The enemy

Disclaimer: I deny any ownership of any adult or adolescent transformed shadow warrior chelonians.

Author's Note: The Japanese sentences used in this chapter, were translated by me using, only a Japanese-English dictionary. I know little of the language itself so I may have some errors in that area. Any mistakes are of course my own. Ramica

Chapter Twenty Four - Friendly Talk

Michaelangelo:

I personally never really believed this day would come. Sure I hoped for it and dreamed about seeing her again or holding her in my arms just one more time. At times those fantasies were all that kept me going. In the end though even I knew, though I never acknowledged it aloud, that she had been gone far too long and the odds of such a thing happening were too astronomical for me to conceive of.

No I was aware of the odds, the total improbability of it happening.

Now after so many years, months, days she was finally in my arms, I could feel her tears on my skin and feel the brush of her hair against my neck and it brought to mind all the times I held her close as a child, either when she had cried or wanted a cuddle.

I smiled to myself the girl wasn't really such a big bad tuff ninja after all. No matter what Yukio had tried to make her be, she was still my daughter at heart.

I supposed if I had been Leo or Raph I would take advantage of her momentary weakness by trying to steal a katana off her, so that I could then use it on or against her to hopefully gain freedom.

I couldn't do that though because I wanted to hold her, I wanted to keep her close and never let her go. I wanted to savour having her back in my arms where she belonged. For this one brief moment in time she wasn't Yukio's daughter. She was mine and I wanted to prolong this moment as long as I could.

Throw it away, never, I didn't care what it might cost us in the long run.

She sniffed a bit pulling back suddenly a look of shock and uncertainty on her face, as I let her go, much as I wished I didn't have to. She wiped at her eyes with the back of her hand giving me a wary look.

I guess my hugging her had been the last thing she had expected from me and now she looked as if she was trying to figure out what exactly had happened.

I gave her a warm smile " Feel better?" I asked simply.

" Yeah actually I do" she murmured sounding a bit surprised at it, " father has only held me once, at least there was only one time that I recall him holding me like that."

" I kind of missed hugging you Rama. I'm glad you gave me the opportunity to do it now." I grinned still elated at the recent event, " I'm proud of you Rama."

" I'm your enemy" she insisted giving me a sceptical look, " Don't you hate me?"

" No Rama I don't hate you, even though my brothers told me I ought to. I guess I just have a hard time seeing you as my enemy" I explained, " I know in many ways you don't have a choice in what your doing. You were raised as a ninja and you feel you owe Yukio for caring for you and because he is the leader of the Foot." I sighed and shrugged, " With us you would have been trained as a ninja as well but things might have been different." I sat down on the mats, " See our Master Splinter he taught us Ninjitsu partly because he knew we'd need it to survive and partly because he wanted to make sure we'd be okay when he was gone. He gave us the skills we needed to survive but for the most part he also encouraged us to be who we were." I gave a shake of my head, " he didn't understand everything Don did for us, but he never told Don he couldn't try to better our lives, he allowed me to fool around, let Raph blow off steam and when Leo showed certain signs he trained him for leadership. So Splinter let us be what we wanted to be, encouraged us to do what we enjoyed." I looked up at her " If it was up to you Rama where would you go, what would you do?"

She blinked as she slowly sank to the mats " I'd like to go home to Japan and live in the mountains. I'd love my own garden to meditate in" she replied wistfully, " I am ninja that is what I know and what I am but I want to be a ninja who forsakes the warrior ways and seeks further paths of enlightenment. I don't care for executions, there is no honour in such deaths, and I feel they bring my honour down." She declared, " Most of all I don't want to be afraid any more like I am right now."

" Gardens huh?" I chuckled, " You used to love flowers when you were little it seems you held on to that. One of your favourite treats was when I would bring you a bouquet of flowers from topside, you just loved the bright colours, the different scents and textures." I told her.

She nodded slightly.

" Japan is that where you were raised Rama? Guess so if you call it home. I figured that is where he took you, at least when I saw you here and realized who you were it dawned on me where you had been hiding and why we couldn't find you." I rambled on I could see she wasn't paying much attention to me.

" Homushihki ni naru ka." I asked suddenly switching to the Japanese language. ( Are you homesick.)

She raised her head a wide smile on her face as she heard my words, " Hai sukoshi no." she informed me quickly. ( Yes, a little.)

I nodded it was understandable " Nani suru no ga inaku natte sabishiki omou ka" I wondered. ( What do you miss the most?)

" Hotando zenber sa. Iki o nomu yo na keshiki" she responded almost cheerfully, then as an after thought she declared " Hanasu subarashie nihon-go." ( Almost everything, the breath taking scenery. You speak wonderful Japanese.)

" Arigato gozaimasu. Koto ga dekiru sore o no kaku." I told her as I bowed to her for giving me a compliment. ( Thank you I can also write it.)

