Bad Blood Part II - My dearly departed friend. . .
I awoke the next mourning very refreshed and so happy to be alive I literally thought I would float to the sky. All my other sons looked the same, except Donatello, what I could see of him. He had seemed well last night but some trouble had defiantly set in him during the night.
"Is anything wrong, my son?" I asked gently as we rode together on a yak (We only had three so we had to share). I was conscious enough to ask him separate from his brothers, if he ever does open up its not around them.
"Nothing. . . I just had a bad dream last night, sensei", He replied.
"I am here if you would like to tell it", I offered.
"No. I. . . don't."
And that was all I got out of him the whole rest of the way.
As described, I felt terrific waking up. The whole world seemed to be great, the yaks were beautiful animals, the food was fresh and tasty, and we exercised for an hour before leaving and further increased my energy. I wanted us all to show off before Akira. I know, I am a sensei, I am not vain, but it would be fun for him to see how well I have trained my mutant sons in this art.
But the closure we got, the more a feeling of darkness and foreboding set in. Something was wrong, I couldn't get a fix on it, but my perception was such that I knew we would not arrive at this temple at a fortunate time. Perhaps they were under attack, something of that nature, in which case I wanted to hurry, although I did not want to tell my sons what I felt. It would be too hard to explain.
But Donatello also grew increasingly antsy. He wouldn't say why. He finally dismounted the yak and walked to keep up, and ran most of the way, but stopped to stare at the temple as we came with sight of it. I have to say I didn't like how he was staring at it. Michelangelo even asked him why and he said something about appreciating the architecture, but there was something deeper going on. This further fed my own nervousness.
At my insistence, we arrived at the temple doors in just under two hours, instead of the estimated three. My sons were a bit worn out, but a low level of adrenaline kept me alert and active.
I knocked at the door. Although he was expecting me, I and my sons all wore cloaks, in case there were other visitors to the temple.
I let a good five minutes pass in silence so thick you could cut it with a knife. There weren't even any birds, or fountains, or windchimes.
I knocked again, my adrenaline increasing.
After another few minutes, I prepared myself to break open the doors.
"Who comes here?" a voice commanded from inside. It was a much younger voice than Akira would be, and something was wrong with the tone. . . it wasn't in the fashion of a guard protecting the temple. . . it was scared.
"My name is Hamato Yoshi. I had arranged to visit Master Akira, a long friend of mine."
A moment passed. Finally a cloaked figure opened the door, but did not allow us in. I saw two more cloaked figures behind it. Did they have something to do with this curse fallen upon the temple?
"Yes, he did inform us of your pending visit. Unfortunately, I regret to inform you, sir, that Master Akira passed away last night. You understand we can not take in visitors at this time."
He actually started to close the door! I shot my foot out just in time and braced it open with all my strength.
"No, please, do not shut us out. Please, he was a dear friend and my sons and I have traveled far to see him. May I at least visit him one last time, and know the circumstances of his death?"
The two figures in the back glanced at each other, and then turned to the one at the door.
The one at the door looked us over, suspiciously. The look and fear indicated that Akira did not die by peaceful means. They had been attacked.
"Perhaps we can help you?" I offered, "We are ninjas, and if anything unnatural caused Master Akira's death I would be honored to-"
"We don't need help", He snapped back, but that fear was still there. He eyed me more intensely.
"Your not human", he stated simply.
"No I am not."
"Master Akira did not tell us you were not human. He said he went to school with you."
"Indeed he did. This transformation happened after I had last seen him, some fifteen years ago. My sons are also mutants."
I removed my hood, and my sons did the same. The cloak figure clutched at the door, but what emotion he was showing was unclear. Then the two behind him started jumping up and down.
"Hey! Turtles! Look, Turtles! Let them in, Darin! They're turtles like us!"
And to my and probably more profoundly my sons' disbelief, they all removed their hoods and revealed themselves to be mutant turtles as well.
"Akira did not tell me he lived with mutants turtles", I gasped.
