Author Notes:

Short chapters? Psh. Who said anything about short chapters? (EDIT from Future EchoKazul: I know, right?!)

Calm.

Breathing steady.

Senses trained outwards.

Listen to the river. Let the water flowing around him be his sight. If he listened carefully, it would tell him all he needed to know.

Leo exhaled slowly, closing his eyes and centering himself. Not a single muscle twitched as the flow of water enveloped and swirled around his legs as it flowed past him on its ceaseless journey. He was currently standing in a deep stream, the water up to his knees, and had been there for some time. Though his muscles were relaxed, he was as still and as unmovable as a statue, the only movement being the slight flare of his nostrils and the rise and fall of his chest in barely noticeable breathing. The cool water felt good on his scales on this rather warm day, but that wasn't the reason he was there.

One of his hands was left to dangle down to trail in the flowing water. The water current tugged lightly at him as it flowed, almost as if it were trying to pull him along, but he ignored it. What he was really interested was the slight vibrations in the water. The ripples and disturbances moved through the water like liquid sound waves, and if he 'listened' to them, each one promised Leo the location of his target.

There...

He could sense it.

The fish was within reach now...

But Leo held still. He couldn't see the fish, of course, but if he concentrated on his other senses, he realized that this wasn't the moment to strike. Not quite yet... Let it get a little closer. If it got closer, he could get it by the mouth or gill, and not the slippery body or tail.

So he needed to wait just a little longer to strike.

Hold perfectly still...

Feel the water flow...

Listen to it with all his senses...

Until...

Leo snapped into action, lightning reflexes flashing as quick as a steel trap snapping closed.

Water erupted around him as the struggle ensued, throwing up cold rain-like droplets in the air.

He felt a millisecond of fear as the fish thrashed in his grasp, its throes were strong and it was so slippery, but no, his grip was firm and solid, and the fish could not escape.

A feeling of pure euphoria flooded his chest as he clutched the large fish tightly to his chest and turned towards the shore, grinning widely.

He did it!

He was blind, but in this case, it didn't matter, because HE STILL DID IT!

"Ancient One!" he called out excitedly, sloshing through the water towards the banks while clutching his wiggling prize. "I caught a fish! I actually managed to catch a fish!"

"Oh! Good job, Kumquat!" the Ancient One congratulated him from where he was sitting on the bank, lounging against a tree. The human sounded genuinely pleased for Leo. "That will make for an excellent lunch!" He chuckled, amused. "Though, I have to admit, I personally prefer using a pole and fishing line to catch fish, instead of wrestling it to shore my bare hands." There was a swish, followed by a small 'plop' in the water as apparently he recast his line. " It's a lot more relaxing and a lot less work."

"Oh, where's the fun in that?" Leo couldn't help the grin on his face as he scrambled back onto the muddy grass of the shore, searching for the sharp knife that he knew they had brought with them in their supplies. A quick blow to stun the fish and a flick of the knife quickly stopped its struggle, and he went about the task of starting to clean the fish that he caught. He actually caught! Even though he was blind!

At first, he was hesitant as he fingered the knife, trying to figure out how to clean the fish, but he wasn't discouraged. Not this time. He may be blind, but he was starting to learn that it didn't mean that he had to be completely useless. He had caught the fish, after all! Yes, it was a little different trying to do it without sight... Okay, maybe a lot different... but he was determined to figure this out!

He reached back in his memories and recalled all the lessons Casey had taught them in those many months back at the farmhouse. Yes, that Casey Jones, teaching four turtles how to fish. Heh.

Back then, all four turtles had been rather impressed, as streetwise and urban-raised Casey seemed like the last person in the world who would be Mr Rugged Outdoorsman, but apparently his grandfather used to take him fishing as a kid, and he was surprisingly good at it.

Leo's hands slowed slightly at the memory.

