His True Love
Disclaimer: I deny any ownership of any adult or adolescent transformed shadow warrior chelonians.
Chapter Three – So Right, So Wrong
RAPHAEL:
I carried her to the lair as fast as I could get her there, which at top speed meant I arrived at home, not even five minutes after I found her.
I didn't bother freeing a hand to open the door I just booted it open with my foot. Hey it opened so why get fussy over how to do it?
" Donny!" I yelled sending him a silent message to get his shell in high gear.
" Uncle Raphael" the delighted squeal from Rama and her headlong charge towards me wasn't a great idea and there was only one way I knew of to stop it.
" Ramiela Hold it there! Stop!" I barked at her in a hard tone.
She stopped and gave me a puzzled look as Mike quickly took her by the hand and herded her away he didn't want Rama seeing the sight of the woman in my arms, considering the mess she was in I couldn't say I blamed him.
I meanwhile headed straight for the infirmary. Due to how often we needed to patch ourselves up after battle, the infirmary was always the first place organized after any move and who ever she was, she would have the dubious honour of being our first patient in our new home.
Don and Leo came in to take care of cleaning and patching her up while I went to clean the blood off of myself. Last thing I needed was to get some disease from it.
I didn't know if we were susceptible to things like aids and that kind of crap but I wasn't taking my chances any more then I had to that is.
Then after a shower I went and grabbed a bite to eat and drink.
Ramiela came in while I was eating my sandwich.
" Uncle Raphael wheres you goes all day?" She inquired.
She had a funny way of talking that I dubbed Rama speech. She knew how to talk properly and had a big vocabulary for a kid her age but she insisted on being herself and so she added the letter s in places it didn't need to be and silly things like that.
" Out topside" I muttered a reply around a mouthful of food.
" The lady gonna be our guest?"
" Maybe for a bit" I said and watched her give a knowing nod.
" You gots to help me practice Uncle Raphael" she declared.
" I do, do I? Says who?" I demanded with a bit of a sneer.
" Please Uncle Raphael. I wants to spins the sais like you. But I cant's get it" she sniffed a bit giving me her best puppy dog face, the one with the big sad eyes practically brimming with tears, the trembling bottom lip. The whole works she had learned her father's tricks quite well.
I always found that look hard to resist when Mike pulled it on me as kids, never mind trying to ignore Rama when she pulled it on me.
I reached out mussing her short dark hair and grinned " If I say no, what are you gonna do about it?" I demanded.
Now probably any other kid who heard me saying that would burst into tears, not her no way.
She put her hands on the side of her shell and her face scrunched up and turned a bit dark " I gonna ninja kick ya!"
I tried to keep from laughing at her. Her expression alone was priceless.
" That I got to see meet me in the dojo kid and bring your sais."
A big smile crossed her face and she hugged me " Thank you Uncle Raphael."
According to a promise Leo made to Rama a few years back it was up to me to teach her how to use the sais. Leo could have taught her the sai as easily as I could, we all could use any weapon it's just we preferred our specialties. Rama had promised to respect weapons and leave my sais alone in exchange for me teaching her when Leo felt she was ready for that part of her training.
Now normally I just might have pointed out that I had nothing to do with that bargain so it wasn't up to me to uphold it, I had done things like that from time to time just because I didn't care for Leo deciding on how I was going live my life.
However I liked Rama and I got immense pleasure in the fact that she had taken such an interest in my specialty so I willingly went along with the deal voicing no complaints. That alone probably shocked Leo all to hell.
By the time I entered the dojo Rama was all ready there spinning her sais, or trying to at any rate. The spin move was one she had a great deal of problems with. She often complained that her extra fingers got in the way.
The poor kid really did have a big problem with having five fingers, and to some extent she could have been right about those extra digits causing her problems. She was used to watching me, and she learned a great deal from observation and necessity alone. But it was quite obvious that her brain hadn't been able to connect what I did with my sai, into the moves for her extra fingers.
As I watched her trying it again her sai slipped and fell to the mat she heaved a sigh and gave it a forlorn look.
" Am I ever gonna spin the sais like you Uncle Raphael?"
" Sure you will Ramiela I keep telling you that it took a long time for me to learn that move. You just have to take your time go slow, watch your finger placements and you will get it I promise. We'll work on the spin later.
Let's see you do your kata," I decided skipping the preliminary bow.
" Okay" Ramiela agreed as she bowed I gave her a slight bow in return and watched her perform. Correcting her here or there but for the most part she had it down pat.
When she was done her katas I got down on my knees to be more on level with her and got her practicing her blocks and attacks with the sai. It wasn't really sparring as I couldn't move around much on my knees but if I stood up it would be harder for her to practice these moves.
This was the closest thing I could do to get her sparring and practicing the techniques she would use in battle. It did what it had to do it honed her skills with the sais and I was able to see where she made mistakes and correct her on it.
Only after that was done did I get her to practice the difficult spin move getting her to go slow and watch her fingers carefully while encouraging her.
" All right good enough job for tonight Rama" I declared.
" Ramiela!" she screamed at me stomping her foot and glaring hard at me.
" Come on we are friends right? So why can't I call you Rama?"
" We friends Uncle Raphael but you says Ramiela not Rama" she insisted firmly.
" Why?" I demanded.
" Coz I say so. You call me Ramiela," she confirmed not budging one bit on that count. She could be very stubborn about some things.
" Your dad and Karena get to call you Rama" I pointed out.
" Daddy call me Ramiela means I in big trouble" she said very seriously.
