Man… why am I so worked up about dying…? Mike rubbed his hands over his eyes in thought, then squinted at the fire as he waited for a small pot of water to heat up.
'Cause dead is dead. It's irreversible… forever.
And because we are it. We are… created by accident, and by coincidental accident, we don't get a chance of…he drew in a long breath.
So, this is what it feels like to be endangered.
Raph's sharp words about his opinion of humans resurfaced, from that time when they came back from saving that suicidal kid. Suddenly, Mike understood the underlying reason to that outburst. Raph was jealous about being at the bottom in the superiority roles, while humans reigned as the dominant species. They try so hard to be human at times. Mike still remembered that one point in time he and Raph used to have feelings for April. It gave them great fantasies, but that wasn't supposed to be. Sure, they may seem human, but the truth showed that they are not even close.
Could they be demons? Mick thought they were the four demons in the Bible, and then Ryan said they reminded him of the four horsemen. Could they be connected to that? To the end of the world prophecies? They are four. Splinter told them the Japanese for that number is shi. And it also meant death. Ninja, trained to kill, taught to be familiar to death, but yet, also taught how to dodge it.
Endangered all the same…
Mike stared at his cold hands, looking at them like he never did before. The nerves began to tingle all over this fingers as feeling awakened from its frozen state. Aggravated from that sensation, Mike glared at the aluminum pot with a frown pulling his lips taunt. The flames wrapped round the small pot big enough to hold a pint of water. Mike stole a look at Jon for a change of thoughts, for any inspiration. I still have to think of a way to fix you up, buddy.
The gelding stood there in front of the so-called lean-to, eating a small pile of hay. On occasion, Jon would raise his head to look behind for Danza. Leo tied the stallion close enough he could hear him chew his hay. Jon snorted to clear the hay dust from his nose. He rose his head to chew for a moment, gazing upon Leo and Mike next.
Leo sat patiently, watching Jon, with an interesting look of wonder on his face. Mike slightly smiled at that. Leo just studied the horse's worried expression, enhanced by the large, dark eyes. Jon tended to shiver every now and then from the cold.
Mike switched his own gaze over to few things from the first aid kit sitting by the fire. That's a multi-layered stitch job… I need something that dissolves back into the body. Can't use fish-line there. What would Splinter do… what? …Splinter… will he ever forgive me?
He switched his gaze back to the pot and watched the small bubbles forming on the bottom. One of them started to sent a stream of bubbles to the surface. A sign the water was reaching near the boiling point.
…Ninja is master of its environment... How will that help now?
Muffling a cough, Leo continued to sit in wait. With some building concern, he glanced over to Mike. Deep thought had made Mike furrow his eye ridges. Leo thought of asking him if he wanted to talk it out, but decided not too.
Leo watched the horse pick through the green hay with some interest. It amazed him how nimble a horse's lips were, in that they could sort and pick out the leafier bits of hay from the stems.
Earlier, he carefully pulled off the bloodied vet wrap at Jon's hock, to get a better look by the firelight. You must've gone across that stump I did. He glanced down to his leg still wrapped up. Red blood was seeping through his jeans and the blue-colored vet wrap, but it didn't bother him any more.
He still felt bad the accident happened. Steve shouldn't have given him this horse. Jon was too good to go out on something like this. Leo looked over to Mike again. His brother had such an intense stare on that pan now. "A watched pot doesn't boil."
Blinking, Mike hooked the wire handle with a narrow log to lift the pot from the fire. "Don't want it too," he smirked. "Who's first?"
Leo promptly pointed to Jon, then stood up. "He should be."
Mike nodded. Great, and I'm still clueless…
Jon swished his tail a couple times, as if he knew he was going to get doctored. He also looked back to the wound on the right side of his abdomen, shivering from cold again.
Mike looked at Jon, then his tail, when the idea suddenly hit him. Your horsehair, of course! Cool! That'll work!
He went to the back of Jon to pluck a few hairs from his tail.
"What are you doing?"
"Getting something to sew him up with," Mike knelt back by the fire to retrieve a needle and gauze from the kit.
