"God! I can't believe the day I've had!" The slender woman shoved herself
out of her rain jacket and let the thing fall in a heap by her front door,
her purse and hat followed. She nearly tripped over her cat as he wound
his way around her legs and purred loudly, "Your so lucky to be a cat,
Fred." She said as she reached down to scratch him behind his ear. She'd
found him digging through a trashcan in the alley behind her flat and had
fed him once, after that, he'd followed her home. She still hadn't decided
if she'd adopted him or if he adopted her.
Just as she was kicking her dirty clothes and a half a dozen empty pizza boxes out of her way as she moved towards her small kitchen for something to eat before she crashed out for the night, the phone on her end table in her living room rang, piercing and loud in the quiet apartment. She jumped and nearly tripped over the orange tabby, who was still trying to keep her attention focused solely on him.
"I know you haven't eaten yet, Fred!" She cried, racing and tripping over things, towards the phone, "I promise to open a can of..." She grabbed the phone on the third ring, "...hello? Hello?"
"April?"
"Leonardo?" She gasped, shoving aside a basket of half-folded clothes and plopping down on her sofa, putting her feet up on the coffee table, "What's up?"
"Are you okay, April?" Her long-time mutant turtle friend asked, concern in his voice, "Is there trouble? You sound...odd..."
"No, I'm fine, Leo," She sighed, wincing as she took of one of her shoes, her feet hurt like crazy, "Just had a rough day on the job...always chasing that proverbial great story, ya know? I'm just a little bushed, is all..."
"Oh," He said and she could hear hushed voices on the other end, "Hey, April, can you do me...I mean us...a huge favor?"
She paused in the rubbing of her feet to perk up, "I don't know, Leo, the last time you asked me to do you guys a 'huge favor' I ended up having to take a month off of work to reconstruct my living room..."
"It won't be that bad, April," Leonardo said, a tone of pleading in his voice, April knew then that it was serious, "We just need to ask you if you'd let a...friend...stay with you for a few days..."
April sighed, imagining all sorts of mutated giant animal-people eating her out of house and home, using her shower and clogging up the drains with fur, howling at the moon, getting into fights with her cat...She rubbed the spot between her eyes right above the bridge of her nose as he went on to explain that it would really help them out and that she wouldn't be any trouble at all...
"Whoa! Whoa! Whoa!" She cried, "Back up! What was that about Shredder? Chrome Dome's involved in this?" Her reporter mind clicked on suddenly and she began to smile, "Tell me more...maybe I can get a story out of this..."
"It's too dangerous over the phone, April," Leonardo said, "I'm bringing her over. Stay put. I'll fill you in when I get there."
April sighed and hung up the phone. No matter what she did, as long as she kept people like the turtles as friends, she could always count on being in the thick of it. She stood up, stretched much like her cat, and followed him into her kitchen where she opened a small can of cat food for him and made a sandwich for herself as well as put on a pot of coffee. She had a feeling she'd be needing it.
She took a quick shower as the coffee brewed and was just wrapping a pretty satin pearl pink robe, whose hem only reached her mid-thigh, about herself and tying the string about her waist when the doorbell sounded. Towel- drying her short auburn hair, she walked the short distance to the door and spent the allotted five minutes and a half undoing and unlatching all the locks and deadbolts that gave her some small sense of security here in the Big Apple.
Leonardo she recognized. He stood there in all his mutant ninja turtle glory, dark blue mask hiding his upper face from view, katanas strapped to his back ready for instant action, upon her doorstep, a light rain had begun to fall and the top of his head was sleeked with liquid. She wondered, briefly, why he hadn't bothered to wear his normal fedora and trench coat disguise.
The woman, however, she did not recognize. She stood a little shorter than April herself, with long dark hair that fell in cascading waves across her narrow shoulders and down her back. The shadows hid most of her face and when she turned her eyes upon her, April was taken aback for a moment by their eerie cat-like glow.
"April, This is Amiko," Leonardo said as she moved aside she they could enter. She closed and locked the door behind them. Turning about, she caught sight of the woman's tail as it poked through a hole cut into the back of her black leggings. She wore a tight-fitting blouse with sleeves that ran down into fingerless gloves nearly covering her hands and small black shoes that looked good for running or walking long distances in. Amiko faced April and bowed deeply, "Amiko, this is April." Leonardo finished the introductions as April bowed as well in greeting.