"He probably didn't tell you he was a mutant cat, did he?"
My jaw must have hit the ground. Akira, a mutant cat? And me ending up a rat? Both of us with Mutant turtle sons? Oh, how funny! Or it would be, if only I could have actually talked to him, seen his face when he saw me, seen our children when they saw each other. . .
After a brief consultation, the one at the door let us all into the room. Him and the other two bowed before us.
"Forgive us if we were rude, you see we couldn't let humans visit his body, with him being a cat, and if they found out about us, well. . ."
I nodded that I understood. My sons were almost in shock, staring at these youth before them. Probably wishing one was a sister.
"That is understandable. And we haven't been formally introduced. I am called Splinter now, and these are my sons, Leonardo, Michelangelo, Raphael, and Donatello."
"My name is Darin. These two are Jordan and Torrance. We are sons of Akira, he adapted us and we have, we had lived with him. . ."
He didn't finish, and instead straightened himself. I could see he was bracing himself to not cry.
"He was murdered", one of the two, announced.
"We're not at liberty to discuss it", Darin snapped.
"Yes we are, they're turtles. And he's Akira's friend. They're like cousins", the two (I can't tell which was meant to be Jordan and which Torrance) interrupted.
"Do you know by who?" I inquired.
"No", one of the two replied.
"We're not at liberty to discus that either", Darin stated. He was taking this very seriously.
"Do you need help?" Leonardo inquired.
"Yes", the two replied before Darin could. Obviously there was still some confusion on how to handle this sudden death and the circumstances surrounding it. A pang of sympathy ran threw me. Poor children.
"We are ninjas", Raphael repeated my earlier claim.
"But this is sort of a private matter. Your not Buddhists", Darin replied, but he didn't seem dead set on it.
"Please allow me to visit his body, and perhaps I can gain insight there. As his friend, I should avenge him, and I can't let you three be. . . destroyed by this event."
"There's actually six of us", Darin announced, "Why don't you follow us, I'll take you to him, and after you. . . visit you can help us plan what we should do."
"Very well", I agreed.
I awoke the next mourning very refreshed and so happy to be alive I literally thought I would float to the sky. All my other sons looked the same, except Donatello, what I could see of him. He had seemed well last night but some trouble had defiantly set in him during the night.
"Is anything wrong, my son?" I asked gently as we rode together on a yak (We only had three so we had to share). I was conscious enough to ask him separate from his brothers, if he ever does open up its not around them.
"Nothing. . . I just had a bad dream last night, sensei", He replied.
"I am here if you would like to tell it", I offered.
"No. I. . . don't."
And that was all I got out of him the whole rest of the way.
As described, I felt terrific waking up. The whole world seemed to be great, the yaks were beautiful animals, the food was fresh and tasty, and we exercised for an hour before leaving and further increased my energy. I wanted us all to show off before Akira. I know, I am a sensei, I am not vain, but it would be fun for him to see how well I have trained my mutant sons in this art.
But the closure we got, the more a feeling of darkness and foreboding set in. Something was wrong, I couldn't get a fix on it, but my perception was such that I knew we would not arrive at this temple at a fortunate time. Perhaps they were under attack, something of that nature, in which case I wanted to hurry, although I did not want to tell my sons what I felt. It would be too hard to explain.
But Donatello also grew increasingly antsy. He wouldn't say why. He finally dismounted the yak and walked to keep up, and ran most of the way, but stopped to stare at the temple as we came with sight of it. I have to say I didn't like how he was staring at it. Michelangelo even asked him why and he said something about appreciating the architecture, but there was something deeper going on. This further fed my own nervousness.
At my insistence, we arrived at the temple doors in just under two hours, instead of the estimated three. My sons were a bit worn out, but a low level of adrenaline kept me alert and active.
I knocked at the door. Although he was expecting me, I and my sons all wore cloaks, in case there were other visitors to the temple.
I let a good five minutes pass in silence so thick you could cut it with a knife. There weren't even any birds, or fountains, or windchimes.
