I own nothing! Please just enjoy and don't sue. Enjoyment and satisfaction is all I get from it. (shrugs)

He heard the sound of three balls rolling beyond the screen, and then the ring of blades being drawn. He saw the silauettes of the guards move. He heard the explosion and saw the smoke.

Usagi watched the guards collapse. Then he witnessed the movement of the smoke as it reached up to the healer. He also collapsed.

Usagi moved away and up from the rising mist, taking a deep breath before holding it. The rising darkness moved closer. Then the cloud stopped, retreated, and dissipated. Usagi was careful to release his held breath very slowly and silently. Then he listened.

The healer still breathed as did the Daimyo, which likely meant the guards did as well. The smoke should not have reached Donatello's hiding place at all. Usagi smiled.

His ears twitched as he heard voices behind the screen. They were none he recognized. "What are you doing? Our orders were to end the Daimyo's life."

Usagi scowled and gripped the hilt of one blade. Another voice responded. "And so we shall. But we shall make it look like the turtle creature finished what his master started." He heard the sound of a long blade moving through air and being caught in a hand. The image of Leonardo's beloved katanna lying by his friend's side flashed in Usagi's mind.

The Samurai's jaw clenched. He bared his teeth. So, they had framed Splinter san, and now they plan on framing Leonardo! Honorless, honorless assassins!

His attention was caught by what looked like claws pulling apart the doors of the screen. Two of the assassins he'd seen before, or at least two very like them, strode in with steps he heard no sound of. Usagi's eyes widened slightly. He'd had the faint hope their earlier failure with Leonardo had foolishly convinced whoever had hired these assassins to dismiss their services and hire others. Apparently, no others were available in time, or the one who'd hired them was no such fool.

Usagi caught motion at the edge of his vision. He turned his head slightly. A large kame wearing purple, carrying a boe staff, and moving more like a mouse ran along a rafter toward him and these foes. Usagi smiled again. Then he saw the assassins approach the Daimyo.

He turned his full attention back to these three. The two assassins turned toward each other on either side of their intended victim. One thus had his back to Usagi's hiding spot, and that same one blocked the other's view of it. Usagi dropped from it and ran forward.

As Leonardo's blades came down, he drew his forth. He blocked both. A boe staff swung out and crashed into their legs. The assassins fell.

Now it was he and Donatello who stood side by side at the right and left of the resting Daimyo. Usagi moved into a defensive posture. The kame did the same. It was then the Samurai recalled how little he'd told Donatello of these foes. "Be alert, Donatello san. I have faced these assassins before, and they are extremely skilled and dangerous."

One had taken out a chain and began to spin it before tossing its weighted end at Donatello. Usagi turned his head slightly to watch the kame dodge it. Donatello ducked. Then he rolled toward his attacker. Leonardo's brother stood and attempted to break through the assassin's defenses with his boe staff. He managed it within three moves. After knocking his attacker away, he turned back to Usagi with a frown. "You could say that again."

Usagi thought that a strange and dull request especially in the middle of a fight for their and innocent lives. Still, he did not want to make Donatello angry with him again. Perhaps he hadn't heard him the first time?

"Very well." He turned to engage the second assassin even as he complied with Donatello's request. "They are extremely skilled and dangerous."

God bless

ScribeofHeroes