Amiko flicked her feline-like silky black ears as the sound of Fred hissing from the doorway to the kitchen. The fur on Amiko's tail rose a bit as she turned towards the cat. After staring at each other for a good five seconds or so, Fred made a mewing sound and ran out of the room towards April's bedroom, slipping quietly under the bed.
"Um, Sorry about that," April laughed nervously, "Fred's a little...jealous of new...people..."
"No, Don't feel you must apologize, April-san," Amiko shook her head, sitting down after them upon the chair facing the sofa where April and Leonardo had chosen to sit, "Leonardo told me that you would allow me to stay here for a few days, at least long enough to form a plan to rescue my mother, whatever you can do, I am so grateful to you."
April saw by the look in her eyes that she was speaking from the heart. She could see tears welling up behind her eyes and had to fight off the urge to pull the younger woman into her arms and hold her tight. She merely nodded, placing her elbows on her knees and her chin on her fists, gazing across at them both, waiting to be filled in.
~*~*~
Kioko sat with her legs crossed over each other in the center of her small cage. She had a bowl of rice and shrimp sitting in front of her, a pair of dirty chopsticks stuck into the food at awkward angles. She was staring down at the food through blur-hazed eyes, the pain of her broken body was dull in comparison to the agony inside her heart.
She had absolutely no appetite, but she knew she had to force herself to eat and stay alive...if not for herself, than for her daughter who might still be able to come and save her. Amiko may still be able to find a way, she told herself, over and over, She's always been a resourceful girl...
She moved the make-shift bandages she'd formed from ripping pieces from her battle gi gingerly aside to check a particularly angry wound about her forearm. Three deep red gashes, the skin flaming all around, marked her otherwise nearly flawless slightly tanned skin. "Hsst..." She hissed in pain as she clumsily cleaned her wound with her tongue, cat-like, healing juices from her saliva working to speed up the healing process.
"Hey, wanna use that tongue on something else, babe?" She looked up and blinked her eyes at the darkness. Being part feline she could see much better in the dark than a mere human could, still she could not see in pitch blackness, like most full-blooded cats she needed a little bit of illumination. Still, she needn't any light at all to recognize the voice before her.
"Leave me alone, Beebop..." She growled, her voice horse from many nights in tears and from demanding her freedom, "Go back to your lover, Rocksteady, at least he shares your intellect."
"If youse wasn't stuck in that cage, bitch," He growled, "I'da pound youse!"
"Get in line," She coughed. Just then something flashed behind him and Beebop was thrown bodily out of the room. The door clicked shut behind him. Kioko hid a sigh of releaf as her 'rescuer' walked over to the cage. She looked up into Shredder's pitch dark eyes and saw her own ragged reflection staring back at her from the polished metal of his face mask. She held herself from inching away.
"Our little girl is taking too long," He said, "She should have been back with the maps long before now." He scrapped one shining bright death-sharp claw across the bars, making a high-pitched scratching sound, "I won't wait forever, you know..."
Without thinking, she reached out and grasped his hand, wrapping her small one tightly about his wrist. His eyes showed nothing as they continued to stare at her, unfeeling but for the spark of rage that always lingered behind his features now. She looked past that, trying to see the man she once knew. The man she once loved and who'd once held her with such tenderness.
"What's happened to you, Saki...?" She asked, her voice barely above a whisper, "You used to love me..."
He jerked his hand away, his claws scratching her arm yet she showed no sign of pain, only kept her eyes focused on his. "Now I hate you." He spat out, and she blinked in agony as he spun from her sight and stormed out of the room. But, she had seen that spark with he would have rather kept hidden, the reason for his abrupt departure from her sight. She smiled through cracked lips, blood dripping down her arm upon the bar of her cage she still gripped tightly, to soil the all ready dirty floor at her feet.
Out in the hallway she could hear his voice as he yelled at his minions; "I don't want either of you going near her! Do you understand me?"
"Y-yes, Masta Shredda!"
"Good! Now get out of my sight!"