"With his tail hair?" Leo looked at Mike with even more uncertainty.
"Why not… I don't wanna leave fish line inside of him," Mike washed the mud off of the strands in the pan of water.
Leo stood up. "Um, could you hold him for a sec, I want to get a blanket on him." Leo offered the lead rope to Mike. "He's shivering."
Don returned from searching for firewood. He stacked the damp wood by the small fire on the slope.
While carefully wiping his face with a damp rag, Ryutaro went through the contents of his saddlebag to find things they need. He paused a moment to look up at Don. Then picked up a curved metal scraper and a few horse-grooming supplies. "Here, give these to Raphael." He slurred some of the words, since his face was starting to swell. "It stopped rainin', so try t' dry 'em off so they don't get cold."
Don nodded and took the scraper and brushes and headed over to the horses. Raphael stood by Trinity as he divvied up the hay. "Need to scrape off the ice and rain from them, so they don't get too cold." Don held out the stuff to Raph.
Raph set down the trash bag of hay, and sighed.
"I have to help Ryuu. So could you do that?" Don insisted.
Raph took the supplies and set them aside in a crook of a tree. "After." He pointed to the hay.
"Thank you." Don flatly replied, and turned back to the fire. He went to his saddlebags, and untied a ground mat and pulled out some edible food. Ryan insisted he was okay cleaning his fce himself, so Don didn't have to do too much more.
Ryan leaned back against a tree near the fire. He laid the wet rag across his face, hoping the wet cold would numb his bruises more. His nose finally stopped bleeding excessively now, but his jaw ached like something awful.
Don spread out his ground mat near Ryutaro and the fire. "Is it broken…" Don sat down, "your nose?"
Ryan pealed the top part of the rag from his eyes and pulled a clean sock form his mouth. "No… I don't think. Loosened a tooth… that hurts like hell. Morphine would be nice right about now."
"Think you'll be okay?" Don asked with concern. He could relate to the pain. It wasn't fun getting beat up by the Foot, or Razar and Tokka either. "I'm sorry about Raphael. I don't know… he's hasn't been himself lately."
Ryan leaned back and covered his face again. "He's scared. I don't blame him… I was really unsure about this whole thing too. I guess I didn't realize what I was getting into. Y' can say I was scammed."
Don pulled some beef jerky from its wrapper to eat. "How'd you get involved?"
"Uhh… kinda long story…" Ryutaro sighed, but he continued on. He decided conversation would keep his mind off of the pain. He also just wanted to get this off his chest. "A month ago, I went with Mick to Belmont with Danza and some other horses. One evening there, while Mick was doing something and I was feeding, this guy approached me asking about Danza. His lineage, racing history and stuff. That was weird… I first thought it was one of the barn hands. That's how he looked. Didn't think nothing of it then." Ryutaro paused, to spit some blood from his mouth.
"Then just last week, when they were gone on another race, and the manager left on his vacation, I was visited by the same guy I saw at Belmont. And he had another Japanese guy with him."
"Just a typical Japanese?" Don asked in between bites of jerky.
Ryutaro nodded. "They looked like respectable horse people. They said they were there to look at Sundanza. Said that the Edgley's were thinkin' of selling him, so they came to look as buyers, and look was all they did. I thought it was weird, cause Steve would tell me if she was going to do that! When Mick called that night, to check up on things, I told him about them. He said that was not true… Danza will never be for sale."
"Ohhh… I think they also bugged you. Could explain how they knew about us…"
Ryutaro sat up, letting the rag fall from his face. "Shit yeah… and I had the scarf pulled over my eyes. I didn't catch on till I started getting insistent phone calls from them. They started talking me into giving the stallion to them, in exchange for a lot of money. Even though the Edgley's had official ownership of him, he's really mine. They gave him to me… how that was, is another long story. But 'cause I had no where to keep him, he stayed on the farm."
"So he's yours by theory then?"
Ryutaro sighed, "More like a co-ownership, like when he races, he's the Edgley's. Anyways, the guys were tryin' to talk me into selling him. I had a feeling that I shouldn't. But after they barged in, took Delilah, and shot Mick… I felt the need too. To keep the peace with them before they did worse."
