Hanami – Chapter 10
Mike came back into the kitchen 5 minutes later. Don and Leo were washing the makeshift surgical instruments. "Cabbage is down for the count. It'll take an act of God to wake her."
A shout from upstairs stopped them cold. They heard Raphael cry "Yowch! She bit me! She FUCKING bit me!" All three brothers stepped into the living room with just enough time to watch in fascination as a watery form scurried backward out of the bathroom and toward the stairs. Raphael came out on the landing with a finger in his mouth and a towel in his other hand. As he advanced on the girl, she almost backed right off the stairs.
"No! Raphael, don't go any closer! She'll fall!" The outburst from downstairs only served to upset her balance further, and with an ungainly squawk, she rolled down the staircase and smashed the wall at the bottom of the stairs. She was covered in plaster with her feet up over her head. Her shell had lodged itself into the wall lathing, and She blinked owlishly up through the dust. Leo and Mikey advanced slowly, so as not to frighten her further. They had hoped to bring her to the fire, give her some water, and calm her down. Unfortunately they underestimated 2 important things. Firstly, they looked scary from her upside down vantage: two heavily muscled strangers moving like hunters in perfect unison. Secondly, they neglected to consider the true power of adrenaline.
Their target ripped her shell from the wall, and rolled with its momentum end over end toward the still forms of the three other turtles. Leonardo knew that, tired as he was, she would be child's play to pin down. Unfortunately that would only have upset her further. The idea was to calm her not to force her into cardiac arrest.
Raphael and Splinter joined Leonardo and Michelangelo at the foot of the stairs. They watched her grab a glass of water from off the floor and chug it straight down. She choked, coughed, and wretched, but held onto most of the fluid. She staggered over to Shima, lay down next to her, buried her face into her sister's neck, and started sobbing.
The storm chose this moment to severe the farm from the rest of the world.
Donatello slipped into the darkened kitchen and brought out another glass of water, which the prone turtle ignored. Shoulders still shaking, she looked to be all cried out. Splinter and his sons drew a deep breath of relief. Splinter prepared himself to make the introductions and to see if this poor turtle had a name or could even speak. However before Splinter could utter one syllable, she sent up a horrible keening. She seemed to be sustaining two separate pitches at the same time. If the pitches had been in harmony, it could have been called 'song.' However, the strident dischord transformed it into a wailing lament.
In the firelight, Raphael could feel goosebumps under his shell. The little one would pause only long enough to draw breath, and then resume her two-toned howl. The cry crawled under Raphael's skin through the soles of his feet and raced up every nerve in his body before it hit his brain like a sledgehammer. Her despair and fear was so bright and clear in Raphael's mind that for a moment, he would have sworn that sound lit the room instead of light.
"Two?… TwoSee?… Sister, come here." Frogger was sitting upright, bleary-eyed and squinty. She was promptly knocked back to her mattress as her sister cannoned into her. "Shh… Hush…Shhss…Zzzz…" TwoSee snuggled up to her sister's side, crying quietly.
After a time, she chokingly passed into sleep. Raphael tried to cover the little one with a blanket, but if he got too near, she would stir and growl. Rubbing the bite marks on his hand, he left the quilt within reach and went to help Splinter clean up the bathroom.
Later that night, Raphael woke to the sound of quiet crying. He was still awake when dawn found him.