Family Questions
Disclaimer: I do not own the TMNT. Wendy Peabody owns Rahab, Seth, Devon, Gaele, and Rhianna. Reinbeauchaser owns Gabby, Mindy and Jordan.
Author's note after re-reading Reflected Reality that I co-wrote with Reinbeauchaser. I realized the twelve hour flight from California to Japan for Don Tello's funeral. Rama being nervous to be on the plane, having little experience with flying probably spent some of the time talking if only to distract herself. This story is a possibility of some of the conversation that may have existed.
Ramiela stared out the window at the ocean far below them, they were on Don's private jet on the way to Leo's Ryu in Japan where Don's funeral would be held. The family was still reeling from the recent news of Don's death due to a bombing of the hotel that Don had been staying at while on a business trip in Japan.
She was not comfortable with flying but thus far there had been nothing too serious with the flight but they still had some time to go. Her mind turned over her own family, how were they, what must be going on for them with her missing after accidentally finding her way into this world from her own through mental teleportation. Don Tello had found her badly injured from a recent battle with the Foot, but she was surprised on finding out that there were older members of her father and Uncles here, while there were many similarities there were differences too.
She glanced at Devon who sat beside her, the mutant Iguanid son of Raphael and Rahab of this world, had at first been her nemisis at first but now the two Ninja were quite close, at least close enough to become a couple, except for the physical sense. "Devon, have you ever spar danced?"
"Spar dance?" Devon's muzzle wrinkled a little and arched an eye ridge, "Dancing with sparring I take it? I can't say I have."
"You and I must dance!" Rama claimed gleefully, "Sparring and dancing is pretty close to begin with when you think about it. You just need a good rocking beat to match the strike of weapons and move with the music. You know," she began a familiar clap clap stomp beat "we will rock you kind of tune."
Gabby looked over with interest she loved music and singing, but not too long ago she had run away with her young daughter Mindy due to fearing Mindy being trained as a ninja. When the family had caught up to her some drunks had been ready to attack her and she had caved into the knowledge that training would be necessary for Mindy's protection.
Raph snorted, "Can't see us dancing with no partners."
Rama snickered a little, "Back home I got everyone dancing with me, though your twin, he isn't much of a dancer I have to work harder to get him to the right beat of the song, I still haven't found the perfect song to mix with his personal drummer," she admitted, with a slight eye roll. " I like pairing up with Sensei doing sword dance we have done whole katas around sword dancing. Though once he challenged me to get the Master to dance."
Leo looked over intrigued by his adopted student's words, "I can't see Splinter dancing. Not even when he was younger."
"I was about thirteen, you know teenagers and music and I love all sorts of music. Sensei told me that with all the April Fool's jokes I could pull off I should be able to get the Master to dance. I went through a lot of my stuff, searched other things but I finally found the right songs. After all rock songs were bound to hurt his sensitive ears and he all ready had arthritis so I had to keep to slower easier music, simpler moves that would be easier for him so as not to make him end up in pain from it," she shook her head. "I finally found a perfect selection of Music using a lot of Japanese songs. Turned out one of the songs I picked Splinter claimed that Hamato Yoshi used to do bo katas to for Tang Shen, so Splinter showed us some of the bo katas. I just stepped in and accompanied him."
"You and your April Fools jokes" Mike muttered recalling all to well the mayhem the girl had caused on April first. "I still can't believe Leo didn't check into things more thoroughly with you on that!"
"Hey his twin started it in my world. Course I was a child when it started and I don't think he realized what I would end up doing. Of course he added more rules as time went on to try and curtail it, a little as I got more inventive, but I have a whole year to plot a lot of my stuff, since I am only allowed two practical jokes a month other then Rama day as our clan calls it." She confessed. "I actually used some favourites on all of you for the most part."
" I hope your family gets you back by next April Fools, or trust me you won't be enjoying next Rama day so much." Leo grumbled shooting her a sour look, as he recalled some of the things the girl had done. "From your jokes on April Fools day I am sure you could be your family's secret weapon against the Foot."
"What sort of jokes have your family got you on Rama? They must have gotten you back a few times" Mike couldn't help asking.
"Oh they have got me good at times. One of the worst, or best ones depending on your view, was times Dad teamed up with Uncle Don. One time they had me convinced I had come down with a dreaded disease, and I might have to be put in the infirmary. Being five years old I hated needles and Uncle Don insisted he needed to check my blood for signs of this disease. They had me believing that I was truly seriously ill! Uncle Don had even printed out these fuzzy looking letters and asked me what they were and I couldn't tell what they were because they were blurry."
"What brought this joke on?" Mike wondered, chuckling a little, "I mean to torment a five year old with something like that something had to cause it."
