Brotherly Bonding on the Cusp of Adulthood
Disclaimer:
I don't own the TMNT, & the NYTBA is fictitious.
Warning: Contains violence, coarse language, and possible sexual content.
A/N: These are mostly 2K14 Turtles with other bits thrown in as the mood takes me. No Tcest. Turtles are 19 (Leo), 19 (Raph & Donnie), & 17 (Mikey) respectively.
Friday 3 April
Good Friday (Easter)
Day One of Tai-Kai
000
Raph's POV
I set my alarm this morning for 3:00am. April wasn't pleased at me, but I shut it off quickly, and kissed her, before heading out to pick up Dad and Mrs M.
They were waiting for me when I arrived. I'm glad I took the white van, as they had a small mountain of stuff they were bringing. Most of it looked like food, but there were some brightly wrapped parcels as well.
"Good morning Raphael, I hope you have room for everything." Mrs M, laughed as my Dad manhandled everything into the back of the van.
"Sure Mrs M, let me help you up." I gave Mrs M my arm, as I eased her into the front seat.
We packed quickly, and Dad locked up, before climbing into the back seat. We headed home, with me briefing them on everything that's been happening over the last few days, and what to expect when they arrive.
000
Master Splinter's POV
I was humbled, to be taken to my children's new home. It was a nice building, in a relatively normal street. Five storeys of rust coloured brink, in the style of the 19th century tenements the area was famous for. We entered the ground level garage and took the elevator to the main lair.
We arrived in an area large enough to be the dōjō, which Raphael dismissed as the lobby. Twenty-foot ceilings gave the neatly painted white room a cavernous feeling.
We entered a pair of double doors, into a sizable lavender painted room, filled with dining tables, chairs, sofa's, and bean bags.
A young teenage girl, with black braids pinned to her head, and dressed in a ninjutsu-gi greeted us with a sleepy smile, as she headed for the kitchen coffee pot. I watched as she put an automated boiler on, and refilled the coffee machine, before wandering towards a violin case, and taking it through another set of double doors.
"Mr Raph, I'm just gonna do some more practice in the console room until training starts, give me a yell when they need me." The girl spoke quietly and respectfully to my son.
"Mr Raph?" I queried, looking at Raphael.
"Yeah, most of the kids call us by our names, but put Mr in front. Leo's kids use the -san suffix, but the American kids use Mr." Raphael shrugged.
Esme asked Raphael, which room we would be able to leave our bags in, so Raphael directed us to the door to the right of the double doors the girl had gone through.
As we had been told, my bedroom was in boxes. While Esme decided how she wanted to arrange things, I helped Raphael move the rest of the van's contents into the kitchen.
000
Courtney's POV
I woke up this morning, and dressed in my training gear, hoping to catch an hour or so before training to practice Book Three.
I walked into the living room, to see a giant rat mutant in a ragged yellow kimono, and a smartly dressed old lady withsilver grey hair, that reminded me of an older version of my social worker.
I wasn't sure how I was expected to react, so I just went to the kitchen to put on the hot water, so they could make tea, and set Donnie's coffee maker going.
I got my violin, and told Mr Raph to let me know when training starts, before I went to the console room to practice.
I checked the monitors once I got there, but there was nothing interesting happening. Jayne has set several up at her place so I gave them a quick check too, but didn't see anything of interest.
I managed to finish Book Three by the time Donnie came to get me for morning training. This means that I can focus solely on my ninjutsu for the rest of the Spring Recess.
000
Esme's POV
Well, he wasn't joking about the room being in boxes. I manage to find the bed, which I lay out, before putting everything else against the walls of the room. They are items, which I suspect may have simply been stored in the room, but I will ask later. There is no wardrobe, or any drawers to put away clothes, only a steel shelving unit that smells of motor oil, and a set of plastic cubes.
I walk out of the room to find something to clean the shelving unit with, only to be confronted by a Japanese woman in the same robes as the teenage girl. She bows to me and introduces herself.
"I am Mistress Karai, welcome to our home. You must be Mrs Morrison. If you have any needs I would be happy to find someone to assist you." Mistress Karai, gave me a look, that said quite clearly, that I was a visitor in her home, and that she was the boss!
Feeling too old to play 'hen house' with her, I asked her for some cleaning cloths, and explained the situation with the bedroom. She in turn explained that the shelving unit was actually Donatello's and needed to be moved.
She spoke to Raphael, when he came in with another load of food, and asked if we had more suitable furniture, and possibly a wardrobe for his guest. Raphael obliged and said he would get me some furniture from upstairs, once all the food was in the kitchen.
Mistress Karai showed me where I could find the broom closet, and left me to begin to set up for their training.