She listened as Beebop and Rocksteady scrambled over each other on their way from thier master's gaze. Afterwards, she heard only silence.
~*~*~
Amiko said nothing as she sat on the sofa, April had shoved aside her basket of laundry and apologized for the state her apartment was in. Leonardo had filled her in as to the reason they thought Amiko needed to stay with her. "It will be safer, for everyone," Leonardo had said, before he'd departed, "If Amiko hides out here for a few days..."
April nodded. "Oh, the poor thing," She'd muttered, not realizing that, with her feline ears, Amiko could pick up every word she uttered, "Of course I'll do whatever I can to help save her mother from that monster...!"
Amiko's eyes flashed in sudden anger as she swiveled her head to face the doorway April and Leonardo stood near. "No matter what changes have occured," She spoke in a low, dangerous voice, "He is still my father!"
April gave Leonardo a look as if to say; "Are you sure we can trust her?"
Leonardo sighed and shook his head, not knowing the answer himself.
"I'll be back," He said, closing the door behind him. I need to speak with Master Splinter, quickly! He thought as he slipped into the shadows, seeking out a manhole cover to lift and lower himself down into the more familiar sewer system of New York city.
Amiko closed her eyes, gripping her hands into fists. She hated feeling so helpless. She had been given a mission. Find the maps she knew were hidden somewhere within the turtles' lair and take them back to her father, insuring her mother's release and her own safety. Simple enough, right? If only she could keep thinking of them as just a means to an end, but after realizing she actually knew one of them, remembered one of them from her past she knew that could not think of them that way at all anymore.
Her mission was seriously jeopardized.
April came out of the kitchen with a mug of hot coffee steaming from her grip. Leaning towards her, Amiko accepted the proffered dark liquid. She lifted the cup to her lips and winced as the bitter stuff scorched her tongue. Though she preferred tea to coffee, she would not be rude to her host by turning up her nose. April held her own mug and curled up on the chair, tucking her long, muscular legs beneath her as she faced her quiet guest.
"I'm very sorry to hear about your mother, Amiko..." She began, as always clumsy expression concern, she fingered the arm of her chair, "I'm sure the turtles are doing what they can to rescue her, you don't have to be afraid, you know, if anyone can save her, it'll be them!"
Amiko looked up at the obvious pride in April's voice, wondering just how this strange American reporter had come to know the turtles and Yoshi-san. She would be sure to ask how such a friendship had come about if she ever had a chance. Right now, though, she could only think of her botched mission and of how terrible the punishment would be once news carried back to her father. She sipped at the coffee once more, the bitterness and heat serving to steer her thoughts from her troubles for a few brief moments.
~*~*~
"Master Splinter!" Leonardo cried out as he entered their lair, dripping rain off his shell and the top of his head, he ran though their living quarters passed the dojo towards the mutated rat's own private compartments, "Master Splinter?"
"Quiet, Young One!" Splinter said, from his position on the floor, legged crossed beneath him, eyes closed, "You are disturbing me."
"Sorry, Sensei," Leonardo stopped, bowing deeply, "I have to speak with you, please."
Splinter opened his eyes and focused his dark brown compassionate gaze onto his eldest student. He motioned for Leonardo to take a seat before him before clearing his throat. "You have questions about Amiko, don't you?"
Leonardo nodded, "More than that, I have questions as to just why we should trust her."
"What does your head tell you, Leonardo-san?" Splinter looked sternly at him, ears perking as the other turtles, Leonardo's brothers in more than just blood, aroused by Leonardo's noisy entrance into their domain, entered the room and took seats around Master Splinter and their older brother.
"My head tells me not to trust her," Leonardo said, seeing Raphael nod out of the corner of his eye. Michaelangelo looked confused and Donatello concerned.
"What does your heart tell you?" Master Splinter asked, not failing to notice the others fidgeting around him.
"I...I'm not sure, Sensei," Leonardo started, "There is something about her that makes me want to trust her, to believe what she told us about her mother and The Shredder..."
"I don't care if she is telling the truth!" Raphael burst out, "That doesn't mean we start tippy-toeing around and not take the fight straight to chrome dome as we've always done, does it?"
"Shh, Raph," Donatello said, "There's more to this now than our simple games of 'touch me, touch you' that have been going on between Shredder and us for some time now."