I chuckled a bit at that, partly over what she said and partly due to her expression.
" Jessie calls you Rama and he is your friend," I said trying one more time.
" Jessie's gots lots of problems with talking Uncle Raphael, and you knows that. You call me Ramiela."
" And what if I don't?" I growled.
She smiled and leaped at me full force hurling her body right at me. I purposely fell back on to the mats taking her with me as we began to wrestle and play fight with one another.
Over the years I had taught her some great holds and even though I could break out of them with ease I often let her think that she was getting the better of me.
Mike came into the dojo and shot me a dirty look " Raph why can't you just stick to a lesson instead of getting her all hyped up before bedtime?"
" We havin fun daddy" Rama declared as she worked at trying to pin me to the mats. Poor kid hadn't realized that she wasn't going be able to do it for one I was more ninja and two she didn't have enough weight or strength to hold me down. Didn't stop her from trying to do it though.
" I see that Rama" Mike acknowledged " But it is time to get ready for bed now. So say good night to Uncle Raph and you can play with him some more in the morning." Mike threw me a wicked grin " I'll let you wrestle with him at five in the morning."
I knew it was Mike saying I'd have an early wake up call. " Try it!" I hissed.
" I nots tired daddy cant's I play few more minutes" Rama begged turning her puppy dog face on him.
" Yeah dad let her play a few more minutes what will it hurt?" I tried to get Mike to ease up.
" Raph I could let her play a few more minutes and when those are up she will want a few minutes more. Then I have to calm her down, get her into bed and keep her there until morning. Tell me how soon do you want your Rama alarm to go off in the morning?" he smirked my way. " Its late enough as is Raph."
" But daddy" Rama whimpered.
" Rama don't you push your luck" Mike warned sharply.
One thing for sure my goof off easy going partying fool of a brother had learned a great deal since becoming a dad. He could and did still play the fool and all around clown but there was no denying he was now more responsible then in his early teens before Rama arrived. I could tell just by the way he was standing that he wasn't going to cave into her.
" Your dad is right Rama, Sides that I gotta go check on our guest." I told her.
" Okay good night Uncle Raphael. Loves you" she gave in and turned to give me a hug and kiss good night.
" Can you read some Hobbits to me daddy?"
" One chapter if you hurry up ninja quick and get your teeth brushed and things like that and are in bed soon."
Ramiela squealed and took off running in her haste to obey.
" Rama no running in the lair" Mike snapped.
" Cept on playground" her voice came echoing back to us.
Mike sighed and shook his head before heading towards her bedroom for the nightly ritual of reading and tucking in.
Mike had always claimed the night ritual with Rama was his favourite I figured it was because once the kid in bed Mike was finally free to relax and do what he wanted.
I headed towards the infirmary and was a little surprised to see Leo still there talking to Don but the two fell silent as I entered.
I had the feeling Leo was ready to accuse me for bringing some one into our home and endangering all of our lives, the usual Leo lecture and I crossed my arms over my plastron staring hard at him.
" She going be all right?"
Don nodded " She should be for the most part. She has been stitched and bandaged up. Her wounds treated so there will be little risk of infection. She'll live." Was his simple verdict.
" Raph for how badly she was hurt we need to know if you are aware of the situation that got her into this condition. Do you know if her attack was random or intentional?" Leo finally asked calmly looking at me straight on.
I grunted a bit non committed at first then spoke " I'm not sure could be either or Leo. My instincts say that it was intentional but from what I saw of the guys who dropped her off in the alley it is quite possible it was random as well."
Leo nodded as he absorbed this information I knew he was trying to figure out what our next move with her would be.
" Going by what little was left of her clothing I'd say she was a lady of the night" he stated being as diplomatic as ever in his wording.
" What you trying to say Leo, that she was maybe asking for it? She deserved to be treated that way perhaps due to her dress?" I growled at him.
" Raph come on no matter how any one dresses isn't an invitation to be hurt no matter, what some people might think. However you know as well as I do that woman in such jobs, do run certain risks with that type of work. Hookers have very high risks jobs. They can be killed by a client and no one cares because it is just one less to deal with. Never mind the disease and the drugs and what have you that they use to destroy their bodies and minds. It isn't an easy life and most of them know it too." Leo paused and took a breath, " besides you know we don't judge people by what they do to get by in life. It isn't our way."
Trust the perfect son to bring that up and it was all true so I couldn't rightly deny it so I settled for glaring at Leo again.
" We have saved her life tonight, now we could take her to the hospital if this was a random attack or she is a lady of the night then she knows the risks and a hospital would be the best place for her. If it was intentional who ever did it might come back to try again if and when they realize she is still alive." Leo explained patiently " What we are going have to do is wait for her to wake up so we can figure out the whole story. Then we can know what to do."
Leo rose slowly " As it stands we still have an obligation to her. It isn't right to save her life just so it can be thrown away later."
I sneered at Leo's retreating back I knew that we would be obligated to her, to some extent when I brought her home but I hadn't seen how I had much choice in the matter.
" What was I supposed to do Leo leave her with the rest of the garbage?" I barked at him. " How come you can do it but when I do it I get crap Leo?"
Leo turned and gave me a cold haughty stare " I don't endanger our lives the way you continue to Raphael."
I sneered at him with distain " Don't pull that shit with me Leo we both know that you aren't as perfect as you make yourself out to be."
Leo didn't answer he just left. I glanced over to see Don who hurriedly busied himself with something else knowing that it was probably better not to say any thing to me at this moment.
TBC