Hahen and Raphael came back with some Japanese styled furniture, just as the room began to fill with small children and sleepy turtles all dressed in blue/grey robes.
"Whoa, where'd you come from?" A turtle in an orange bandana gave me a confused look, then, as he saw his father. "Sensei, you're back early!"
"Yes, Michelangelo. This is Mrs Esme Morrison, my girlfriend." Hahen said, smiling at me lovingly.
The reaction of the rest of the room was silence, then the little children came up to me, and gave me a warm hug.
"Obāsan, are you staying for our Tai-kai?" A little Japanese boy looked at me hopefully.
"What's a Tai-kai?" I asked.
"Ninja Bootcamp!" The other little boy said, grinning at me, then at the blue-banded turtle that walked up to us.
"Please forgive Yoshi's and Jay's excitement, I am Leonardo, and welcome to our family Okāsan." Leonardo said with a respectful bow, silently encouraging the children to bow also at Hahen and me.
"Thank you Leonardo, I brought some little things for the children, and of course some birthday presents, since Hahen and I weren't here yesterday." I said, smiling brightly.
"This is my eldest son Jay, it was his fourth birthday was yesterday." Leonardo indicated the little brown boy with four arms.
"The cheeky one is my younger son Yoshi, who's two years old." I could see Leonardo looking at the little boy with affection.
A blond man introduced himself as Dominic Longe, but said that most people in the clan called him by his nickname of 'Nobody'. He introduced the two older boys as his sons, Elliot and Toby.
A smiling April O'Neill introduced herself, and a rough looking man with black hair introduced himself as Casey Jones, before asking if anyone had seen his daughter Courtney. I replied that she had gone to practice her violin, which caused him to sigh, and ask Donnie to fetch her.
A tiny little blonde introduced herself next as Jayne Reynolds, and a much taller Hispanic girl introduced herself as Tina Cortez.
Leonardo and Michelangelo helped Raphael and Hahen to move the bedroom furniture in and the shelving unit out, while the others lead me to their 'dōjō'.
000
We walked across the lobby into what looked like a well-appointed hospital clinic, before turning into some double doors. The room we entered was painted a soothing green, and it was lined against one wall with eight-foot high mirrors. There was a glass wall on the opposite side of the room, showing a pool and a spa pool beyond the glass. Some weight equipment was tucked into the corner of the dōjō, opposite the spa pool.
Tina brought me a chair, and I watched as everyone arrived. Karai explained the reasons for the Tai-kai, and what they were expected to achieve over the next four days.
They then did some exercises, while Hahen and Karai assessed their skills. Another older man, who had arrived slightly late was struggling with some of the exercises, but seemed determined to pass if he could.
After an hour of watching them stretch, and move, we went for breakfast.
000
Mikey's POV
I was planning a huge breakfast, but I can't see the counters because of all the food everywhere. I ask my new Okāsan if any of it's for breakfast, and she helps me to sort out and reheat the appropriate trays.
Breakfast is great, with Nobody telling us that he knew Okāsan's son Kazimir, when he was in the Army Rangers in Afghanistan. The dude was killed because he saved Nobody's life.
Okāsan tells us how Good Friday came about, which is kinda radical. She makes the Jesus dude sound way cooler, than the TV evangelists usually do.
Too soon, we have to go back to training, so I grab a cushion for her chair, and we all head back.
000
Raph's POV
I was worried that Fearless would spit the dummy, over Dad's girlfriend, but he decided to adopt her instead. I'm pretty sure she doesn't understand what Okāsan or Obāsan mean, but she's running with it anyway.
Mikey was cute at breakfast. He's always wanted a mommy, so now he's fussing over her like crazy.
Donnie is more interested in the paper as usual, but he's as polite as always, if you can call shovelling, sweet tasting bread in his mouth, while he reads the gold prices, polite.
I'm pretty sure I passed my test this morning, so I can relax a little, as Karai gives us another lesson on Junan Taiso. I was surprised to see Vern this morning, but apparently, April leaned on him so he's going to be staying for the weekend Tai-kai.
At breakfast, he mentioned that he had picked up every book he could find on the subject of Ninjutsu. Leo had a quick look through, and spotted a few he hadn't seen before, so I think I know what Leo's doing during the lunch break.
After another couple of hours, we take a short water break, and then we start on the Kamae. Karai is in fine form today, as she gives us the history of the Kamae, and a lecture on Kukan.
We practise sparring from each of the Kamae using Taijutsu, and Sensei and Karai pick our technique apart for faults.
Mrs M looks fascinated by what we're doing, particularly the kids, and she moves her chair so she can seen them better.
