Chapter 2

Leonardo was about to implode. The afternoon would soon end and he was no closer to mastering the sequence that Saki - Master Saki - had shown them in the morning.

A sequence that Raphael had grasped in the blink of an eye, and was now trying to teach Leonardo.

It wasn't that Leonardo didn't remember the different postures - he had memorized them the first time, his memory was excellent - but he could never perform them to Raphael's satisfaction.

They had tried everything: to do each movement as slowly as possible, to do one after the other as fast they could, to do them together with Leonardo mimicking Raphael, to do them one after the other with Raphael correcting Leonardo bit by bit…

Nothing had worked. It was as if Leonardo's body was refusing to comply - as if the moves were wrong.

That, of course, made no sense, and Leonardo was beginning to think that he was hopeless.

"Come on, Leo! Focus!"

Raphael's exasperated request was the last straw. Leonardo already knew he was a disappointment. Unlike Raphael, he had never felt especially close to Saki, but the man had never looked at him with such disdain before he began to teach them. The last thing he needed was his twin to think that he was being sloppy on purpose.

"I am focusing!"

Leonardo's tone was drier than he had intended - it wasn't his twin's fault, Raphael was only trying to help - but he was focusing, and he was doing his best, couldn't his brother see that?

Raphael took the hint, as he always did. "Okay, okay. Sorry. It's just…" He bit his lip. "Let's try again, alright?"

Leonardo nodded, sheepish. Once again, he tried the dreaded sequence; once again, his body refused to cooperate.

Raphael breathed deeply. Leonardo could tell that his twin was at a loss, but he knew that he wouldn't give up - Raphael never gave up.

"This is the funniest show I've seen in a while."

Both boys jumped.

Leonardo blushed hard as a girl about their age walked down to them. Raphael had chosen a discreet place for their training, in a grove of trees in their family's most private garden, but of course it wasn't safe from their cousin.

Raphael frowned.

"Karai," he said coldly. "What are you doing here?"

Leonardo rolled his eyes. For some reason he couldn't quite comprehend, Raphael didn't like Karai.

Sometimes he assumed it was because she was in competition with him for Saki's attention. Karai was Saki's daughter and her father doted on her.

However, Saki had categorically refused to teach her. He didn't want her to be a warrior - not when his wife, a gifted practitioner in the Art of Fire, had been killed in battle years ago.

Karai wasn't happy at all about it - she had confided in Leonardo that she wanted to learn the Art, and she wanted to learn it as a warrior like her mother - but it was the only thing his father wouldn't grant her.

"I'm walking, like you see," she answered Raphael, teasing. "Does everything go the way you want?"

"Of course," Raphael retorted. "And we don't need you here. Go away!"

Karai shrugged. "I could help," she offered.

Raphael shook his head and stomped his foot. Karai looked at Leonardo for support, but the boy was a little resentful that she had spied on them - on him - while he was failing so miserably to perform a stupid sequence, and so he did as if he hadn't seen Karai's look.

"Fine." Karai sighed ostensibly. "See you later, boys."

She waved at them and disappeared behind the trees as silently as she had come. Leonardo felt a little guilty to see her go, but his hurt pride wouldn't let him run after her and apologize.

"She's so annoying," Raphael grumbled. "Let's go back to business." He gave Leonardo an encouraging smile. "Do it again! I know you can make it."

As moved as Leonardo was by his brother's efforts to help him, he had stopped believing that he would master the sequence today.

Maybe he would never.

"It's no use, Raph," he whispered. "You've done everything you could, and I'm grateful, but…"

Raphael didn't let him finish.

"But nothing! Come on, Leo, you can't just give up!"

Leonardo watched him with a pitiful look.

"You need a pause," Raphael decided. "Let's go to the caves, alright?"

Leonardo immediately perked up. It was one of his favorite places in the whole oasis. His people dug wells to provide the necessary water, but the caves had water in the open air: a small pool perpetually in twilight, but still close enough to the entrance that they didn't need candles. Leonardo felt at ease there, and he could spend hours watching the calm surface of the water.

As they took the direction of the nearby village - crossing it was the shortest path to the caves - Leonardo couldn't help brooding anxiously over what was going to happen the next day. What would his teacher say if he couldn't prove that he could keep up with his training?

Would Saki tell his father?

Leonardo's stomach twisted at the very idea. He didn't want his father to think that he was a failure - that he wasn't worthy of the Hamato name.

He knew that there were children in the clan that couldn't learn to bend Fire to their will, but he couldn't remember one in his lineage - not in any of the countless stories that his father told them before bed.

It didn't help Leonardo's anxiety that they were seeing Hamato Yoshi so little these days. His father had the responsibility of the clan this year, and it left him with very little time for anything else. He didn't come for lunch and was late for dinner; her mother never complained, but Leonardo could feel that she waited eagerly for next year, when another family would take the lead.

"What's this?"

The excitement in Raphael's voice snapped Leonardo out of his thoughts. He raised his head to see what had caught his twin's attention.

Warriors were saddling their horses in the village square. Saki was at their head, talking to the blacksmith.

Raphael and Leonardo ran to him.

"Uncle Saki, what's happening?" Raphael asked eagerly.

"Ah, Raphael." Saki gave no sign that he had noticed Leonardo's presence at all. "There is a caravan missing. They should have arrived this morning, and we are still without news of them. We're going to look for them and make sure they didn't get lost... or worse." Saki's face was grim.

Leonardo immediately understood what his uncle meant. Pillagers were a reality, and although caravans hired warriors to protect themselves, not all of them made it to the end of their long journey.

As their clan was supposed to protect the caravan roads in this corner of the desert and to provide shelter and food for them when they reached the oasis - in exchange for compensation, of course - it made sense that his uncle would patrol.

"We won't be back until the day after tomorrow at best," Saki continued. "Our lessons will be postponed until I return."

Leonardo's eyes lit. He felt guilty to rejoice when a caravan might have been attacked, but no lessons for one day felt like heaven.

"Can we come with you, Uncle?" Raphael said excitedly.

Leonardo had no wish to accompany their uncle, and he was relieved when Saki shook his head.

"Not this time, my nephew. Be patient," he said with a fond smile.

"Yes, Uncle Saki." Raphael hung his head in disappointment.

Leonardo waited until the warriors had left to nudge his twin. "Come on, Raph, it's going to be great. Like a vacation," he said. "We can spend the day with Mikey and Donnie, maybe go on a picnic!"

"Yes, maybe." Raphael crossed his hands behind his neck. "If you say so."

Leonardo didn't like the sudden mischievous look on Raphael's face. At all.