The Mutant Ninja Turtles
Donatello's Biography: Part 13
By B.C.
Sacrifices
Raphael, stunned by what he saw, looked up at Leo with an anguished and concerned face. Raphael wasn't handling the situation well. The stress of almost losing Donnie, the intense fight with the tiger beast Jinketsu, and now having to restrain himself from joining in to help defeat the man responsible for Splinter's death was taking its toll on him. What was most confusing to Raph was how Leonardo seemed… detached. He didn't seem at all bothered by the fact that he had lost an eye. In fact, to Raphael it looked like Leonardo couldn't have cared less.
What Raphael didn't know, because he couldn't see it from his angle, was that Leonardo didn't lose an eye, he tore it out. Shredder's kwandao had been clashing with Leo's katanas ever since their fighting began. When Leonardo had cut the kwandoa's handle in half, and kicked it from Shredder's hands, the blade had accumulated a great number of deep nicks and dents all along the edge. Later, when Shredder reacquired it and brought the blade down, it made contact just above Leonardo's eyebrow. As it moved further down, a deep rigid nick caught the soft jelly like outer layer of Leonardo's eye and pulled it out while cutting it in half. The blade then continued to cut deep into Leonardo's cheek until it was pushed away. Leonardo, knowing his eye was unsalvageable, reached for it and pulled on the popped eye until the cord snapped, and then simply tossed it to the side. To Leonardo it didn't hurt. He only did it because a dangling eye was a distraction, nothing more.
This triggered something in Leonardo, however, a type of realization as to how much he could actually handle. Leonardo and Shredder stared at each other for a moment, sizing each other up. Then Leonardo smiled. There was a faint hint of insanity in Leonardo's smile. Shredder thought maybe Leonardo was cracking. Leonardo was cracking, but this insanity was not chaotic, more of a release. As far back as Leonardo could remember, Splinter had been trying to teach him how to "let go", how to allow all things to meld into one. Splinter once said to Leo "when you concentrate, and all things become one, then there is only one thing to concentrate on". At first Leo took it as one of those clever sentences and nothing more. Now it had become Leo's fighting philosophy.
Shredder suddenly lunged towards Leo at full speed, letting out a loud battle cry as he charged. Shredder was holding the foot and a half blade that only had roughly two feet of handle like a sword, balancing it low and to his left. Leo didn't move. Once in striking range, Shredder raised the half kwandoa over his right shoulder and slashed downward diagonally from right to left. Leo pulled in his left arm around his right side, turning his torso as a result. Shredders blade came down hard and logged deep in Leo's upper left shell. Blood sprayed from it as though a high pressure water pipe had been struck. When Michelangelo saw this, for some odd reason it reminded him of when the Clampets struck oil on the Beverly Hillbillies. But the reality quickly sunk in and Michelangelo found himself screaming at the top of his lungs. He screamed so loud his voice gave out, and only the sound of high pitched wheezing air escaping his throat remained.
Raphael's heart stopped beating, or at least, that's what it felt like to him. The sight was somewhat dream like. As though he wasn't there, as though it were simply a hallucination, but when the drops of blood began to fall on his face, he realized that the idea of it being a hallucination was the dream. Reality was right before his eyes.
Shredder felt some satisfaction from the feeling of a strong connection with Leo's body. He thought how nice it will feel to run this blade across Leo's throat. With that in mind he pulled at the half kwandoa to dislodge it, but it wouldn't move. Looking into Leo left and only eye, Shredder realized a tingly feeling. He didn't notice it until he moved to dislodge the kwandao, but now it was strong, and its intensity was growing by the second. Shredder looked down at his chest to see the handle of a sword disappearing into his stomach. It was the hukushu no ha. Cold shivers ran up his spine at this sight. And for a moment even Shredder thought he was in a dream, but he quickly abandoned the thought. Strange how the mind can handle reality by not, thought Shredder.
Leonardo, who had kneeled when her turned, now began to stand, all the while never letting his gaze off Shredder. Shredder took a few awkward steps back, removing the blade only an inch or so, making a muffled sloshing noise. Shredder then extended his left arm out and placed it on the side of Leo's face. He then pulled Leo's head closer, and began whispering in his ear.
"Splinter…wouldn't have wanted it any other way." Shredder puked up his words, but managed to put emphases on "any". "I …wouldn't have wanted it… any other way." Leo clenched at his words. The emotions he had let go of , emotions that seemed so foreign now, were starting to over flow, and in a moment of realization the words "Your brother…" escaped his lips.
There they were, two ninja's, each with his blade deep in his enemy. One, a man who once had hopes of starting a crime syndicate in the old ways, honorable, strong, and most importantly, gunless. The other, a lost boy, who had spent his life fighting his master's war, but that is not a fair statement. It was his war now, given to him by the blood of his master. In this picture of still time, they lean against each other, both begging for death from the other. Shredder knew now that the Foot could never thrive. In a world of weapons and guns, there is no room for him, there is no room for any of them. Although Leo now knew why this warehouse was chosen, nothing changed.
"You took my father you son of a bit$#!" Leo hissed in Shredder's ear. "If there is any satisfaction I can take from you, I will!" With that he released a yell, and pulled his sword from Shredder's belly. A spray of blood escaped Shredders wound. Then, without delay in movement, Leonardo made a quick horizontal strike, and decapitated Shredder, his head still in his helmet.
Leonardo began breathing heavily. Raphael assumed it was probably from battle. Leonardo took a few steps back to gaze at his defeated foe. The once silver polished armor of Shredder's was now covered in blood and warehouse dust. Most of the spikes were cracked, chipped, or completely broken off. Shredder's body armor was missing plates, and one of his sandals. All in all, he was covered with marks, cuts, and scratches. Leo then turned around, and looked at Raph with a somewhat blank expression. Raph was speechless. He had to peal his eyes away from the kwandoa still stuck in Leo's back to make eye contact with him. Mikey looked pale. He was on his knees, staring in fearful amazement. Donnie had passed out when he caught a glimpse of Shredder slashing down at Leo. Casey was still tending to Donatello's wounds, almost undistracted by the previous chain of events.
Leo then turned his gaze back to the decapitated head of Shredder. He reached down and into the helmet, and grabbed the hair of Saki. Outside the warehouse, the sound of rain began to pick up. No one really noticed it until just now. Then there was a faint crash of thunder. Leo stared at the face of Saki. He stared at it for a while. He then suddenly began a fast paced walk to the main doors. Leonardo's mind was everywhere. Emotions, memories, and flashes of his temporary moment enlightenment were spinning about his mind like a galaxy of light. He kicked open the two large doors. Lightning crashed as they opened. Leo walked out into the rain as it poured down his body, creating rivers of diluted blood that flowed happily in the streets. Leo raised Saki's head high in the air, and screamed in Japanese "YOU ARE AVENGED!" Leo then collapsed.
To Be Continued…
Author's Notes:
Okay, I'd like to start by saying "I fu@%ed up". As I've said before this is a summery of a bigger story I wrote. What I don't think I've mentioned before is that I started writing this when I was thirteen. I went through it before I published it here on Fanfic, but a big plot whole has emerged regardless. I was just rereading old chapters for grammatical errors when I stumbled across it. Maybe you knew, but didn't say anything trying to be polite, or you just didn't notice. Either way, if you haven't found it yet, I'm not pointing it out to you. I'm only mentioning it because I don't want you to think I'ma foo. Although, if enough of you find it, I'll probably have to change a little of that chapter to accommodate. (although I don't know how) As always, your criticism is welcome whether positive or negative. Thank you again for reading.