I knocked again, my adrenaline increasing.
After another few minutes, I prepared myself to break open the doors.
"Who comes here?" a voice commanded from inside. It was a much younger voice than Akira would be, and something was wrong with the tone. . . it wasn't in the fashion of a guard protecting the temple. . . it was scared.
"My name is Hamato Yoshi. I had arranged to visit Master Akira, a long friend of mine."
A moment passed. Finally a cloaked figure opened the door, but did not allow us in. I saw two more cloaked figures behind it. Did they have something to do with this curse fallen upon the temple?
"Yes, he did inform us of your pending visit. Unfortunately, I regret to inform you, sir, that Master Akira passed away last night. You understand we can not take in visitors at this time."
He actually started to close the door! I shot my foot out just in time and braced it open with all my strength.
"No, please, do not shut us out. Please, he was a dear friend and my sons and I have traveled far to see him. May I at least visit him one last time, and know the circumstances of his death?"
The two figures in the back glanced at each other, and then turned to the one at the door.
The one at the door looked us over, suspiciously. The look and fear indicated that Akira did not die by peaceful means. They had been attacked.
"Perhaps we can help you?" I offered, "We are ninjas, and if anything unnatural caused Master Akira's death I would be honored to-"
"We don't need help", He snapped back, but that fear was still there. He eyed me more intensely.
"Your not human", he stated simply.
"No I am not."
"Master Akira did not tell us you were not human. He said he went to school with you."
"Indeed he did. This transformation happened after I had last seen him, some fifteen years ago. My sons are also mutants."
I removed my hood, and my sons did the same. The cloak figure clutched at the door, but what emotion he was showing was unclear. Then the two behind him started jumping up and down.
"Hey! Turtles! Look, Turtles! Let them in, Darin! They're turtles like us!"
And to my and probably more profoundly my sons' disbelief, they all removed their hoods and revealed themselves to be mutant turtles as well.
"Akira did not tell me he lived with mutants turtles", I gasped.
"He probably didn't tell you he was a mutant cat, did he?"
My jaw must have hit the ground. Akira, a mutant cat? And me ending up a rat? Both of us with Mutant turtle sons? Oh, how funny! Or it would be, if only I could have actually talked to him, seen his face when he saw me, seen our children when they saw each other. . .
After a brief consultation, the one at the door let us all into the room. Him and the other two bowed before us.
"Forgive us if we were rude, you see we couldn't let humans visit his body, with him being a cat, and if they found out about us, well. . ."
I nodded that I understood. My sons were almost in shock, staring at these youth before them. Probably wishing one was a sister.
"That is understandable. And we haven't been formally introduced. I am called Splinter now, and these are my sons, Leonardo, Michelangelo, Raphael, and Donatello."
"My name is Darin. These two are Jordan and Torrance. We are sons of Akira, he adapted us and we have, we had lived with him. . ."
He didn't finish, and instead straightened himself. I could see he was bracing himself to not cry.
"He was murdered", one of the two, announced.
"We're not at liberty to discuss it", Darin snapped.
"Yes we are, they're turtles. And he's Akira's friend. They're like cousins", the two (I can't tell which was meant to be Jordan and which Torrance) interrupted.
"Do you know by who?" I inquired.
"No", one of the two replied.
"We're not at liberty to discus that either", Darin stated. He was taking this very seriously.
"Do you need help?" Leonardo inquired.
"Yes", the two replied before Darin could. Obviously there was still some confusion on how to handle this sudden death and the circumstances surrounding it. A pang of sympathy ran threw me. Poor children.
"We are ninjas", Raphael repeated my earlier claim.
"But this is sort of a private matter. Your not Buddhists", Darin replied, but he didn't seem dead set on it.
"Please allow me to visit his body, and perhaps I can gain insight there. As his friend, I should avenge him, and I can't let you three be. . . destroyed by this event."
"There's actually six of us", Darin announced, "Why don't you follow us, I'll take you to him, and after you. . . visit you can help us plan what we should do."
"Very well", I agreed.