Crossing Swords

KATARINA:

I felt pain slice through me and blood ran. I staggered backward, trying to keep a firm grip on the weapons. He hit me across the face with the back of his fist and I fell. I knew it was over. His blow was as good as fatal. I tasted blood, hot and salty on my tongue as he stood over me. He stepped back and glared down, mumbling something about dishonor and death. I couldn't hear him. My head was spinning. I looked up at him, waiting for the final blow to come.

Then, suddenly, a blur of movement, a green figure stood between me and my death. I choked on the dust around me, knowing who it was. Oh, god, no... And I slipped away.

RAPHAEL:

I faced him, sais crossed in front of me in a defensive stance. For a moment, he just stared as Leonardo stepped into place next to me, forming a wall in front of Katarina. I glared into the eyes of my enemy, and forced my anger aside. To attack him in anger was a suicide attempt. He was, after all, the most formidable opponent we had ever faced.

I breathed slowly and prepared myself mentally for battle. I had not crossed paths with Oruku Saki in months. But I remembered it clearly. It had haunted me through every kata and sparring session I had practiced since then. He had nearly killed me, as I had him. But our fight to the death had resolved nothing; neither one of us were dead.

Formidable opponent my ass. Did he really think he could get through all of us? We weren't young teenagers anymore, just starting to test our wings. I knew that, even if no one else did. My fight with him had been brutal, but I had not lost. And my brothers had improved just as much as I had. He could not keep up with us. There was no way he could take all four of us.

My anger was as fierce as it had been all those years ago, when we stood on a rooftop and faced a new enemy. But I knew something now that I didn't know then. I knew how to let my anger fuel me, but not control me. I could keep a clear head in battle, and I could go on forever. And I knew for a fact that Leo felt the same anger I did right now, if not moreso.

"You are fools to come back here," Shredder snarled. "You could have escaped."

With the loss of but one, right? Bastard!

"Step back, Shredder," I growled at him. Michaelangelo and Donatello appeared on either side of Leo and me. "Or are you going to take on all four of us?"

He seemed amused by the thought. He raised the katana in front of him. Arrogant. Good. My brothers all raised their weapons and tensed, bracing in anticipation. "Attack me, then," he challenged. "And this time, you die."

He twirled out of the way of my attack and raised his sword. I felt it without seeing it, and with perfect accuracy, I raised my own weapon to catch it. The katana caught between the prongs of my sai and I kicked at him. He spun again and came face to face with Michaelangelo. I backed off. We knew better than to get in each other's way.

In a flurry of movement that my eyes couldn't follow, weapons clashed and Mike jumped back. Shredder turned to me again, coming closer than I was comfortable with, and I ducked to avoid the swiping blade. Still crouched, I saw his next attack as he tried to hook my leg with his foot. But my hands were faster. I hit his shin with the side of my weapon as I rose to my feet. The entire thing took no more than a second.

I jumped back and braced as he attacked again. Again, I caught the sword. But somehow, I lost my grip on the weapon. In the fraction of a second that I was surprised, he spun and kicked, and I hit the ground at the same time as my weapon did.

DONATELLO:

I was more than ready to have it out with this guy. He'd haunted my dreams since I was a child, albeit in different ways. First and foremost, he was Oruku Saki, who had killed Splinter's sensei in a merciless rage. And once I had met him personally, he became the Shredder, the man who had kidnapped our sensei. I did not relish the idea of hate, but I couldn't deny that I hated this man.

We fought fiercely for all of thirty seconds. By that time, he was anticipating every move I made. I tried to hook my bo around his ankle, but he saw it coming long before I could execute the attack. I jumped back to avoid getting slashed by his weapon and he turned to fend off Michaelangelo before I had even regained my balance. Damn it! How could he be that fast?

He sprang backward, away from Mike, and nearly ran me over. Somehow, I lost my balance in my haste to get out of the way. I fell, unable to regain my footing in time. Shredder glanced quickly, but could do nothing before Leonardo was upon him. He moved away from me and I took a breath, allowing myself a moment to compose. I didn't think about the pain. I knew better than that. I forced myself to my feet again just as he pushed Leo back and spun to face me.

I stepped up and jabbed at his midsection with the tip of my bo. Before I connected, he brought the katana toward my weapon. It was what I had anticipated, and I curbed the attack up, diverting his eyes to what he figured was a retreat. I kicked, and made contact, while he was momentarily distracted. Without thinking, I spun, trying to get enough force to do some serious damage to his hand so that he would let go of the weapon. But my bo never connected with his knuckles. Not only did he see the attack coming, but he had his own ready. Jerking his hands up, he turned the sword on me, and nearly took my head off. Caught off guard and momentarily confused, I backed down, dropping and somersaulting to safety.