000
Vern's POV
'Well Vern you really got yourself into trouble this time' I think to myself as I try to twist myself into whatever position Karai is telling me. I think I liked it better when she was the bad guy, and all I had to do was avoid her.
She's a hard teacher, doesn't smile, except at the kids. April dropped this little 'Tai-kai' on me, on Monday, so I've been reading every book I can get my hands on about Ninjutsu, and trying to teach myself enough of the theory, to not completely embarrass myself this weekend.
Yeah, I know, I've known the ninja turtles for about three years, but I'm usually just their driver.
April's insistence that I learn how to do basic ninjutsu, is probably a good thing, but I bet I'm gonna hurt in the morning. I've been stretching muscles I didn't even know I had this morning.
I wonder if being able to call myself I ninja will help pick up the babes? Knowing my luck, probably not.
000
Yoshi's POV
Obāsan is really nice. She helped me cut up my breakfast this morning. She gave Jay some armour for his knees and elbows like Otōsan has, Jay put them on under his ninjustu-gi, so he doesn't get hurt so much. Toby got some too.
Obāsan brought us some other presents too for Easter. She told us the story of Easter at breakfast time. She gave each child a book about Easter, and a box of peeps, and a toy bunny in a kimono.
At lunchtime, we have more strange food, and Otōsan reads Mr Vern-san's ninjutsu books. The strange food is nice, but very heavy in my tummy.
We learn everything about Taijutsu before dinner, when we have a really yummy meal. Afterwards Okāsan gives everyone a test. No one passes the test, so we won't get our stickers.
Okāsan and Ojīsan go up to Okāsan's office and fill in the sticker charts.
Only me, Elliot, and Mr Vern-san didn't get stickers for Junan Taiso. Mr Vern-san looked sad, so I gave him a hug, and told him he could get his sticker at the next Tai-kai.
I'm really tired when we are allowed to go to bed. I take my turtle 'Franklin', and my new bunny 'Miyamoto' into bed with me.
000
Leo's POV
I was pretty amazed to see Vern put in an appearance this morning. Yes, we do consider him an honourary member of our clan, but since he's known for giving up yoga after only ten sessions, I've never considered him ninja potential.
Still, he came in with his own small library of Ninjutsu books, all the latest books, in both English and Japanese, as he is fluent in both languages. Some of the titles I haven't seen before, and a couple of them I haven't been able to get for myself.
He seems content to let me read them over the weekend, so I spent my lunch hour reading up on the 'Ninja Mind'. Even Karai read a couple of his books during lunch, making notes in a little notebook, she's been carrying around for days.
Vern told me that he had been trying to memorise all the books so he wouldn't be lost when we started talking about Ninjutsu. I had to laugh at that, and told him not to worry, Karai has planned a comprehensive lecture on everything, so that everyone has the same knowledge by the end of the weekend.
Everyone sniggered, when Vern pleaded to be allowed to turn in, at the children's bedtime. We let him, as we had plasterboard to lay for the new apartments downstairs before we could go to sleep.
Okāsan busied herself in the kitchen, she has elected herself our cook, for the weekend, so that Mikey can concentrate on his ninjutsu.
I noticed too, that she brought a little white cat with a pink bow with her, that Anybody seems to be getting very friendly with. Since he's not usually that friendly, I wonder if the cat might be a female.
000
I am impressed when the elevator takes us to the new sublevel. The frames are up, plumbed, and wired on one side, but the side that will become my new apartment is still bare.
We all put up the plasterboard and insulation quickly, then Mikey plasters everything. Meanwhile Raph and I head upstairs to cut the framing for my apartment. We manage to get everything done for the floor, and Donnie installs all the underfloor heating etc, before we lay the floor.
Its midnight when we finish, but we decide that since its all theory tomorrow, we'll take a start after breakfast.
000
A/N: Mikey's in heaven with his new mommy. He's just so cute! The kids seem pretty happy at having a grandma too.
The only worry I think is Karai being territorial about her position as alpha 'hen' in the lair. It's a good thing Mrs M has seen it before, and is just laughing it off as youth.
I see Vern Fenwick as a reluctant student ninja at best, but he doesn't want to lose 'face' completely, by not attending the Tai-kai.
I love reviews, please tell me what you think.
000
Any translations are done using Google translate app. I apologise in advance if the translations are a bit weak or wrong.
Japanese Translations:
"Kamae" (means posture).
"Ojīsan" (means Grandfather, or Male Senior Citizen, polite)
"Obāsan" (means Grandmother, or Female Senior Citizen, polite)
"Otōsan" (means Father, or Daddy, polite)
"Okāsan" (means Mother, or Mommy, polite)