Don nodded, staring into the fire.
"It surprised me though, what you said about By Sacrifice being stolen from the racetrack. That's unrealistic. They have tight laws and guidelines for all horse coming in and leaving the track. And even if the outside identity is changed, the race horses have tattoos under their upper lips to ID them." He laid the rag back on his face.
Don shook his head. "I honestly don't know about that stuff. All I can say is that we're also dealing with ninja… they're sneaky. We even got in and out of there without disrupting the normal flow of activity."
Ryutaro sighed and remained silent for sometime. "Did I ever tell you, that you remind me of my little brother?"
Don sat up more and looked at him. "What? Heh… I remind you of your bro?"
"Mmm, yeah, just the way you act." Ryutaro shrugged. "Well, both you and Mike remind me of him."
"Oookay…" Don smiled modestly. Though he had to admit Ryutaro sort of reminded him of Leo.
"Don't see him much anymore. He and Dad are in Ohio. I used to live there too." He told Don with some longing in his voice. "Don't take your brothers for granted, or let them take you for granted."
"What to you mean, did you and your brother fight or something?"
Ryutaro shook his head slightly. "No, I just wanted to leave home. He didn't want me to go."
Don narrowed his eyes, finally picking up on his implication. "So, you don't realize how much you need your brother, or brothers, until they are not around…"
Leo turned Jon so that the inflected side faced the firelight. Mike had washed out the mud from both of Jon's wounds the best he could. Jon had put up a fuss about Mike cleaning his hind leg, however.
The wound on Jon's flank turned out to be just an abrasion. Mike applied some Nolvasan ointment to that and approached Jon's hind leg with needle and horsehair. Mike looked over to Leo with a sigh. "Ready for this?" He knew it was really going to hurt for Jon.
"Be careful, Mike." Leo held Jon's head. He turned to face Jon with equal concern. "And you, don't kick him."
"Hey, don't give him ideas…" Mike crouched down by Jon's hock to piece together the flesh. Hrmm… that isn't part of your tendon, is it? This is sure gonna be a nice puzzle. As long as I don't stitch together nothing that isn't supposed to be, we're doing good. Mike began to sew, despite Jon's protests. Every time he drew the needle through, Jon picked up his leg in a threatening way.
Leo looked back and forth between Jon and Mike. He also started to softly speak to Jon, in hopes it'll keep the horse calm. He started to feel like Mike didn't really have to do that, if it was going to be so much trouble for them.
Almost before either of them could see it coming, Jon fiercely cow-kicked Mike. Mike lost his balance from that, and fell backwards… his right arm landing into the edge of the fire. Realizing his position, Mike instinctively twisted away to get to his feet.
Leo turned Jon's rear end away from Mike, at the same time showing concern to his brother.
After Mike got over the initial shock of pain from the burns on his hand and arm, he mustered a reply for Leo. "Gahh… the kick didn't hurt, but the burn does!" He whimpered as he looked his arm over.
"You don't have to work on him, especially if he's going to be that way." Leo voiced his opinion.
Mike poured the rest of the water over his right arm, to wash off the charred marks. "Yeah-- owww… yeah, I know. I just… don't want him to be like that." Mike briefly looked at the burns again, mostly first degree, some second… I'll live. He applied some of the same ointment he put on Jon, on his arm and wrapped it up with some gauze.
Leo watched him with more concern, since Mike was not going to give up. It was most likely that same drive he had, when he went to save the kid from drowning. "Is there a better way to restrain him? Any pain relievers in those kits?"
Mike nodded no, looking at Jon in thought. He pressed some vetwrap round the gauze. Some ideas came to his head. "What about using pressure points on him?"
Leo stopped to think. He knew what Mike was getting at. Use pressure points to over come Jon, but this time to help him and not hurt him. "Yeah… but, I can't exactly relate to a horse's anatomy."
"Um, wait… I know." Mike turned to Leo. "Back at the farm, Ryuu did something to Eclypse's nose while Mick gave her a vaccine shot in the butt. Mick later told me he… twitched her, cause she tends to kick when she gets shots back there."
