Chapter 12: Leo's Little Accident.

Saringai sighed as he lay comfortably on his favourite branch; eyes shut preparing to drift off into sleep. His ears twitched to an all too familiar sound. "Where are you going Raphael?" Saringai said wearily, eyes still closed.

"How did you know it was me?!?"

Saringai turned to look at his student. "Well, first of all, it's only going to be either you or Michelangelo, as Leo and Donatello are good little cheetahs and stay in their beds. And Michelangelo is usually eating something, so you can hear chewing sounds. Well, I didn't hear chewing sounds this time, so through the process of elimination, that means it could only be you!" Saringai said. Raphael looked very freaked out about all this. "Why are you up anyway?" the leopard asked, voice stern.

Raphael burst out laughing as though he suddenly remembered a funny joke. Saringai's eyebrows furrowed. "What's so funny?"

"Leonardo wet the bed!" Raphael blurted out through all the giggles, before bolting off to Michelangelo and Donatello's bedroom to tell them the incident. Saringai frowned. He tiredly got off his branch and made his way to Raphael and Leo's room.

He found Leonardo wide awake, huddled up in a ball at the top part of the bed. "I didn't pee…" Leo softly said. The cheetah looked up to his master, then looked back down to the wet patch. "I… I was asleep dreaming… dreaming about… things… and then…" Leo tried to explain. Saringai knew what had happened. Leonardo had reached puberty.

Saringai tried his best to explain to Leonardo what had happened, that he was growing up into an adult. The leopard was worried. Leo had reached puberty awfully early, he was only fourteen, nearly fifteen months old. Leo was over five months too soon. Saringai wondered if this was a personal thing, or if it had something to do with the mutation. If it was the mutation, then he could expect the others to go through the same thing very soon. All of a sudden Saringai felt exhausted. 'Teenagers!'

"But… why does 'it' do that?" Leo asked, a bit worried about what Saringai was telling him.

"Um…" Saringai cleared his throat. He hadn't prepared for this talk. "It… uh… does that when you are… uh… … in love… yeah…"

"With a girl?"

"Of course with a girl, silly!"

"Eew! Yuck! Michelangelo says that girls have cooties!"

Saringai smiled. "Trust me, in a week, you'll be crazy about them!"

"…Master? Have you ever been… in love?"

Saringai didn't know which way Leonardo had meant that question. He answered the question truthfully anyway. "Yes… I have been in love…"

"What was her name?"

"Zaila…"

"Where is she now?"

"She was killed… Shere Khan sent out troops to kill her…" Saringai said, a lump started to form in his throat as painful memories flooded his mind.

"…I'm sorry…" Leonardo said, sorry that he had asked.

"That's alright… you didn't know".

"… How long ago did that happen? Ten years ago?"

"… … …Ten years ago!!! Leonardo, how old do you think I am?!?"

"I dunno… thirty…forty… fifty or so…"

"FIFTY!!!" The leopard looked as though he was about to have a heart attack.

"Why? Are you older?"

"WHAT!!! I'M ONLY SIX YEARS OLD!!!"

"Ohhh… so you're still in your prime then?"

"YES!!!"

"Oh, ok. Sorry," Leo said looking very sheepish. He changed the topic of conversation. "So… did you have any kids?"

"I did actually. I had a daughter."

"Really?… Where is she now?"

"I wish I knew…"

*****

Venus immersed herself with the Shinobi book she was reading. She found the book rather interesting, she was glad Rachel allowed her to read it. She stopped reading for a minute to stretch out her neck because it was starting to get a cramp. Venus had decided to read outside beside the pool. It was a lovely day and, according to the lions, the rainy season was coming, so Venus wanted to take in the sun while she still could. Summer in Lesotho was December through February; winter was June through August. The rains usually came in March to May and again in October. It was now nearing the end of March, which meant that the rains were unusually late.

Sebastian walked confidently over towards Venus. He'd spent the good part of an hour searching for her, hoping to leave a slightly better impression than he did when he left yesterday. Venus had returned to her reading, head down, not noticing the approaching tiger. He leaned over and slowly pulled the book out from her gaze. She looked up at him.

"'Yin and Yang'," Sebastian announced, reading out the title of the book.

"I was reading that," Venus said sternly.

"Hey, no need to be angry. I was just wondering what you're reading. That's all. Is that such a crime?" Sebastian questioned, looking straight into her eyes. Venus didn't answer. Sebastian sat down beside her. He sighed and looked upwards into the sky. "Rain should come soon. It gets quite nice here when it rains. If it rains enough, then sometimes you get a waterfall effect down the sandstone walls. I'll have to show you some time". Sebastian tried to sit closer to Venus; Venus slightly leaned away from him, feeling uncomfortable. She was starting to get annoyed. Venus could see right through Sebastian's charm.

