Chapter 8 A Promise Kept
Disclaimer: Yes yes we all know! TMNT belong to Mirage.
Thanks to Reibenchaser for editing! I don't say that nearly enough.
Kurai frowned as she looked at the hastily scrawled note. How did they know she liked to visit the Metropolitan Museum of Art? How did they persuade the strange elderly gentleman to carry the message for them? How did they know that she would visit on this particular day? All these questions plagued her as she climbed the stairs leading to Belvedere Castle. Again, she looked at the note.
Belvedere Castle 2 a.m.. Alone and unarmed. You owe us.
There were no other marks on the note to say whom it was from, but it didn't matter. She knew from who it was, just as she knew why they did not identify themselves in the note. She wondered why they needed to speak with her. She looked about at the shadows the cold gray stone castle cast about the courtyard. Shadows didn't bother her. A ninja lived their life within shadows and rarely came out into the light.
Would that I could live my life within a physical shadow instead of this shadow of deception, she thought to herself sadly. She checked her watch again. It was nearly two. Perhaps they changed their mind. What if this was a set up to get her out of the way so they could act against her father? Kurai, angry at the thought, took the first steps to leave the area, when she suddenly heard a familiar voice come out of nowhere and say, "Don't leave Kurai."
Kurai, to her credit, did not jump. She glanced around, but she could not locate Leonardo. It was possible that he was using ventriloquism to hide his location. Either way it was obvious that the Ninja Turtle did not want to be found. "Leonardo?" she asked, puzzled. "What is going on? Why have you called me here?"
"We just want to ask you a few questions, that's all," Leonardo said calmly.
"What kind of questions?" Kurai asked, growing suspicious again. "I will not tell you anything that will help you hurt my -"
"The Shredder can go to hell in a hand basket for all we care," a harsher voice answered. "This ain't about him." Raphael, she thought, without a doubt, but something is troubling him greatly. His voice is more sad than angry. Kurai knew that Raphael hid above in the decorative shelters around the courtyard. Either he didn't know she could locate him by his voice, or he didn't care.
Relieved this had nothing to do with her father, Kurai asked, "Then what is this all about?"
After a few seconds of silence Leonardo asked, "What is Hun's real name?"
That was the last thing Kurai expected to hear from any of them. "Why do you wish to know?" Kurai asked in panic.
Michelangelo's voice came from the other side of the stone wall that looked out over the Great lawn. "Chill, Kurai, we just wanna make sure we're right about this before we tell you."
"Tell me what?" Kurai demanded, getting annoyed. Why was this information suddenly so important to them?
"Tell us what Hun's name is and we'll tell you," Raphael retorted.
Kurai wondered if she should or should not tell them what they wished to know. What would they do with this knowledge? Out of the darkness, she heard Leonardo again. "Please Kurai," he said. He sounded so intense, so pained, and yet so full of purpose that Kurai felt compelled to answer.
"His name is Peter Castillo," Kurai said. She held her breath and waited for their reaction.
"And his father was Martin Castillo the wrestler who called himself Atilla the Barbarian?" Donatello's voice asked the next question.
Suddenly, Kurai understood what they were looking for. "Yes," she said. Wondering how they learned these things.
"And his mom, Caroline, died giving birth," Michelangelo added.
"Yes?" Kurai answered, more and more curious. "You are seeking me only to confirm these things? Why?"
From out of nowhere, a throwing star appeared and embedded itself in the wooden pillars of the courtyard shelter. Tied to the star was a letter-sized envelope. Kurai untied the envelope from the star, leaving the shuriken stuck in the wood, knowing the turtles would retrieve it once she was gone. She opened the envelope. Inside was a funeral card. "Margaret Riley," she read. "Nineteen eighteen to two thousand and five."
Even before Leonardo spoke, Kurai had a feeling she knew what they now needed from her.
"Kurai, we need you to bring Hun a message."
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Kurai swallowed hard, and tried to look normal. Boldly she walked into the security room. Her father and her Master was having a low voiced conversation with Hun about the security procedures for his farewell dinner in two weeks.
Still trying to maintain her calm facade, she bowed politely to both of them.
"Master," she greeted her father politely then turned her attention to Hun. "Hun, I would like to speak with you privately on a personal matter."
Saki's eyes widened in surprise at her request; it was very unlike Kurai to ask his assistant to leave the room, even indirectly. Hun glared at her and snorted. "Anything you wish to say to me you can say in front of The Master." Hun said sourly.
Kurai would have rather not talk about this in front of Saki for several reasons. She tried again to be diplomatic. "This is not meant to be secretive, Hun. I simply believe you would prefer to receive this news in private."
Kurai saw Saki instantly relax. Maybe he now knew that this wasn't a secret, that it was simply Kurai's way of showing respect for Hun. "Perhaps I should see to something else and…," Saki began to say in order to excuse himself, but to Kurai's shock, Hun interrupted him.
"I said that whatever Kurai wishes to say to me will be said in front of you, Master."
Saki frowned, and Kurai had to hide a smile. Hun was being rude and disrespectful to both Kurai and her father. Under normal circumstances, it would be enough to earn Hun a punishment. To his credit though, Saki glanced at Kurai. Her behavior told him that this news was unusual and he was more curious than angry.
As far as Kurai was concerned, she had given Hun his chance for a respectful private disclosure. If he was going to be a fool about it, then so be it.
"Very well," Kurai said, and made a second formal bow. "Hun, I regret to inform you that your grandmother, Margaret Riley, died yesterday."
Hun, who could take blows from the strongest of men and not move an inch, stepped back in shock. "My..." He couldn't seem to get the word out. Finally, after a moment of stammering, he said, "but I have no grandmother!"
"Your father was the wrestler, Atilla the Barbarian, from the early seventies. Is this true?" Kurai asked.
"I haven't seen my father since I was fourteen!" Hun snapped at her.
Undaunted Kurai continued. "And his only wife, presumably your mother, was Caroline Riley."
"I never had a mother!" Hun spat out.
To Kurai's surprise Saki now spoke. "And yet that is the name on your birth certificate, Hun." Was it her imagination or did her father sound curious?
Hun didn't look very comfortable with this. "With all due respect, Master, why should I care? Even if she is my grandmother, I don't know her at all."
Kurai was now getting angry. Did Hun honor no one at all? Not even the dead? "She did not wish to interfere with your life," Kurai explained, "but it was her dying request that if you were found, you were to be notified of her death, so they you may know her and receive your inheritance." Maybe the lure of wealth would at least make him appear interested.
"I don't need anything from her," Hun glowered.
"Perhaps not," Kurai said sharply. "But it would be honorable to pay your last respects to the woman whose last thoughts were obviously about the grandson she never knew!"
"Kurai is correct," Saki said. "If it truly was her last request to seek you out, then perhaps you should at least go to pay your respects. Perhaps you can learn something about her." Hun still looked very doubtful, but didn't wish to contradict Saki. Saki looked very thoughtful and then said. "I shall accompany you if you wish Hun. I would very much like to know this woman who sought you out only after her death."
Now Hun was stuck, he had to go. He bowed. "As you say Master," he said.
"My Lord," Kurai found herself saying. "I would like to go, as well, and pay my respects to Hun's grandmother."
"Very well," Saki said with a smile of approval. "We shall all go together."
As Saki and Hun left Kurai in the security room, Kurai wondered if she had just made a horrible mistake.