"What did he do to her nose?"
"Had a stick with a loop of rope at one end of it. He twisted the loop around her nose." Mike stopped, as another idea popped to his head. He turned to find one of his 'chucks. "It's like a horse has a pressure point in their nose. So that when it's pressed, it kinda numbs the horse. Mick said it gives 'em something else to think about."
Leo looked at Mike and his chucks. "Heh… you never cease to amaze me." He knew now what Mike had in mind for those.
"Lessee…" Mike slowly approached Jon. "Wanna try something new, boy?" Jon promptly caught on to Mike's intentions, nonetheless. But after a bit of trial and error on technique, Mike managed to get Jon's nose twitched with the rope part of his 'chucks. Certain that it was working, he urged Leo to hold the makeshift twitch while he finished his stitch job.
Leo sat toward the outer edge of the tree. From there he, could look upon the horses from time to time. Once being natural prey, horses posses the instincts to alert them upon danger. He also learned from them that the other three were not far away. Sundanza would scream to the mares on occasion. Leo heard a faint answer, almost sounded like Trinity's squeaky neigh. The replies never got closer, so he decided they had stopped too.
His hearing as a turtle was just as keen as a horse. Yet, it was better to have more than one lookout at a time like this. He could sense that someone watched them. Sometimes he thought he detected the faint smell of a human, watching and waiting somewhere near.
Mike would restlessly toss behind him in sleep, the dying fire would crackle, and the horses moved about. Leo adjusted his focus so those noises were blocked out. Closing his eyes, he reached out into the forest around him. Sometimes it was better to use even the sixth sense. Scanning almost, for sounds that are unrecognizable. The falling snow added a sort of hush throughout. That provided him the opportunity to hear any sounds of danger all the more. Sorting and filtering sounds. Acknowledging the babble of the river and the whistle of the wind through the trees. Detecting any other unusual odors that floated in the wind. Feeling the snow tickle his face as it fell around him.
His intuition reassured him that nothing was going to happen for awhile. He could not sense anything wrong. Accepting the opportunity, Leo decided to slip into meditation.
Don leaned against a tree as he stood watch. The cold had numbed his feet and hands already, and proceeded to chill the rest of him to the bone. He finally slid down to sit in the mud, hoping that huddling would keep him warmer.
Sleep also toyed with his body… and so did fears about getting that flu bug. Don sniffled as his gaze fell over to the dark fire ring. To check on the sleeping bodies of Raph and Ryutaro. A shiver ran through him and passed. Stop, ignore that… don't think about the cold. Think about something else.
Don closed his eyes a moment to shake the demons of cold and sleep.
Leo wanted to make certain how the others were. His mind reached out, and brushed… he sought it again harder.
Don.
Leo took deeper breaths to go further, to hold on. Don was not aware of him, so it was hard to hold onto his brother's consciousness.
Then another sensation came over Leo. A greater strength he immediately recognized as Splinter. But his Master did not "speak" to him. Mysterious visions ebbed into Leo's mind. Images of gnarly things and threatening noises. It made him want to cringe in fear. He almost came out of it, but Splinter's voice echoed.
Help them…help them.
The sight of a demonic horse baring its white teeth flashed. Loud white flashes accompanied the whole vision, resembling gunfire.
That was enough to jar Don back. He was wide-awake now, fearing the worse. Damn… I fell asleep…I think.
His attention immediately focused on Raph. Don heard whimpers coming from him. He saw his brother, still covered by the blankets, drawn up on his knees and elbows. "Raph?" Don softly asked him. "Are… are you awake?"
Raph just went into a coughing fit, and rose up on his knees a moment later. Without another word, he left the fire ring.
Don glanced over to the dim shape of Ryutaro. He had risen slightly too, curious as to what was going on. Don sighed. "Don't worry, I'll go check on him."
When Leo snapped back, he heard the sound of a foot hitting the ground followed by Mike yelling. His attention was instantly focused behind him.
"N-nooo! Stop… aahh!"