RAPHAEL:

Weapons clanked together as metal met metal. The ringing in my ears amplified and I spun to avoid his attack. Disarm him, Raph, I instructed myself. Make him drop the weapon...

I dropped and kicked at his feet, but the real attack was at his right wrist. This would either work or it would really backfire. It was a chance I was willing to take. I caught his wrist between the prongs of the sai and spun behind him, jerking his arm. His other hand, holding his weapon, swung at me, and I ducked and spun underneath his arm, avoiding the attacks I knew would come. One hand locked with his, I jerked the sai and ripped the covering off of his wrist. Then I jumped back, retreating before he could register the attack.

Shredder was right handed, and he would use that unprotected hand whether he meant to or not. My brothers understood, and they went for his other arm. Leo was the one who actually connected, slicing cleanly through the weak armor. The stronger armor , with the metal claws, had already been disposed of. Leo's katana hit skin, too, and blood ran. As I had expected, he instinctively shifted the sword to his unhurt hand.

Before he fully realized what was happening, I attacked the inside of his wrist. I locked his hand in my weapon again. Then, oblivious to the danger, and curled into him. I could hear his breathing as I pressed to him. It was the closest I'd ever been to my enemy, and the anger that flowed between us was fierce. I reached for the pressure points in his wrist. His fingers spread wide as the pain registered and the weapon fell. I jerked away, sweeping my leg behind me. I caught him, and he stumbled back. I grabbed the sword off of the ground and, in the same, fluid movement, spun and kicked at his chest. He fell.

I raced to him and rested my foot on his chest, holding his own weapon to his throat. Anger coursed through me as I breathed heavily, through gritted teeth. A few feet away from him, Katarina's blood spilled in the dirt. Outside the razor fence, Madonna's. We had defeated him, and I had every right and reason to kill him.

"No," Leonardo said.

I glanced at him. Why?

Anger raged in his eyes. Madonna...

Yes. Madonna. And it was Leo's battle as much as mine. Please... he pleaded silently.

I stepped off of Shredder, keeping the tip of the katana at his throat.

"Take Kat and leave," Leo ordered. "And if I'm not there in an hour, go without me."

His voice was cold and hard, like I had never heard it before. His hand slipped over mine, and he took control of the sword. I watched him as I stepped back. I knew what he was going to do, and I had no right to try and stop him. I had no right to say anything, as I backed away.

The anger faded as I knelt next to Katarina. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Leo and Shredder, still as statues. Kat was cut from her left shoulder, across her breasts, to just beneath them on her right side. Her breathing came shallow, and I touched the side of her face, hoping for a reaction. I wanted her to open her eyes, but that wasn't going to happen. I picked her up as gently as I could.

And I left. Mike and Don followed me, weapons still drawn in case anyone tried to challenge us. I doubted anyone would. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Leo step back, dropping Shredder's katana on the ground next to him. He backed a few feet away, and assumed an opening stance as his enemy rose.

LEONARDO:

Using the iai draw, I deflected the shaken he threw at me, letting reflexes control my movements. I didn't have time to be shocked. Dammit, Leo, he's a ninja, remember? Why the hell wouldn't he have other weapons? On my guard now, I braced myself for battle. Our katana clashed together in the Fire and Stones cut, shuddering both our bodies with the force of it. I knew of no other weapon that could survive the force of such an impact.

Then, tip of his sword was in my face, and I attacked. With minimal motion, he slashed my katana to the side, riding it away from him. He stood with the sword high above his head in the upper attitude. I struck forward, and he simultaneously cut down. As he lowered his sword, I cut downward, blocking his attack. But in that same instant, he broke free of the block and nearly slashed across my shoulders.

I jumped back, but immediately returned. I didn't want to give him a chance to put me on the defensive. I attacked his right side, and he assumed the left-side attitude. I anticipated his attack, and blocked it. But he slid gracefully into the upper attitude.

There was no time to see I was defenseless. But I felt it. I had about a hundredth of a second to register the attack he was preparing for; and another hundredth to react. A downward strike on my head would be a killing blow. Knowing instinctively that I was unable to raise my arm fast enough, I used my leg to powerfully push off the ground, spinning out of the way. I felt a sharp pain in my arm and saw Shredder's katana streaked with a thin line of blood. My blood.

And suddenly, I felt weak. My arms grew heavy and my vision became blurred. I jumped back, surprised and confused. It wasn't the pain. I barely felt the pain over the adrenaline high. He attacked, and I blocked him. We were locked in a reverse tug-of-war, our swords crossed between us. I could hear the sound of my breathing ring in my ears. Another sound... a quiet, steady chant. Breathe out... I looked in his eyes and saw blackness. Behind his eyes, he laughed at me. Breathe in... those words he was murmuring... Oh god. The Kobudera. The black magic that most Kan-aku na ninja would not touch.