Master Splinter closed his eyes once more, seeming to gather strength. He opened them once more and faced his students, those he thought of as more than just students, those whom he thought of as family. His mind drifted back into the past as he began his tale....
Just as she was kicking her dirty clothes and a half a dozen empty pizza boxes out of her way as she moved towards her small kitchen for something to eat before she crashed out for the night, the phone on her end table in her living room rang, piercing and loud in the quiet apartment. She jumped and nearly tripped over the orange tabby, who was still trying to keep her attention focused solely on him.
"I know you haven't eaten yet, Fred!" She cried, racing and tripping over things, towards the phone, "I promise to open a can of..." She grabbed the phone on the third ring, "...hello? Hello?"
"April?"
"Leonardo?" She gasped, shoving aside a basket of half-folded clothes and plopping down on her sofa, putting her feet up on the coffee table, "What's up?"
"Are you okay, April?" Her long-time mutant turtle friend asked, concern in his voice, "Is there trouble? You sound...odd..."
"No, I'm fine, Leo," She sighed, wincing as she took of one of her shoes, her feet hurt like crazy, "Just had a rough day on the job...always chasing that proverbial great story, ya know? I'm just a little bushed, is all..."
"Oh," He said and she could hear hushed voices on the other end, "Hey, April, can you do me...I mean us...a huge favor?"
She paused in the rubbing of her feet to perk up, "I don't know, Leo, the last time you asked me to do you guys a 'huge favor' I ended up having to take a month off of work to reconstruct my living room..."
"It won't be that bad, April," Leonardo said, a tone of pleading in his voice, April knew then that it was serious, "We just need to ask you if you'd let a...friend...stay with you for a few days..."
April sighed, imagining all sorts of mutated giant animal-people eating her out of house and home, using her shower and clogging up the drains with fur, howling at the moon, getting into fights with her cat...She rubbed the spot between her eyes right above the bridge of her nose as he went on to explain that it would really help them out and that she wouldn't be any trouble at all...
"Whoa! Whoa! Whoa!" She cried, "Back up! What was that about Shredder? Chrome Dome's involved in this?" Her reporter mind clicked on suddenly and she began to smile, "Tell me more...maybe I can get a story out of this..."
"It's too dangerous over the phone, April," Leonardo said, "I'm bringing her over. Stay put. I'll fill you in when I get there."
April sighed and hung up the phone. No matter what she did, as long as she kept people like the turtles as friends, she could always count on being in the thick of it. She stood up, stretched much like her cat, and followed him into her kitchen where she opened a small can of cat food for him and made a sandwich for herself as well as put on a pot of coffee. She had a feeling she'd be needing it.
She took a quick shower as the coffee brewed and was just wrapping a pretty satin pearl pink robe, whose hem only reached her mid-thigh, about herself and tying the string about her waist when the doorbell sounded. Towel- drying her short auburn hair, she walked the short distance to the door and spent the allotted five minutes and a half undoing and unlatching all the locks and deadbolts that gave her some small sense of security here in the Big Apple.
Leonardo she recognized. He stood there in all his mutant ninja turtle glory, dark blue mask hiding his upper face from view, katanas strapped to his back ready for instant action, upon her doorstep, a light rain had begun to fall and the top of his head was sleeked with liquid. She wondered, briefly, why he hadn't bothered to wear his normal fedora and trench coat disguise.
The woman, however, she did not recognize. She stood a little shorter than April herself, with long dark hair that fell in cascading waves across her narrow shoulders and down her back. The shadows hid most of her face and when she turned her eyes upon her, April was taken aback for a moment by their eerie cat-like glow.
"April, This is Amiko," Leonardo said as she moved aside she they could enter. She closed and locked the door behind them. Turning about, she caught sight of the woman's tail as it poked through a hole cut into the back of her black leggings. She wore a tight-fitting blouse with sleeves that ran down into fingerless gloves nearly covering her hands and small black shoes that looked good for running or walking long distances in. Amiko faced April and bowed deeply, "Amiko, this is April." Leonardo finished the introductions as April bowed as well in greeting.
