Concerning the Heart
Disclaimer: I deny any ownership of any adult or adolescent transformed shadow warrior chelonians.
Part Two: Daddy, I've got a boyfriend!
" Um, while I was over in that other world, I met a guy" Rama confessed hesitantly, glancing away from her dad. If talking about her mom hadn't been easy, well she was going consider herself lucky if her dad didn't end up having a major conniption over her latest news. " Remember how I told you about Devon, how he helped me and was my friend?" she hinted gently.
Mike had a sinking feeling, that the bullet they had managed to dodge up to this point had finally found its mark. Far as he was concerned Rama was far too young to have a boyfriend, she had no real idea of what guys were like, or what to expect.
He well recalled the practical joke Rama had pulled when she had been sixteen, convincing him that she was pregnant, one of Mike's worst fears at that time, come to think of it, it still was.
" Devon?" he asked suspiciously.
" Uncle Raphael's twin, his son" Rama explained.
" Oh no, Not a Raphael child" Mike flatly declared " I forbid it! Your uncle influenced you enough and now you are telling me you want to date one of his children?"
Rama winced as she fidgeted slightly though she had sort of expected this type of reaction from her dad. " Devon is a nice guy."
" Excuse me did you say, nice?" Mike arched an eye ridge " Nice and Raphael children don't mix. It is like claiming that you've seen a flying penguin."
" Dad you are being unreasonable" Rama hissed slightly rolling her eyes a little.
" Unreasonable? No you dating is unreasonable. I won't have it Rama." Mike declared, " Besides aren't you and him kind of like cousins?" Mike smiled as he realized that the family relationship ought to nip the romance quickly in the bud.
" Well, sort of if you look at it as family that has grown up together, but there is no blood relationship between the Mike of that world and the Raph." Rama said, " Just as you and Uncle Raphael here aren't related by blood, so we are free to be together." Rama concluded.
" How old is this boy?" Mike demanded.
" He is eight years older then me" Rama replied honestly not trying to hide anything from her dad, at least not that way. She might hide a few other things but this really wasn't worth it.
" He's too old for the likes of you. Trying to rob the cradle" Mike grumped.
Rama snorted, " He is not too old, if he was like twenty years older I'd agree with you, but he isn't even ten years. Eight isn't that different" Rama protested, " He works too, helping out in the music business Mike set up."
" What you think that is a good thing?" Mike declared fuming " An older boy in the music business definitely untrustworthy."
" Dad you don't even know Devon" Rama insisted sharply, she really hadn't wanted this to dissolve into some sort of argument but it seemed that was the way there talk was heading.
Maybe, she mused to herself, I shouldn't have hit him with this all at once. Or at least had Cathy help break the news.
" I don't want to know him, and I don't need to know him. You have told me quite enough with the fact he is an older Raphael child in the music business" Mike shot back.
" Whatever you are thinking dad, Devon isn't like that" Rama kept her voice calm as possible in spite of the anger her father was showing, " After all Devon is the future jonin of his clan."
" Pity their clan leaving it in the hands of someone like that!" Mike mumbled giving a rueful shake of his head.
Rama gritted her teeth " Dad!" she hissed a bit testily, " They could have said the same thing about me being the future jonin of my clan" She replied defensively.
" Hmph! That dear is different" Mike said, " Besides Rama guys are only after one thing. You want me to meet him? I would love to meet him" a slow grin crossed Mike's face " So I could teach him a lesson about keeping his hands and other things away from my daughter" Mike snapped the last bit.
He turned to face her gripping her firmly in his own hands " You didn't let him take advantage of you, did you?" He wondered, the evil thought suddenly occurring to him. He gave Rama a partly concerned part fearful look.
Rama had, had about enough of her dad blowing things out of proportion and jumping to conclusions. Yes she was fully aware that he wouldn't like or appreciate the news.
Act, don't react she reminded herself. Still a part of her couldn't help what she did next.
" What if I did?" She asked innocently, " What if I let him teach me everything a kunoichi ought to know?" she demanded answering his question with a few of her own, " What if I wanted him to take advantage of me? Fact of the matter is dad it is my business what I was willing to allow" Rama pointed out quickly.
True, goading him probably hadn't helped matters any, but he was the one doing all the reacting here.
" That is it! Forget teaching that boy to keep his hands to himself. I am going cut off his hands and a few other parts of his anatomy" Mike vowed his eyes narrowing.
Rama groaned, " You have to find him first dad. He is ninja after all."
She was grateful, for once, that at the moment Devon was so far away, for she had no doubt that her dad, in his present mood would be quite willing to walk to California and give a good thrashing to Devon, just on general principle alone.
Mike scoffed " A ninja, leading the easy life? Heh!" he arched an eye ridge " How many battles has he survived, how many marks of honour has been carved into his skin by the enemy?" Mike shot out, " Probably doesn't know the first thing about battle. He may have been trained as a ninja and he may have sparred numerous times, but there is a big difference between the two." Mike smirked.