" Kanji. Katakana soretomo hiragana ka" she inquired curiously.

I knew she wanted to know what I wrote kanji was regular writing but unlike kanji both hiragana and katakana characters had a single reading and represented a sound rather then a meaning.

" Subete no" I answered honestly. ( All.)

She laughed slightly then stopped.

I arched an eye ridge at her both amused and delighted to hear her laughter.

" Subeki de aru yoku warai motto oku no" I advised her tenderly. ( You should laugh more often.)

She ducked her head, I think she didn't want me to see her blushing but I saw it any way.

" Rama I don't want this to end, I truly don't. I have dreamed of a chance to get to know you better since I first saw you here." I confessed, " I enjoy talking with you in any language you choose to talk to me in. I love you Rama and I am very proud of you. Just do me one favour and no matter what happens, you," I pointed to her with one finger, " Alone decide which way you are going to go. Don't let what Yukio wants or what I want be the deciding factor. You make up your own mind" I declared, " If you help us or not that is your choice, and no matter which way you go I will accept it. Even if you happen to change your mind" I gazed firmly into her eyes, " But there is one thing you are going have to do Rama."

She blinked a confused look on her face, her brow furrowed in puzzlement " What is that?" she wondered aloud.

I took a deep breath " I want you to torture me before you take me back" I replied firmly, knowing that there could be no other way.

She jumped to her feet backing away shaking her head " Your crazy!" she protested.

" Am I?" I shrugged, " I guess this place could do that to me, course most my family would insist that I have been more then a little touched for some time" I joshed, then I grew serious " If you don't torture me somehow and in someway the guards might become suspicious that I have no fresh wounds."

" They'd warn father that something was up" she concluded catching on to my train of thought.

" Exactly Rama and then Yukio might take the choice, your choice away from you."

" I didn't bring you here to torture you," she moaned.

I grinned, " I'm glad to hear that but like I said if the guards and Yukio are expecting you to torture me and you don't they may think you are plotting something, even though at this moment you are just, undecided." I explained, " Look Rama, you don't have to torture me, that is your choice too it just might look funny and cause some trouble if you don't do it is all."

I couldn't believe that I was asking, no, practically begging her to go ahead and torture me but in essence that was exactly what I was doing. " Look Rama sometimes in life we all have to do things that we don't really want to do. I accept that, and I would rather you hurt me, then give Yukio a reason to hurt you."

I saw her nod wearily as if accepting the logic of my words if not fully accepting what went with it.

She turned briefly away then looked back at me pleading quietly " Yurusu ka." (forgive?)

" Itsumo musume" I answered immediately. ( Always daughter.)

I don't know who was more hurt by what followed, Rama who clearly didn't want to do it, or myself for talking her into it in the first place.

Though she was reluctant at first, it was almost as if something, or someone took over for as soon as she started she seemed determined to give me a very full and thorough beating with a whip.

She didn't stop until she had drawn blood in numerous places some fresh new wounds other wounds that had hardly been healed breaking open under the fierce onslaught.

I had gritted my teeth waiting it out, telling myself that this beating was nothing, not compared to all the beating and suffering Rama had suffered at Yukio's hands for so many years. If she could live with all she had been through, then I had no right to complain now.

By the time she took me back to the prison I looked sufficiently beaten and bloody to suffice. I also did my best to act as if the beating had taken everything out of me.

Inside though I was bursting with joy, a deep happiness that I knew I had to bury deep though it was almost impossible to contain.

I had learned a few things from her, some of the things she had told me was not exactly stuff I wanted to know.

However on the up side I had been able to talk to my daughter and Rama didn't seem so disturbed as she had when she first came to retrieve me, oh there was still the confusion and uncertainty but I think I had helped her.

Or I hoped that I had helped her gain some balance.

I think our talk and a chance to cry had given her an opportunity to know who I really was and that I wasn't really her enemy but it also gave her time to pull herself together.

All of that was for the good because Rama would need all of her wits and training about her, because no matter what she decided she'd need it to get through her decision.

She had told me something before returning me to the prison cell and I clung to those words now for they were the ray of hope, our one chance of survival and all of it rested in her hands.

Only time would tell which way Rama would go and I had a feeling we were all in for a very long night. I also knew no matter how long the night turned out to be the morning and our execution would come all too fast for my liking.

TBC

Melodist: Well though you may have lurked often I am glad you finally took some time to review and let me know. Seems you got rather caught up in this story well here is another chapter, though a short one and I did manage to write a few other chapters of this story over the weekend so might update this story one more time this week. A gratitude for your insight.

Lunar Ninja: Yes, he got to hug her, talk to her and then get beaten to a pulp. Now that is what I call progress. A gratitude for your insight.