"I was jealous of the newborn twins. Karena was busy with them, Sensei had his duties so dad was often helping Karena with Aiden and Kali, so I had pretended to be sick to get attention. I got the wrong type." She giggled a bit, "Uncle Don used a scientific name for a lizard for the disease I supposibly had. Gee I had no idea I would eventually have a lizard," She cut in as she gave Devon a quick kiss which he returned a twinkle in his eye.
"Only thing is Don had a leopard gecko, not an iguana, as he figured that sounded like a disease to him." Rama concluded after the short interruption.
Raph nodded as Mike snickered a bit, "That does sound like Don," he muttered a bit sadly.
"True caring for two babies at once can be a challenge but newborns shouldn't be so bad." Seth cut in.
"Another difference between our worlds, all the children in our clan have been crawling quite well by about a week to ten days old. They crawl until walking stage which comes around normal baby stage, around a year or so." Rama replied as she glanced at Seth and Gabby's newborn Jordan, who had not yet started to crawl.
Seth rolled his eyes as he considered that news, two young babies probably going different directions at once and yes, the need for help or assistance for any young mother would be necessary.
Rama gave a rueful shake of her head, then looked at Mike who was sitting by his wife Rahab "So tell me how protective are you of your children?"
Raph guffawed, "No one comes between him and his kids."
"What about Gaele, who is away from home and living on her own?" Rama countered.
"I would be there for Gaele if she needs me, but she can handle and care for herself too," Mike pointed out. "Why?"
"Well if I do manage to get back home. I just want an idea of when Dad will loosen the apron strings. Most of the arguments I have with dad is how over protective he is of me. Granted I understand all the things I went through as a child probably didn't help matters, but I am not that fragile! I keep telling him that too but so far, he still acts like a mother hen."
Mike nodded, "My children as they are grown up know they can come to me. I am here for them but I know I can't protect them. It also might be harder for your dad with the battles and things you still have to deal with."
"True. All right Raph tell me are you the sort to encourage Mindy into mischief in the future, hypothetically speaking of course?" Rama wondered.
"I am sure the kid will find enough mischief on her own considering her mother. I wouldn't put her against her parents that is for sure."
Rama considered the answer "what about advice, if she felt more comfortable talking to you say?"
"Just where are you going with this?" Seth wondered , turning to cast a baleful look at the girl. Gabby herself didn't seem too impressed from the scowl on her face.
"I agree just what are you getting at?" Raph demanded through narrowed eyes.
"Just trying to figure out how similar or different you might be from my own Uncle Raph. Most of the family says he has been a bad influence on me, but I have been a good influence on him because I calm him down, at least until Aunt Sara showed up," Rama sighed, "Sara says she has a hard time breaking Uncle Raph of the bad habits he got with me."
Rama changed her tone suddenly to one that was different, "You wouldn't tell any of our three to do that sort of thing Raph, why do you go telling Ramiela such things?!" Rama dropped the impersonation, "she is small and fiery and one of the few people that Uncle Raph actually listens to."
"In other words whipped" Raph snorted.
Rahab gave him a sharp cutting look of her own at his choice of words.
"I told him getting married would be his downfall, but he loved Sara." Rama replied, with an indifferent shrug.
"How bad of an influence could he be though?" Gaele asked.
Rama smirked and decided to keep the two types of trouble to herself for the moment. " He told me I was expected to get into trouble because I was my father's daughter for one thing."
"Like an Angelo child needs permission for that," Leo said ruefully.
"Exactly Sensei," She gave a wicked grin, " Uncle Raph taught me to chug beer – granted it was only root beer for me and he'd tease me about what awful stuff root beer was. Belch, cuss like a sailor in numerous languages, rough house, play any sport, get down and dirty and what my Uncle didn't cover Casey Jones did!" She paused, "Of course he is also the one who told me about birds and the bees. About drugs and if I ever messed with them he'd personally beat me out of my shell! Course after having Buzz I was not interested in drugs of any kind. He also helped me out with punishments like cleaning weapons or the like. Oh, and he once convinced me to call Sensei a baka. I think I was around four when he did the last one."
"Sounds like he should have been kicking your butt a little more if you ask me," Raph remarked.
"He did that once. He tells it like it is." Rama stated ruefully.
"Only once?" Raph glanced at the girl as if trying to decide if she was hiding something, "what aren't you saying?"
"Remember me talking about my friend Jessie?" She saw Leo and Raph both nod. "Uncle Raph found me topside with Jessie, probably good thing he did show up because a bunch of Foot soldiers found us too. It was the first time I learned about the Foot. Many years later Sensei told me that if Uncle Raph hadn't been there, I probably would have disappeared and knowing Yukio, he may have tried using me against my family, turn me into a Foot soldier." Rama shook her head and shuddered.