Rama nodded, she was well aware of that fact, nothing perfected skills or training then fighting in a true life or death match. " Devon doesn't have many badges of honour, but he did well during the mission to free Don Tello, and he earned every badge of honour there and then some." Rama spoke with pride of her beloved, she recalled how nervous Devon had been at first, but how quickly he fell into the motion of battle as he stood at her back. The two of them had joined in ways that transcended all else, that night. She pulled herself from the memory and continued, " His life isn't like ours. They don't have to use ninjitsu on the battlefield as much" She admitted, " at least not often and they must hide the fact they are ninja while being out in the open. Seeming to be nothing more then good upstanding citizens, when they fight others they don't even leave a mark or break a bone." Rama recalled, that fact from Raphael's orders when confronting Gabby's would be attackers in the park.
She knew in her heart that she shouldn't have goaded her dad. She knew it wouldn't help matters for herself.
" Look dad I am sorry, I shouldn't have riled you up. Devon and I really didn't go that far" she confessed, " We both wanted to but we opted to wait instead." She thought of the night her and Devon had almost succeeded in becoming a couple, if only Leonardo of that world hadn't clued in that something wasn't right and interrupted their plans. There was times that she looked back on that night and deeply regretted missing out on what Devon had offered, other times, especially more now that she was back home, where she was extremely grateful for Leonardo's timely interruption.
" Devon didn't try to push me into anything I didn't want or wasn't ready for. He didn't try to take advantage of me." She gave a small smile as she teased, " Much to my disgrace I am still a virgin and probably going to die that way."
Mike sensed the honesty and sincerity in her words, he knew she had indeed wanted to go further, but hadn't and somehow it was a relief to him to know Rama hadn't rushed in at the first opportunity. He took a few deep breaths to calm himself and he realized how proud he was that his daughter had not given everything up.
The fact she had a boyfriend had caught him off guard and then to know all the other stuff about this potential beau, had given Mike terrible images of a guy who would push an innocent Rama into going along with her hormones and feelings, possibly urging her to go that extra way while her mind wasn't about to think of consequences.
Hearing this news was like a balm to his angry hurt feelings.
" Honey there is no disgrace in being a virgin" Mike chided gently.
" Easy for you to say" Rama snorted.
" Why do you think I tell you that Rama?" Mike asked staring at her, " Having sex when you are young can often make you feel things that don't really exist and aren't even there" Mike explained gently " It can put you into situations that you are not ready for. It is much better to wait."
Rama smiled a bit " How long am I supposed to wait for dad? Most girls my age have all ready had boyfriends and gone out on dates" Rama insisted, " Me, I'm so different I could never approach any guy I liked because we have to stay hidden and what guy would want someone like me, when they can have human girls who have" Rama paused, " Actual figures dad. Sometimes, I think, I will never be lucky enough to have what you have," Rama complained bitterly.
Mike sighed as he realized only some of Rama's doubts she had carried over the years, he gave a sympathetic shake of his head " Rama you are a beautiful young…" he was about to say girl but he realized that she really wasn't that any more, and that thought pained him " Young woman, you have a lot to offer" He cupped her face in his hands " Your young don't give up yet alright? Love takes time Rama be sure of what you feel." Mike pleaded giving her a faint smile.
" I will dad" Rama promised, " But I am not a child anymore, and you can't keep protecting me. I am the future jonin of the clan, which means I need to make big decisions."
" I know all that Rama." Mike replied.
" If you know that, then why can't you trust me to make the right decisions in my own life? If I can't make the right choices for one person, I'll never be able to do it for a whole bunch of people." Rama explained, " I needed you to believe in me dad, I need you to trust me," She declared taking his hand and holding it tight in her own, " Even in matters like boyfriends or what is right for me!"
" I know I need to do that Rama" Mike admitted, he bowed his head, " It just isn't all that easy for me to do."
Rama grinned, " I realize that dad, I just don't understand why?" she cocked her head waiting expectantly for some sort of answer.
" Because I am your father Rama. I have raised you for more then half my life now, for a good chunk of that I was alone and didn't have a great deal of help." Mike began.
" Rama laughed, " That and the fact you are overprotective of me I all ready know" She confirmed lightly.
" Yeah but there is something in males I guess. We raise our little girls, think of them as our princesses we don't want to see them hurt or lose their innocence or just plain lose them" Mike informed her.
" You are not losing me dad," Rama stated.
" Really?" Mike arched an eye ridge " I'm not so sure." He mumbled as he looked Rama over from head to foot and back again " Then next thing you know your baby is bringing home this guy talking about how great he is, and all dad can see is the faults and how this upstart is going do things he doesn't want to see happen. He knows his daughter has found someone else," Mike shrugged, " It is natural I guess. Sure soon all little girls grow up and all dads have to let go of their little girls so that they can start a life where there mate is suddenly the important one, and that is how it should be." Mike smiled, " And it is only natural for the father to oppose it until the grandkids arrive." He winked.
Rama smiled and ducked her head " You are being silly and overprotective" she informed him kindly.
" It is part of being a father, the male genes." Mike declared, " It is a father's right and I am not giving it up."