"Why are you doing this?" Venus asked abruptly.

"Huh? Doing what?"

"This! Why are you torturing yourself?"

"Torture? What?" Sebastian had no idea what the cheetah was going on about.

"I've heard what you do. You promise girls the world so that they can fall in love with you, then you break their heart. Apparently ever girl you've ever gone out with has lived to regret it! You're not gonna get me that easily. So why are you here?" Venus said, starting to get a bit rude.

"Oh! So now I need an excuse to talk to you, do I? Who told you all that? Was it Kathryn?"

"Kathryn?"

"Well, who was it then?"

"I'm not telling." Venus snatched the book off him and began to read it again, leaving Sebastian speechless. "I find it quite sad. You torture all these other girls, yet you're only torturing yourself."

"What do mean?" Sebastian was starting to get fed up with this.

"The one girl you're really in love with, is the one girl you can't get." Venus turned to look him in the face, a sly smile on her lips. Sebastian stood up and stormed off angrily. Venus was right. The only girl he ever liked was Rachel, and she was the one girl who completely ignores him. He was surprised how smart Venus was. Getting her to fall in love, let alone getting her to like him was going to be a difficult challenge; but a challenge he welcomed. She was like no other girl he'd ever met. There was this untamed nature about her; a tomboyish nature. He continued to walk through the garden and bumped into none other than Kathryn.

"Smooth move you made there", Kathryn commented. Sebastian gave a grunt. Kathryn was a tigress, a few months younger than he was. They grew up together and remained fairly close, but never any closer than friends. Kathryn wished they were more than that, but there was one factor from stopping her; she was Vasha's daughter, and Sebastian was Shere Khan's son.

Kathryn looked over Sebastian's shoulder to see Venus reading quietly to herself. "What does she have that I haven't?" Sebastian didn't answer and looked away. "You don't really like her do you?" Kathryn questioned. She knew all there was to know about Sebastian. She didn't really like how he dated all these other girls… she only wished he spoke to her the same way he speaks to them. Kathryn always watched from the sidelines, how he'd charm the females until they were stricken with love. He did it so easily, yet his latest target didn't seem too impressed.

"Her name is Venus," Sebastian answered Kathryn's unspoken question. "My father wants me to make her fall in love with me. It's to do with some bet that your mother and my dad has."

"Oh, I see. Thought this was your own quest."

"Nah, would have probably given up on her by now. She's a bit of a bitch."

"Venus… is she who I think she is?" Kathryn wondered out loud. Sebastian nodded.

"I don't like the fact that she's reading Shinobi books already. It's a bit of a worry. Don't want her to get too powerful…"

"No… me neither."

*****

There was a knock on Vasha's door. "Come in!" the tigress called out. Kathryn opened the door and entered her mother's bedroom. Vasha stared at her daughter, awaiting the reason for her intrusion.

"What's this bet you have with Shere Khan?" Kathryn asked confidently.

"Bet? Oh the bet! Yes, if Shere Khan can get Venus to trust us and turn against the boys, then he wins the bet. If he loses the bet, then I get to kill Venus. If Shere Khan wins the bet, then he gets to own Rachel. I know… I'm getting ripped off. I can't let him win this one. Why do you ask? Who have you been talking to? Shere Khan?"

"Sebastian."

"Sebastian? What's he got to do with this?"

"He told me that he's been ordered by his father to make Venus fall in love with him." Kathryn reported. Vasha was always hard to impress and Kathryn tried really hard to please her. Giving information was one of the easier ways, even if it meant breaking Sebastian's trust.

Vasha thought about this. "… I see what he's doing. He wants Venus to fall in love because that means that she'll stay. Won't work though."

"Why wouldn't it?" Kathryn asked curiously.

"Because Sebastian's crap!"

"No he's not!" Kathryn protested without thinking.

"… Did you just defend him?" Vasha asked slightly disgusted.

"No!" Kathryn said, hoping to cover up what she said.

"Yes you did! Don't tell me you like Sebastian!"

"No!" Kathryn said quickly. It was the truth though. She didn't like Sebastian… she loved him.

"Good. Let's keep it that way shall we."

"S… So what are you going to do about all this? You know, with Shere Khan's plan to make Venus fall in love?"

"Nothing. He'll fail don't worry. So, I'm just going to sit back and do absolutely nothing!" Vasha said over confidently. She gave an evil smile to her daughter.