Amiko flicked her feline-like silky black ears as the sound of Fred hissing from the doorway to the kitchen. The fur on Amiko's tail rose a bit as she turned towards the cat. After staring at each other for a good five seconds or so, Fred made a mewing sound and ran out of the room towards April's bedroom, slipping quietly under the bed.
"Um, Sorry about that," April laughed nervously, "Fred's a little...jealous of new...people..."
"No, Don't feel you must apologize, April-san," Amiko shook her head, sitting down after them upon the chair facing the sofa where April and Leonardo had chosen to sit, "Leonardo told me that you would allow me to stay here for a few days, at least long enough to form a plan to rescue my mother, whatever you can do, I am so grateful to you."
April saw by the look in her eyes that she was speaking from the heart. She could see tears welling up behind her eyes and had to fight off the urge to pull the younger woman into her arms and hold her tight. She merely nodded, placing her elbows on her knees and her chin on her fists, gazing across at them both, waiting to be filled in.
~*~*~
Kioko sat with her legs crossed over each other in the center of her small cage. She had a bowl of rice and shrimp sitting in front of her, a pair of dirty chopsticks stuck into the food at awkward angles. She was staring down at the food through blur-hazed eyes, the pain of her broken body was dull in comparison to the agony inside her heart.
She had absolutely no appetite, but she knew she had to force herself to eat and stay alive...if not for herself, than for her daughter who might still be able to come and save her. Amiko may still be able to find a way, she told herself, over and over, She's always been a resourceful girl...
She moved the make-shift bandages she'd formed from ripping pieces from her battle gi gingerly aside to check a particularly angry wound about her forearm. Three deep red gashes, the skin flaming all around, marked her otherwise nearly flawless slightly tanned skin. "Hsst..." She hissed in pain as she clumsily cleaned her wound with her tongue, cat-like, healing juices from her saliva working to speed up the healing process.
"Hey, wanna use that tongue on something else, babe?" She looked up and blinked her eyes at the darkness. Being part feline she could see much better in the dark than a mere human could, still she could not see in pitch blackness, like most full-blooded cats she needed a little bit of illumination. Still, she needn't any light at all to recognize the voice before her.
"Leave me alone, Beebop..." She growled, her voice horse from many nights in tears and from demanding her freedom, "Go back to your lover, Rocksteady, at least he shares your intellect."
"If youse wasn't stuck in that cage, bitch," He growled, "I'da pound youse!"
"Get in line," She coughed. Just then something flashed behind him and Beebop was thrown bodily out of the room. The door clicked shut behind him. Kioko hid a sigh of releaf as her 'rescuer' walked over to the cage. She looked up into Shredder's pitch dark eyes and saw her own ragged reflection staring back at her from the polished metal of his face mask. She held herself from inching away.
"Our little girl is taking too long," He said, "She should have been back with the maps long before now." He scrapped one shining bright death-sharp claw across the bars, making a high-pitched scratching sound, "I won't wait forever, you know..."
Without thinking, she reached out and grasped his hand, wrapping her small one tightly about his wrist. His eyes showed nothing as they continued to stare at her, unfeeling but for the spark of rage that always lingered behind his features now. She looked past that, trying to see the man she once knew. The man she once loved and who'd once held her with such tenderness.
"What's happened to you, Saki...?" She asked, her voice barely above a whisper, "You used to love me..."
He jerked his hand away, his claws scratching her arm yet she showed no sign of pain, only kept her eyes focused on his. "Now I hate you." He spat out, and she blinked in agony as he spun from her sight and stormed out of the room. But, she had seen that spark with he would have rather kept hidden, the reason for his abrupt departure from her sight. She smiled through cracked lips, blood dripping down her arm upon the bar of her cage she still gripped tightly, to soil the all ready dirty floor at her feet.
Out in the hallway she could hear his voice as he yelled at his minions; "I don't want either of you going near her! Do you understand me?"
"Y-yes, Masta Shredda!"
"Good! Now get out of my sight!"
She listened as Beebop and Rocksteady scrambled over each other on their way from thier master's gaze. Afterwards, she heard only silence.
~*~*~
Amiko said nothing as she sat on the sofa, April had shoved aside her basket of laundry and apologized for the state her apartment was in. Leonardo had filled her in as to the reason they thought Amiko needed to stay with her. "It will be safer, for everyone," Leonardo had said, before he'd departed, "If Amiko hides out here for a few days..."