Leo jumped around to see Mike thrashing in his sleeping bag. Leo caught his breath, relieved it was just that. "Mikey, Mikey, you're safe." He kneeled down on his knees by his brother and touched him.
Barely awake, Mike rose to his knees, before shifting back on his heels. Leo silently took him into his arms, sleeping bag and all. Mike clutched onto Leo's shell, burying his head into his brother's shoulder. Nonetheless, questions needing answers filled Leo's head. It seemed like a long time before either one of them spoke.
"I wanna go home, just wanna go home!" Mike mumbled to Leo. " I can't take this anymore. Why does he torture me like that…?" His voice broke off to a whine, as more tears began to flow. "I didn't mean to trick him."
Leo soothed him with calming words, as he found answers to piece together some advice for Mike. "Because… Splinter was showing you that running away… doesn't erase problems and punishment."
"Don't tell me, he was makin' sure I got my punishment…" Mike sobbed into Leo's shoulder.
Leo nodded, keeping his voice calm. "Through dream walking… like Splinter took the fears you had about the racehorse criminals and put it against you… but it seemed like more than that."
Mike started worrying. After all, he wanted them to kill the Shredder. But, now what? Splinter had been talking more and more about when he would not be around. Mike kind of ignored that thought, he didn't want to think about that time ever. It was like they were being weaned. "Why is he being so mean? Did I… what if h--"
"Mike, no…" Leo stopped him. "It's called tough love. Splinter is not being mean, on purpose. He loves us so much, he doesn't want to hurt you… to loose us." Leo rubbed Mike's arm. "I think he's doing it to Raph, and I did see genuine fear in his eyes too. He's warning you two about something."
"Fear's a powerful weapon." Mike snuffled.
"Do you understand now?" Leo asked Mike, now that he had slowed his tears.
Mike nodded, which was followed by a long sigh. He kept his grip on Leo's shell.
Leo pulled up the sleeping bag around Mike some more. "Go back to sleep, Mikey, you need it." Leo stoked Mike's head once, then looked out toward the horses. He shifted his weight slightly so he could lean back on the tree trunk. Now I understand too, Master. No more turning away…
Raphael combed his fingers through Trinity's tangled mane in thought. No where else to go, he found himself there amongst the horses. The scenes of demonic animals kept flashing through his head. Why are you scaring me, Splinter? Just stop it, please… stop it.
He looked toward the mare's head, when she turned to look at him. She didn't look threatening at all now. Her soft dark eyes only offered condolence. Raph leaned against her warm shoulder and sighed. Her warmth and furriness briefly reminded him of Splinter.
Raphael heard footsteps behind him, then stop. He didn't turn around though.
"What happened, Raph? You're not going to leave now?" Don whispered.
Raph sniffled once. He still faced Trinity, hoping Don would go away.
Don waited for a better reply than that. He could tell Raphael didn't know what to do. It was tearing his brother apart. The visions Don had awhile ago are making better sense now. He didn't fall asleep and started to dream. He was brought into something more, something from Splinter. Don tried a better line, "I wanted to go down there too."
Raph remained still against the mare, only the occasional sniffle and cough to be heard from him. Just go back, Donny. Leave me alone.
Don sighed. He walked over to the front of Trinity, and held her halter. "Raph, I know something's bothering you. I heard you crying…"
"No. Wasn't." Raph whispered. "Flu. Runny beak." His eyes remained down, focused on the bottom strands of Trinity's mane.
"Stop hiding, I know the difference. You were crying." Don reasoned with him, the concern evident in his voice. For some reason, the next question felt so awkward. He wasn't trying to win the satisfaction of Raph's weaknesses either. "Do you… want to talk?"
"Why?"
Don sighed, and lowered his voice. "Because… you look really confused... and scared, about something."
"No. Get lost." Raph strained his voice, before breaking out coughing.
Don gave Raphael a dejected look, then left them to go back to the fire ring.
Much later, Raphael finally returned. Don silently watched him as he wrapped himself in the blankets.
"Donny," Raph's voice was barely audible. "Sorry. Just needed to think..."