The rest of the family fell silent for a bit considering the implication of that. Raph finally grunted "He should have done way more then that from the sounds of it."
"What about the Kunoichi bit?" Gaele inquired, trying to swing things back away from such grim and dark thoughts.
"I wore a dress once, does that count?" Rama quipped, "I was a bridesmaid for Dad and Cathy when they got married so of course all the Aunts insisted on dresses. The traditional training is supposed to be done by someone I care about..."
"Not Devon!" Leonardo cut in quickly.
Rama pulled a face "You sound like my father when he says I can't have sex until I'm fourty and every time I turn around he bumps it up higher, probably because I keep getting older," she grumbled a bit.
"Some one has to sound like your dad," Leo replied knowing all to well how both Raph and Mike had acted when they both thought that Devon and Rama might have gone all the way.
Devon was eyeing her, "You in a dress..." He was trying to picture it and, what he was coming up with sure grabbed his interest.
"A once in a lifetime thing" Rama assured him with another kiss.
"What about if you get married?" Devon wondered.
"My wedding I want to wear a tux"Rama shot back a teasing grin on her face. "I know Aunt Sara says clothing can be very mysterious in a way and can drive men crazy. Maybe that is some of the traditional Kunoichi training."
"I have a feeling you could learn lots from her" Devon muttered, considering what she had told him about her Aunt and how she had paid for her nurse schooling.
"Probably could Devon," she nodded and fought to hide the rest so the other Ninja near by would not catch on. After all she had told the Leo of this world that Aunt Sara was a nurse only.
Raph held up a hand "Let's get one thing straight I would not be telling any student to call their teacher a Baka. I would Not be helping anyone do their punishments you earned it you do it. I would not be encouraging mischief from children from what I have seen most kids can get into enough trouble on their own, you included! Advice that would all depend I am sure most parents have their own ideas what they want their kids to know and when."
Rama glanced at Devon "You're right I can't see him digging a cat out of a rabbit hole."
Mike shook his head, "Did I miss something?"
"After Devon's and my first sparring match I told him how I got my pet cat Baka, Uncle Raph told me the kitty's name was baka and so that is what Baka has been called ever since."
"Nope wouldn't do it!" Raph declared simply.
"I must admit my Uncle wasn't keen on it either, and was about to put a stop to it, but I got right upset with him called him a liar because he said he'd get the kitty for me. Besides it was right after Shay had kidnapped me the first time so, I think he gave in more due to that then anything." Rama admitted.
She turned back to her seat mate "So Devon when you found out that you were Jonin did you accept it easily? Being a Raph child, though I admit Sensei back home said the Master once considered Uncle Raph for it."
"Not too much, a little maybe," Devon began hesitantly. "How about you?"
Rama glanced at the other adults and not seeing or picking things up from them shrugged. Maybe with no war going on here and Devon being older made a difference in that area.
"Why how about you, let me guess yes?" Devon hinted after she hadn't responded right away. He looked at the girl beside him.
"Yeah," Rama nodded, "I just thought of all this added responsibility of being Jonin, the fact that here we are at war and the choices I make could have very serious consequences. The lives of my family in my hands...it seemed so much. I mean it is different in battle, helping one another but making the right choices the planning and strategy it seemed just very overwhelming." Rama explained, "I fought it so much Sensei at one point told me he couldn't teach me anything else. I was devastated but in reality he couldn't because as long as I fought it, I wasn't willing to learn. So I was left feeling very much like I had betrayed the whole clan and in a sense I had, I just wasn't aware of it then. Too caught up in teenage angst."
Leo sat up and looked across at his student, "Did you not trust your training?"
"Only once I meditated, and was able to see the bigger picture. Then I realized, my sheer audacity. That I had been going against the clan and it's edicts. I was looking at the small things and not focused on what I should be. I went and made my formal apology to him and pointed out that I knew what I had done wrong, and such behaviour bringing conflict not just with me but the whole clan itself. That if they had made me what I was and am to this point, they could then make me a worthy Jonin." Rama confessed, "I then added to my crimes by then asking to be trained for Chunin."
Raph shook his head, "Wait you fought responsibility of Jonin and asked to be trained for Chunin?"
"I did," she nodded, "I felt that Don and Uncle Raph could use more time with their family and learning the Chunin role could only assist me in being Jonin, but of course I had overstepped again so the Master put me back in my place, but he did accept."
Leo gave her an intent look, he had seen her skill had been impressed by the fact that Rama was in training for Chunin, and Jonin, as well as being an instructor for some of her younger cousins. Her practical jokes had shown her skill at Ninjitsu in almost every aspect.
"Perhaps he and Master Splinter saw my asking as accepting the challenge, and they know I almost always rise to the occassion when challenged. I think it is part of the reason I was chosen for Jonin anyways, and I know it was Master Splinter who chose me for the role."
