."
Shredder drew a deep breath. When he spoke, his voice was taut with the anger of the past. "Kobayashi Kenshin was a man who attended the same primary school as Hamato Yoshi and I did. He became fast friends with Splinter, and when Splinter betrayed me, Kobayashi aided him. Kobayashi was there when Hamato Yoshi killed your mother, Karai."
The words sent chills down Karai's spine.
"I found him and I made him pay the ultimate price for his crime against me. He is dead. But his wife, Kobayashi Mei, I did not kill. I see now that this was a mistake. That woman who calls herself 'Satou' is Mei. Doubtless, she has joined Splinter in an effort to take vengeance for her spouse's death."
Karai felt her hands begin to quiver with anger. That was the turtles' game. It was likely that Donatello was not in any danger at all. How could I have trusted Leo again? she thought. He betrayed me once. Why wouldn't he do it again? I am going to kill each and every one of the others. Kobayashi Mei, Splinter, April, those stupid turtles—but not Leo.
I'm going to make him suffer. Suffer the way I have.
Shredder drew a long, deep breath. He looked up at the ceiling, and his eyes flashed back and forth as though he were deciding what course of action to take. "I have no quarrel with Mei. She did not kill Tang Shen, and it would be dishonorable to punish her for her husband's crimes. Nevertheless, she is an ally of Hamato Yoshi and a danger to us."
"Then what should we do, Father?" Karai burst out.
"We must capture her and keep her prisoner so that she no longer poses a threat," Shredder said.
There was an odd color to his voice that made Karai's skin crawl. Or perhaps it was just the thought of not killing a woman who was clearly just another traitor that made her feel that way.
She had already lost her mother; she could not bear to lose her father. But if her father felt that it would be dishonorable to end Mei's life, then it must be.
Because, while she questioned and rebelled against her father on many issues, he had taught her the code of honor that she lived by. She was his daughter and he loved her; therefore, his honor was unimpeachable. It had to be.
"Just leave it to me, Father," Karai said. "I have an idea of what to do."
Shredder merely nodded. "You may go."
Slowly, Karai rose from the dais and headed for the exit. Just before she went through the door, she turned to look back at her father.
Fleetingly, she longed for him to embrace her; to tell her that he loved her, that he was proud of her.
I know you love me, she cried out silently. Why won't you show me?
It was because of Hamato Yoshi. Bitter anger leapt into her throat.
She was going to make all of them pay.
Warm sun. It was a beautiful thing. Donatello could not imagine a time that he had ever been happier. In addition to the comfort of the warm, little tiny sun, Donatello had his own personal food dispenser. The female human with red hair was always bringing him things to eat. And not just any old food—this stuff was top notch. Vegetables of all kinds, and one time, a little tiny goldfish!
She also patted him on the head. She amused him by moving little toys around for him to look at. She was always making noises at him, too. It was really nice, but it was a little smothering. Then sometimes, she would become very, very upset and the little beads of water would go flying everywhere. It was quite startling.
At this particular moment, Donatello was alone with his sun lamp. The food-dispensing human was somewhere else, and it occurred to him that he was hungry. Slowly, he went searching for her. He was halfway across the big room when one of the giant turtles stomped inside.
Donatello evaluated the large turtle for a moment. His instincts were very conflicted; he knew that was definitely supposed to trust this turtle, but for some reason he felt as though this turtle had hurt him on many different occasions. When the big turtle squatted down and held out a lettuce leaf, Donatello's fears vanished.
"Hey there, Donnie," the big turtle said. "I see you're hungry."
Ignoring the strange noises, Donatello munched contentedly on the leaf.
"You know, before Spike mutated, I always told him everything. I liked to pretend that he understood me, you know? After he mutated, it turned out that he'd understood me the whole time. Do you understand me, Donnie?"
This was an exceptionally delicious lettuce leaf. But the red-haired girl would have at least brought him a tomato or carrot to accompany it.
The big turtle sighed. "Chew on your leaf if you understand me, Donnie."
For some reason that Donatello could not fathom, as soon as he bit into the leaf again, the big turtle made a very pained, choking sound. It was quite startling.
"I—I really hope you can understand me. I know I was always a jerk to you. Calling you a nerd and stuff. But I'd give anything to have you back, bro. You're still in there, right? I mean, all that science junk had to come from somewhere, and I'm not willing to give the credit to those freakish brain blobs' mutagen."
The lettuce leaf was almost gone. One leaf? Seriously? Clearly this big turtle had no common sense at all. Hopefully the girl would bring by another little fish at some point. However, to Donatello's delight, the big turtle produced another lettuce leaf as soon as the first one was gone.
"And the worst part is, I don't know if I ever actually told you how much I care about you. And respect you. And need you."
This lettuce leaf seemed a little drier than the last one.
"I love you, bro. Chew on your leaf if you understand me."
Donatello realized that he was full enough to wait for a higher quality meal. Now, he felt a little cold and decided to head back to the tiny sun. It was time for a nap.
"Donnie? Donnie, chew on—chew on your leaf if you—chew—Donatello?"
Steadily, Donatello continued on his path, peaceful and content, when he was suddenly aware of the strange soft sounds that the big turtle was making. He turned and looked back at it. The red strip around its face was getting wet. It clutched itself as though it was in agony. As though it was dying from the inside out.
Donatello did not know exactly what it was that made all of these people and creatures who visited him so upset and hurt all the time. Maybe nobody ever bothered to give them lettuce leaves.
The big turtle stood up abruptly and hurried from the room. It slammed the door so loudly that it scared Donatello into his shell for the next several minutes.