I pushed away from him, nearly toppling over backward in the process. I could feel the darkness closing in on the world around me. Another attack, and I fell. I stared up at him, breathing hard as he glared down at me. "And for all your training, you can do nothing against the simplest attack of evil..." he taunted.

MICHAELANGELO:

We were a safe distance from the compound when we stopped. I watched the distant fence for any signs of a coming retaliation as Raph laid Kat in the grass and Donny looked for something to tie around her and slow the bleeding. There was really nothing we could use. Her shirt was an option, but I didn't want to be the one to try and get it off of her. The more she moved, the more she bled. It was best not to try and undress her.

"Kat!" Raph whispered, shaking her gently. "Kat, wake up. Come on, babe."

She moaned again and choked. We watched, helpless, as she coughed weakly. Her eyes still closed, she moaned something incoherent. "Have to go home..." she gasped. "Freed... Had to... No..."

"She's losing blood fast," Donatello pointed out. "We need to get her to the hospital if we can."

"No..." Kat whispered, her voice weak. "I can't..."

"April can take her in," I suggested. "I don't think she can walk in by herself."

"No!" Kat said again, raising her hands. She gasped in pain and gripped the sides of Raphael's plastron. She was awake. Her eyes fluttered open and she stared up at Raph, her teeth clenched. "He'll kill... me..."

She coughed, her body convulsing, and her hands dropped. Raphael laced his fingers in hers and I saw her squeeze hard. "Please," she gasped. Then, in a whisper, "Please..."

She was gone again, I knew. Donny and I exchanged glances. "Not that I want to be... pessimistic about this," Donatello struggled. "But if Shredder does survive his fight with Leo, he very well may come after her. As a matter of vengeance if nothing else."

"If he wants her, the first place he'll look is the hospital," I continued.

"And we can't just take her there and take her away," Don added. "They'll want to keep her overnight at least."

"Should've killed the bastard when I had the chance," I mumbled under my breath.

"No..." Kat whispered. "Please... don't touch me..."

She moaned again, turning her head. "She's hallucinating," Donny informed us. "We gotta do something, fast."

"Can you...?" I started, looking at Donny.

Don breathed deep. "Yeah, I could. But not here. If we can get her back to the city..."

"Come on," Raphael urged. "Let's try and get to that house."

LEONARDO:

Somewhere inside of me, I knew how to fight this. I remembered the question... "Then are we powerless against the Kobudera?" Master Splinter had said no. I remembered that. What else? What more had he said?

The ringing in my ears deafened me. My arms felt like lead weights. Beneath my hand, I felt cold metal lying flat on the ground. I felt him move, and forced my arms to react, blocking his katana in a feeble attempt at self-preservation. I felt as if I would collapse again under the weight of it. And suddenly, the words rushed back to me.

""

"Hai, sensei," I affirmed. "kenjutsu ryu, and is considered by students even today to be the Sword Saint."

Master Splinter nodded slowly. ""

A thousand things bore down on me. I breathed, reaching into some hidden place deep inside of me, where self-sacrifice overcame the instinctive urge for self-preservation. It was the body's reaction, to feel weak, to run away. But through Musashi's teaching, by forcing myself to accept any and all pain and agony with willingness, thus I swept at Shredders feet and sprang to mine as he jumped back.

The confusion rang in my mind; I welcomed it and pressed on. My enemy was caught off guard, surprised by my strength. I lashed at him, simultaneously releasing the shurieken I held between my fingers. They had been Kat's, and had fallen from her belt as she collapsed. He wasn't expecting it, and as we were a mere seven feet apart, had no time to react. The stars plunged into his chest, and his eyes went wide.

I breathed hard as the world came into focus again. Shredder stood staring at me, an invisible fire coursing through him. The sword dropped from his fingers and I clenched my teeth. I didn't have to strike him. Whatever Katarina had on those shurieken was more than powerful enough. I felt blood run from my arm, but didn't feel pain. Sweat dripped from my forehead. I stood, unmoving, as he dropped to his knees. His eyes were locked on mine and I knew I didn't have to say a word. Madonna...

And as he fell to the dirt, he knew why.

DONATELLO:

I tried the door. It was locked. I stepped back and kicked it, right above the handle. It flew open, splintering wood. A mouse scurried across the floor. The room had furniture, old and broken, but there wasn't much else to look at. A thick layer of dust rested over everything. Katarina moaned. "No... please... didn't mean to..."

"We need boiling water," I directed. "See if the stove works. If not, there's a fireplace."

Raph glanced around nervously. "We can't get too comfortable here," he warned.

I stared at him as he laid Katarina on the sofa. I cringed at the thought of what kinds of infection could be lurking in those cushions. "She is going to die, Raphael," I informed him. "In all honesty, I'm surprised she hasn't already. If we don't stop this bleeding, now, she doesn't stand a chance."