Rama laughed, as she gave her dad a playful hit. " You know dad if I was a properly trained kunoichi I'd all ready know about love and how to please a man" Rama shook her head as she considered the irony of that part of her life, a kunoichi who didn't know that part of training wasn't really a kunoichi " After all the kunoichi was to use favours to get close enough to a mark to gain information or to kill them."
" Yes, but you weren't trained as a traditional kunoichi for good reason. Our clan doesn't use such tactics for one thing" Mike replied, " Which really is a darn good thing because I could not handle Leo teaching you that sort of training."
Rama scrunched her face up at the thought " Ewww! Too much information dad. I work on a need to know basis, and that is one thing I don't need to know."
Mike laughed at her response, " Consider that pay back for what you dumped on me. Now you know what this talk of you having a boyfriend does" Mike chuckled a little " Rama you are a fine kunoichi just as you are, and I do trust you."
" Then what is the problem dad!"
" It is the boys I don't trust. I used to be one and so did all my brothers, I know how they think." Mike replied as if that was enough.
" Dad I love Devon. He is a mutant and a ninja, he understands things about us that an outsider wouldn't but there is this roguish side to him, the smug looks the daring that just…."
" The Raphael influence" Mike interrupted her, " I always knew your uncle would corrupt you I just didn't know how bad."
" He just seems so right for me." Rama concluded ignoring his remarks, " When I can manage to teleport freely dad I want to go visit with Devon whenever I can and I want to teach Devon how to do it too so he can visit me here."
" Wonderful" Mike said sounding anything but overjoyed.
Rama took her dad's hand " Devon asked me to marry him and I want to" she informed him gazing into her dad's eyes, she saw them widen and a spark of something before it became still " I love him very much dad and I want to be with him."
Mike sensed the depth of feeling Rama had for this boy, he turned his mind to recent events when Rama seemed to become distant or had been found crying for what had seemed no reason to him at the time, he realized now her mind must be on this boy, and she truly did miss him.
Yet Mike also wondered how possible this relationship was, teleporting was not an exact way of getting around and even without that hurdle there were other obstacles in the way.
Devon couldn't be with Rama all the time, nor could she be with him. Being both jonins they would be needed by their respective clans to care for certain duties. Then there was offspring the children might forever be shuffled between two worlds but rarely have both parents with them at any given time. It didn't seem to Mike to be the perfect match made in heaven.
To say he had his doubts would be understating things, but he also knew that Rama didn't want to hear why things couldn't, wouldn't work out between her and this boy, she would merely accuse him of being 'overprotective' and 'getting in the way of their love.'
So instead Mike said the only thing he could think of " Take it as it comes Rama, first perfect this teleporting skill if you can." Mike mused, silently to himself, there is no need worrying about that bridge until it is time to cross it, and perhaps Rama will come to it on her own.
Rama beamed " I am working hard on it with Sensei, I really am. Will you give us your blessing dad?"
" I rather wait on that for now" Mike stated cautiously, vowing to talk to Leo perhaps this was information that would be better received through him. " Because right now Rama things may feel right for you, but that might change."
Rama nodded, she supposed it was the best she could get from her dad for now, he needed time to think and accept all that she had revealed to him, and once he had gotten over his surprise he had taken it fairly well, all things considered. " When you met Cathy you didn't want to be alone anymore, I didn't understand it then, but I do now."
Mike sighed as he hugged Rama " You really are growing up. Come on lets go home."
….
It was an hour or so later when Mike tapped on Rama's bedroom door and waited for her invitation to enter, he heard some music playing and heard it turned down slightly as Rama called to him to come in.
" I found you those letters that you were interested in Rama" Mike handed her a handful of letters, " It is all I have left of Shay, other then you. Then again you are the best thing that your mother did, not just for me, but for all of us Rama. If it wasn't for Shay we might never have known the possibilities" Mike smiled, " That is the best thing, the greatest thing your mother ever did."
Rama smiled as she ducked her head, she had a feeling it was the last time she would ever hear her dad praise her mom.
" Now this boy Devlin."
" Devon" Rama corrected instantly.
" Whatever" Mike mumbled, " Rama have you considered the possibilities of what if you can't get back to his world? Or say for instant that Devlin…"
" Devon" Rama insisted giving her dad a dirty look.
" Devon" Mike repeated, " Can be married can have children but things aren't quite what you expected Rama…"
" Dad" Rama hissed, " We love one another we can work this out" she declared tightly.
Mike sat down on the foot of her bed " Love can find a way it is true Rama" he reached out a hand to caress her cheek " And right now you may think there is no one but him. But do me a favour Rama and don't close your eyes to other possibilities you may find," Mike pleaded, " If he can love you, then others might as well and someone closer to home may be better suited to you."
Mike saw a glint in his daughter's eyes and he decided not to push his luck " Just something to consider okay hon?"
Rama nodded but didn't say anything in return.
Mike patted her knee " All right. I love you Rama."
Rama smiled as she leaned forward and placed her arms around her dad's neck hugging him to her, " I love you too dad."
Mike pulled her tighter to him wishing to keep her his little girl, his daughter for just a little while longer.
The End