"You say part of the reason?" Leo raised an eye ridge, "you think he may have picked you for more then that?"
Rama turned to look at the older version of her Sensei and Master at home. " Sensei told me there are many things that are considered for making the choice. Master Splinter used to say two things about me frequently. One of those sayings was Ramiela knows more then she lets on, the other that I was more ninja at the age of four then his sons had been at that age."
"At four there isn't much to training" Raph commented wryly. "Heck you barely started."
"Granted, but I was immersed in Ninjitsu since the time I was born, so maybe it stood to reason. I watched my dad and uncles sparring almost every session. I saw them come home hurt and badly injured while dad made light of it, like it was no big deal so as not to scare me."
Leo shook his head, "If your Splinter was anything like ours, I have a feeling there was more to it then that."
"Possibly," Rama agreed with a nod of her head. She glanced around before continuing to ensure none of the staff from the plane were around, now knowing the rules of this clan a little further she wanted to be sure that only the family heard what she had to say, and she heightened her senses a bit more just to be aware of the plane's staff possibly interrupting for they had come through a few times ensuring that the family were being cared for on the flight.
"Perhaps if I tell you two things that happened when I was four you may understand better. My Sensei a few years back showed me something he had asked me for when I was four, he wanted to know what I knew about Respect and Honour. Dad had written everything down because according to him, I was worried I might forget some of the things that I needed to tell Sensei. Dad wrote it the way I said it and added his comments." Rama explained patiently, "I had drawn some pictures to go with it. I had talked about Ninja losing honour in the clan, and having to go look for it, or that if they were very bad they were no longer Ninja. One of my pictures was a drawing of a ninja looking for honour to bring back to the clan."
Leo glanced at her, "Ah, but didn't you say Shay had told you things like that when she kidnapped you and you were around four then?" He chuckled a little knowing how children often viewed things compared to adults. "It seems to me if she told you these things that you would then add it to the report."
Rama nodded, "True but that assignment Master Leo had put the date on, it was from before Shay was brought down to the lair for her visit, before I met her. Dad made comments like how can she know this, where did she pick this up. Oh granted there was funny things like I have to respect my elders and everyone is elder then me. Or Uncle Raph doesn't respect Sensei because he says his shell is too big. I even drew a picture of Sensei with a large shell."
Raph guffawed at that bit of info. "Now that I can relate to."
"The other incident was my sai stealing. I kept taking Uncle Raph's sais in spite of severe punishments, and Sensei blaming Uncle Raph for not being aware of a kid stealing his sais. I would not stop taking them." She gave a grim smile and again did another impersonation, "I epect the weapons. I no touch weapons less Sensei say so." she dropped the child voice "So much for the weapon rule." She gave a flick of her hand as if tossing garbage " The clan decided to figure out how I could keep doing it by testing me,using the bell test."
Devon looked at her "The bell test at four?" He knew that it was a pickpocket test bells rigged to ring when taking an object only a ninja shouldn't ring the bell.
"Yes, the bell test. I passed not a ring of course Sensei had done an easy one probably expecting me to trigger the bells then he tried a harder one, that one a couple of the bells rang on me. So, they knew how just not the why." Rama went on to further tell how after Shay's kidnapping her they had gone out to the farm and she had taken her Uncle sais again, this time hiding them declaring they were broken. How Sensei was so furious with her, but how her dad had finally snapped at him, no longer accepting the chunin's behaviour towards his daughter. "Dad was the one who got the reason from me, or at least understood what I had been trying to tell Sensei. It was all fingers." She raised her hand and wiggled her five fingers. "I didn't think I could use the sai because I had too many fingers. I stole my Uncle's sai trying to figure out where to put my extra digits. Uncle Raph laughed and told me it's us that have too few. He showed me where to place my hand to hold the sai. A year later he gave me my own sais for Christmas."
"You constantly stole a weapon from a trained ninja by stealth at the age of four?" Mike shook his head in disbelief, his mouth open a bit probing the girl trying to pick up any deceit but all he could feel was sincerity.
"It is a family legend now," she chuckled a little. "I did it on a fairly regular basis too."
Leo stared at the kunoichi considering what she had revealed to them, yes he could tell how she had been chosen to be the next leader of the clan, he had sensed her sincerity and yet those two stories of her youth had revealed so much more to him.
Granted she had not been comfortable going out among people but considering how her training to this point had been to avoid being seen by humans it was understandable. Still if they could not get her home, then she would be a member of their family and it was something she would have to adjust to, the longer she went hiding here the harder it would be to convince her she didn't need to.
Leo now had more to consider, as he settled back in his seat reflecting on the new information the girl had revealed.