Mike and I both looked to him and he sighed. "Alright," he mumbled. "Fire."

Another presence entered the room and we all spun around drawing weapons. "It's okay!" April cried. "It's me."

She saw Kat, and gasped. "Get me some kind of towel or something," I instructed, kneeling next to Katarina. Both of my brothers were gone in a flash, and April kneeled next to me.

"Is she...?"

"She's alive," I sighed. "For the moment."

Mike returned and handed me a pillow case. A concerned look was on his face. "There's nothing here," he mumbled.

Again, I cringed, as I took the cloth. It was filthy. I knew I was going to get this gash infected. There was no question in my mind. But I had to stop the bleeding, first and foremost. I turned the pillowcase inside out and pressed the cloth to the bleeding wound on her chest. She moaned.

The stove didn't work, and there was no water. "There's some rainwater outside," April mumbled.

After a great deal of havoc, we had a fire in the fireplace, and water was boiled. We soaked the few scraps of clothing in the house, and let them cool for a minute or so before using them to clean and dress the wound. We found dental floss, and boiled that. And I did as good as I could trying to stitch the wound closed with a needle that was larger than it should have been. Kat stopped bleeding, but she was far from being out of danger.

APRIL:

Raphael stood at the window, staring out at the early morning. It was after 8:30. It had been almost two hours since they'd returned. I approached him slowly and he glanced over his shoulder before turning back. "You okay?" I whispered.

He didn't answer. I rested a hand on his shoulder, and my chin on the back of my hand, my head close to his. It was time to ask him. "Where's Leonardo?" I questioned.

For a long time, he was silent. Then he sighed deeply. "I don't know," he answered. "He stayed behind. To fight with him."

"With Shredder?"

He nodded, and I understood. Grief coursed through me as I closed my eyes, sharing his pain. "I'm sorry," I whispered.

He breathed deep and glanced over his shoulder at Katarina. I saw Donny rise to his feet and come over to where we stood. He sighed, and looked out the window. "If we want to give her a chance," he mumbled, "we have to leave now. She needs a blood transfusion. Bad. And frankly, I don't think she's gonna make it all the way back to New York City."

Raphael breathed deep. "Let's take her to a hospital."

I cringed. "I checked on that," I sighed. "The map says the nearest hospital is about eighty miles away."

Raph's eyes hit the floor. "If we're gonna try to take her that far, we might as well just take her back," Don mumbled. "I know what she needs, and I'm pretty sure I can do it. But not here."

"Could we get supplies and... stop somewhere? A hotel or something?"

Donatello stared at him. "No."

"Why not?"

"You can't pick up the supplies I need at Wal-Mart," he sighed. "I had a hell of a time trying to get what I have. You'd have to break into a hospital and that's gonna be hard with people always there."

"You got your supplies from a veterinary hospital," Raph reminded him. "Why can't we go there?"

Donatello was trying not to get annoyed. Raphael was trying not to get angry. The tension was mounting, and I wasn't sure how to stop it. "Okay, one, we have to have blood to put into her and if April does not have the same blood type, we have to find someone else. That's a little hard to do out here. So you would either need to go to a hospital for it, or go to a blood bank. And by the time you infiltrate a veterinary clinic and a blood bank in the middle of god-knows-where, when the nearest gas station is ten minutes away, she will be dead."

Raph turned and hit the window frame. I jumped and backed away. "Dammit!" he whispered under his breath.

"You have to make a choice, Raph," Donny mumbled. "I'm leaving it to you. We leave now and head for the city, and give her a chance; A chance, mind you, not a guarantee. Or we stay here and wait for Leo."

Oh god.

Raph rested his head on his forearm, pressed against the frame. He closed his eyes and I heard his breathing come slow and measured. Mikey approached slowly. I knew he'd been listening to the fight. "You risked your life to save her, Raph," he reminded quietly.

There was a long silence. "Fine," Raph whispered. "Take her. But I'm staying here."

"No," Donatello answered. "We leave together or not at all."

"Together?" Raph screamed, spinning around. "Leonardo is out there and if he survives...!"

"Guys!"

Mike's voice cut him off. All three of us turned as Leo stumbled into the clearing, blood running down his arm. He was holding the lifeless body of a woman. Immediately, the tension and the indecision vanished. Mike flew out the back door to his brother's side. I followed, not nearly able to keep up with him.

"Are you alright?" I asked as Mikey took the woman from his arms. Leo nearly collapsed and I ducked under his arm. I heard his labored breathing and felt hot, sticky blood cover me. We took him straight to the van, and Raph met us there with Kat. Donny brought the last of the steaming, wet cloths out of the abandoned house, and we sped away as he climbed into the back of the van and tended to Leo's wound.