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Ninja Tales

Volume 1 - Snowfall

Chapter 2

"Isn't she here yet?" Mikey whined.

"Mikey, I swear, if ya don't shut ya trap…"

"But she's taking sooo loooong!" Mikey pouted.

Mikey managed to duck in time before his brother whacked him over the head.

"Are they always like this?" Yuki asked Donnie who was currently dabbing disinfectant on some of her wounds. Donnie just sighed heavily in response.

"They sure are lively, aren't they?" she smiled softly as she watched Mikey run across the small alleyway with Raph in hot pursuit.

"I suppose that's one way to look at it." Donnie agreed, "They do tend to lift the mood with their antics."

"Though, I do hope they keep it down." Leo sighed, "It'll be bad if we get spotted."

"Are you guys in hiding or something?" Yuki asked.

"Not quite, 'in hiding', perse." he answered, "Let's just say we have a hard time fitting in, being walking, talking turtles and all."

"Ah…" she frowned, "So then I take that talking animals is much rarer here than they are back home?"

"They're common where you are from?" Donnie asked with intrigue as he started applying bandages on the larger wounds.

"Somewhat." she nodded, "The ones who don't have summoning contracts with shinobi [1] mostly keep to themselves though."

"Summoning contracts?" Leo asked.

"Yeah, some shinobi summon them in battle, while others are used to send messages." she explained.

"Interesting." Leo murmured, "That really sounds like a place I'd like to visit someday."

"There we go." Donnie said as he finished up his first aid care, "That should do it. "

"Arigatou gozaimasu [2], Donatello-san." she thanked the turtle as she looked over his patch job, "Say, Leonardo-san...what is your friend like?"

"Hmmm…" Leo frowned in concentration, "She can be quite intense, as her namesake, but don't let that fool you. You'll find she's actually quite a sweetheart once you get to know her well."

"Oh, am I now?" Karai asked as she stepped out of the shadows, "You know it's rude to talk about people behind their backs, right?"

Yuki couldn't help but feel slightly intimidated by the woman that had just appeared. She had a certain air of elegance that one would usually associate with royalty.

'I see what they meant by intense...' Yuki thought to herself [3]

"I'm kidding, I'm kidding!" Karai reassured before walking over to Yuki, "So, you must be the one Leo mentioned?"

"Ah, hajimemshite." [4] Yuki bowed deeply before continuing, "I'm Seiji Yuki. Yoroshiku onegaishimasu." [5]

"Hajimemshite." Karai smiled before giving Yuki a bow in return, "I am Oroku Karai." [6]

"Well, then...I guess we'll see each other later." Leo greeted.

"Likewise." Yuki smiled as she waved them off.

The rest of the turtles greeted them as well before they all started parkouring out of the alleyway and out of sight.

"Come along then." Karai gestured before leading Yuki to an armoured van parked down the street.

Inside, a bespectacled man with flaming red hair was waiting and looked up from the book he held in his hands, curiously inspecting the new arrival as she got inside.

"This is Dr. Chaplin." Karai introduced him.

"Hello." he greeted cheerfully.

Yuki couldn't help but stare at the interior of the car in awe. She was no stranger to technology, but this was far beyond anything she'd ever seen.

"Is something wrong?" Karai asked

"No… " Yuki shook her head, "I've never seen technology this advanced before…"

"Oh?" Chaplin sounded intrigued by her answer, "Are you from a rural village or something?"

"Chaplin!" Karai scolded him.

"Oh, no it's ok." Yuki reassured, "I suppose you can say where I'm from is pretty rural..."

"I see." Chaplin nodded, "In that case, if you ever run across any tech related problems or questions, I'm more than happy to help you as best I can."

"Ah…" she grinned sheepishly as she scratched the back of her head [7] , "You don't have to trouble yourself."

"Nonsense." he countered "I can't let someone be troubled if it can be helped. "

"I see… " she smiled, "In that case, thank you very much, Chaplin-san."

She sat down in a seat and Karai showed her how to strap in before taking her own seat next to Chaplin. The van pulled away and they all travelled in silence for a while. Yuki noted the writing on the cover of the book Chaplin was once again reading, and wondered what language it was in.

"Eigo." Chaplin answered her unspoken question, "Or 'English' , as they call it in their own language."

"Oh...I see."

"I can teach you, if you want." he said grinning.

"Ah…no-." she started, but Chaplin held up a hand to silence her.

"I honestly don't mind, so don't worry too much about it." he reassured, "Like I said, I can't leave people troubled."

Later, in the lair:

"I see." Splinter mused after listening to the retelling of what had transpired earlier that night, "Where is she now?"

"With Karai." Leo answered, "We didn't know if it was safe to bring her here."

"I see." Splinter nodded

"You know, it didn't look like she was scared of us being turtles and all." Mikey added

"Actually, she did mention that where she comes from, sentient animals are somewhat common." Donnie recalled, "Apparently they sometimes make summoning contracts with the shinobi there."

"Wait, really?" Raph asked, stunned

"That's totally awesome!" Mikey exclaimed

"She sounds like an interesting young woman." Splinter mused "I would very much like to meet her."

Notes:

There is virtually no information about Chaplin's full name, which I find immensely frustrating. Because he is referred to as "Dr. Chaplin", I will go by the assumption that it's his last name. For my own sanity's sake, I've decided to give him the first name Zachary, after Zachary Mastoon who voiced him in the series...

[1]
'Shinobi' is another way to say 'Ninja', and both mean "One who endures" or "One who is patient"
The reason for this phenomenon of two words meaning the exact same thing is because of how Kanji ("Chinese character") got introduced to Japan by the Chinese.
Kanji almost always has a different 'Original Chinese reading' (On'yomi) to the 'Japanese reading' (Kun'yomi).
In this case the word Endurance/Stamina/Patience (忍), has an On'yomi reading of 'nin' and a Kun'yomi reading of 'shinobu'

[2]
Arigatou (ありがとう) and Arigatou gozaimasu (ありがとうございます):
Both phrases mean "Thank you". Arigatou gozaimasu is Keigo (formal speech) and Arigatou is Tame-go (informal speech)
The difference can be translated in English as arigatou gozaimasu meaning "thank you very much", while arigatou would be just "thanks"

[3]
As per Leo's earlier comment, Karai (辛い) literally means "painful", "bitter" or "harsh".

[4]
Hajimemashite (はじめまして):
lit. "It is the first time (meeting you)", but generally interpreted as "Nice to meet you"

[5]
Yoroshiku onegaishimasu (よろしくお願いします):
lit. "Please treat me kindly", but can be interpreted as a variety of things, such as: "Let's get along well", "Thank you for putting up with me", "I'm indebted to you".

[6]
Yes, I know she's referred to as Karai Saki in the 2003 series, but I feel like this was an oversight by 4Kids!, who didn't completely grasp the etiquette regarding Japanese names. In all the comics where she's related to Oroku Saki in some manner, she's known as Oroku Karai, which means that both she and Saki use the Japanese standard of presenting their family name first. It's also considered more polite to use family names in general. It can be seen as overly familiar or rude to call someone by their first name if A) you're not actually really close and B) they didn't ask you to use their first name instead.

[7]
A common Japanese gesture that usually indicates embarrassment or confusion.