April nodded. "Oh, the poor thing," She'd muttered, not realizing that, with her feline ears, Amiko could pick up every word she uttered, "Of course I'll do whatever I can to help save her mother from that monster...!"
Amiko's eyes flashed in sudden anger as she swiveled her head to face the doorway April and Leonardo stood near. "No matter what changes have occured," She spoke in a low, dangerous voice, "He is still my father!"
April gave Leonardo a look as if to say; "Are you sure we can trust her?"
Leonardo sighed and shook his head, not knowing the answer himself.
"I'll be back," He said, closing the door behind him. I need to speak with Master Splinter, quickly! He thought as he slipped into the shadows, seeking out a manhole cover to lift and lower himself down into the more familiar sewer system of New York city.
Amiko closed her eyes, gripping her hands into fists. She hated feeling so helpless. She had been given a mission. Find the maps she knew were hidden somewhere within the turtles' lair and take them back to her father, insuring her mother's release and her own safety. Simple enough, right? If only she could keep thinking of them as just a means to an end, but after realizing she actually knew one of them, remembered one of them from her past she knew that could not think of them that way at all anymore.
Her mission was seriously jeopardized.
April came out of the kitchen with a mug of hot coffee steaming from her grip. Leaning towards her, Amiko accepted the proffered dark liquid. She lifted the cup to her lips and winced as the bitter stuff scorched her tongue. Though she preferred tea to coffee, she would not be rude to her host by turning up her nose. April held her own mug and curled up on the chair, tucking her long, muscular legs beneath her as she faced her quiet guest.
"I'm very sorry to hear about your mother, Amiko..." She began, as always clumsy expression concern, she fingered the arm of her chair, "I'm sure the turtles are doing what they can to rescue her, you don't have to be afraid, you know, if anyone can save her, it'll be them!"
Amiko looked up at the obvious pride in April's voice, wondering just how this strange American reporter had come to know the turtles and Yoshi-san. She would be sure to ask how such a friendship had come about if she ever had a chance. Right now, though, she could only think of her botched mission and of how terrible the punishment would be once news carried back to her father. She sipped at the coffee once more, the bitterness and heat serving to steer her thoughts from her troubles for a few brief moments.
~*~*~
"Master Splinter!" Leonardo cried out as he entered their lair, dripping rain off his shell and the top of his head, he ran though their living quarters passed the dojo towards the mutated rat's own private compartments, "Master Splinter?"
"Quiet, Young One!" Splinter said, from his position on the floor, legged crossed beneath him, eyes closed, "You are disturbing me."
"Sorry, Sensei," Leonardo stopped, bowing deeply, "I have to speak with you, please."
Splinter opened his eyes and focused his dark brown compassionate gaze onto his eldest student. He motioned for Leonardo to take a seat before him before clearing his throat. "You have questions about Amiko, don't you?"
Leonardo nodded, "More than that, I have questions as to just why we should trust her."
"What does your head tell you, Leonardo-san?" Splinter looked sternly at him, ears perking as the other turtles, Leonardo's brothers in more than just blood, aroused by Leonardo's noisy entrance into their domain, entered the room and took seats around Master Splinter and their older brother.
"My head tells me not to trust her," Leonardo said, seeing Raphael nod out of the corner of his eye. Michaelangelo looked confused and Donatello concerned.
"What does your heart tell you?" Master Splinter asked, not failing to notice the others fidgeting around him.
"I...I'm not sure, Sensei," Leonardo started, "There is something about her that makes me want to trust her, to believe what she told us about her mother and The Shredder..."
"I don't care if she is telling the truth!" Raphael burst out, "That doesn't mean we start tippy-toeing around and not take the fight straight to chrome dome as we've always done, does it?"
"Shh, Raph," Donatello said, "There's more to this now than our simple games of 'touch me, touch you' that have been going on between Shredder and us for some time now."
Master Splinter closed his eyes once more, seeming to gather strength. He opened them once more and faced his students, those he thought of as more than just students, those whom he thought of as family. His mind drifted back into the past as he began his tale....