"Yeah… sometimes everybody hurts," Don whispered. "Just don't forget you still have us."
The mid-morning rays shone through one side of the pine boughs. Light also played through the branches of the surrounding forest. It highlighted the fresh, white snow stuck to the sides of trees, the rocks, and blanketing the ground. A serene setting, only hiding the ice and mud underneath.
Mike still liked the snow, despite what new hazards it brought. Like having to worry about being tracked, or that they are not well hidden in a white setting. Mike looked over to Danza, whom he tied by the front of the lean-to. I soon as rather be back home, in my nice warm sewer, and I imagine you're thinking the same. But a barn for you.
The turtle scraped the cooked pancake from his pan, fanned it in the air to cool it off, and offered it to Danza. "Want another? I know you do… we're running out of hay and grain."
Danza hungrily bit it, letting the other half fall on his hay.
"Glad you like them," he pulled up on his collar more to keep the cold out. He heard Leo start coughing some more, then watched the sleeping bag shift around and rise.
"Good morning, Leo." Mike dropped a spoonful of batter in the small, mess-kit pan. "Hungry for some pancakes?"
Leo sat for a moment, coughing. "Pancakes?" he finally confirmed. "Made with what?" He also noticed Danza almost in the lean-to with them.
"Heh… some bran mash, that instant powdered egg stuff, chopped up apple, water… they're kinda dry and seriously need some butter and maple syrup, but hit the spot if you're starvin'." Mike smiled.
Leo frowned, trying to shake the sleep so he could make sense of all this. "Why is he in here? Where's Jon?"
"I'm feeding him." Mike replied in a matter of fact tone. "Jon's still tied where he was- I fed him too. He's still kinda grumpy. The pain's eating at him, I guess."
"You look better too" Leo softened his face. "Had me worried last night."
"Um… yeah, sorry…" Mike poured the last of the batter into the pan. "So, are we heading back once we meet up with the others? Our supplies weren't meant to last forever."
Leo nodded, then got up from the sleeping bag.
Leo took the lead, walking with Jontondo as he hacked a pass through a thick lay of briars with his katana. The stupid things started to eat at his patience. The vines would cling to his coat. The thorns would snag at his hands and leave behind itching scratches.
Mike followed behind, astride on Danza and out of most of the stuff. He had offered to take lead, since Ryutaro's sword was also on Danza's saddle. Leo seemed to decline the offer. Mike had a feeling the others were close, if not more visible with the snowy backdrop. He couldn't see much when he looked up the steep hill though. Mike stopped Danza, brought his fingers to his mouth, and whistled the call of a chick-a-dee. Nothing. Mike tried again, making it as loud and clear as possible.
Then the song of a sparrow replied. Raphael. Mike smiled. Leo also heard, and stopped to look up the hill. He looked back to Mike with a smile. "As soon as we get out of this stuff, let's get back together."
Don studied everything down the hill in search of the other two. Hope and urgency filled his heart.
They're down there, close enough to be heard!
Raph looked back to Don and Ryutaro. He wanted to head down the hill now. The underbrush was everywhere. They might as well start plowing through it if they wanted to get anywhere. And he felt a sincere urgency they better go now, or something will happen.
Eclypse also called out to the horses below in anticipation. Ryuu shook his head no. He saw something below move, and it didn't look like one of the Turtles. "Wait…"
Don twisted in the saddle to see Ryuu. There was something about that "wait" that didn't sound good.
Mike looked up the hill. "I'm gonna take a higher road… the brush looks a little thinner up there." He turned Danza off the trail, allowing the horse to pick his own way.
Leo looked up to Mike, wondering what good that would do. Oh well… he continued clearing aside the stuff. I was going to go closer to the river where it was clearer. He heard some odd noises from Mike's direction. Leo looked up his way, suddenly feeling a wave of fear rush over him.
Danza had stopped, ears perked. Mike was leaning over slightly and clutching his shoulder. "Leo… damn. I got hit by something… " his voice trailed off.
A sudden crashing through the brush behind Leo froze them in their tracks. "Go Mike, run!" Leo yelled at him, drawing his swords.
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