Those days... how long ago they seemed now. Fishing and laughing with his family at the farm. Casey had been simultaneously trying to impress them with his knowledge and, at the same time, desperately doing his best to keep his composure and sanity intact as he tried to teach them. Leo, of course, had followed the instructions to the letter, but Donnie had been off to the side, convinced that he could improve on the fishing reel's design, while Raph had been trying and failing to manfully convince himself to actually impale the poor worm on the hook. Meanwhile, Mikey had gotten tangled up in the fishing line so thoroughly that it had taken Leo over half an hour to untangle him. By the end of the day, they had all been shoved or dunked in the creek at least once or twice, Donnie had a fishhook caught in his shell, all the bait had been mysteriously released, and none of them had actually caught a fish.

Leo's excitement from earlier dimmed as his chest ached. Oh gods, how he missed them all. Back then, even with everything that had happened, all they had lost, and the long, painful road to recovery that loomed ahead, they had still had one another. Back in that lifetime, as long as they had each other, no matter what happened, the world hadn't ever seemed too dark.

Now, all he had left was the darkness.

He hesitated for a moment, then cleared his throat and refocused his attention on the task at hand. By paying careful attention to what his hands were doing, he found he could manage the simple task of cleaning a fish. So... yay.

"With the two fish you caught already, this should be more then enough to make a meal. Should I start a fire?" he called back to the old human.

"Oh, that would be most helpful, Kumquat." the Ancient One yawned, obviously quite content and comfortable where he was. "Watch out for Pangur, he has a weakness for fish, and might try to snag a bite if you're not paying attention." He paused. "Speaking of him... Where is our little furry host anyways?"

Leo blinked, then frowned, turning around.. Come to think of it, it had been some time since he had heard anything from the cat.

"Pangur?" he called out cautiously. "Pangur Ban?"

And, far away and from a direction definitely far above him, came a distant little answering mew.

"Uhhhhh..." Leo tilted his head and 'looked' upwards.

There was another faint and forlorn mew.

Okay. Yup. The cat was definitely up overhead somewhere.

...

How?

He thought for a moment, then, setting aside the fish, he stood up and carefully made his way over towards the largest tree trunk near them. He reached out and placed a hand on it, feeling the bark under his fingers, then peered uncertainly upwards, sniffing the air. "Pangur, are you up there?"

The distant small mew sounded very, very high up above him. Hm. This must be a pretty tall tree.

"How did you get up there?" Leo asked in disbelief.

There was another sad, distant mew in response.

"He's a cat, Kumquat." the Ancient One apparently heard the conversation, and had gotten up to his feet to waddle over and investigate. "Cats climb trees. Now... the question is, can he get back down?"

The plaintive, faint mew that answered didn't inspire much confidence.

Leo sighed and lifted a hand to finger the bridge of his snout, thinking for a moment. Then he pushed away from the tree and turned back to the spot he had left the fish. "Well, if he got up there, he should be able to get back down just fine. Let's get the fish cooking, the smell of that should tempt him down."

"Hm." the Ancient One pondered this for a moment, then turned to follow Leo. "That seems like a good plan. If I remember correctly, Pangur hasn't eaten since this morning, so he's probably pretty hungry up there."

Leo listened to the miserable little faraway mews up there and swallowed hard. He exhaled, and shook his head, trying not to think of just how hungry and scared the little cat must be. Pangur Ban was a cat, after all, and cats climbed trees all the time. There was obviously nothing to worry about. In all his years of hiding in trees himself back in New York, he had never actually found a cat skeleton up in any branches, so obviously they must eventually all get down somehow.

... Right?

He slowly began to gather up the firewood they had brought with them.

From far up above came another little distant mew, and Leo felt his chest tighten a little.

It didn't take Leo and the Ancient One long to get a small cooking fire going, and soon the smell of cooking fish wafted through the air.

Pangur obviously knew that they were aware he was up there, as the far-away complaints continued on, calling down to them in regular intervals.

The evening dragged on. The fish finished cooking, and quietly, they ate their meal underneath the tree.

Pangur didn't come down.

Leo even broke off a big piece of fish and, standing on his tiptoes, placed it on a low branch, spending some time calling up to Pangur to try and encourage him to climb down.

But it did no good. No matter how he called or pleaded, Pangur's distant mews didn't move from their distant perch.

Hours later, Leo sat at the base of the tree, his shoulder's hunched as he listened to the cat's cries. If he still had his sight, he would've been up that tree and back easily a long time ago, but now that he was blind...

He was useless. There was nothing he could do...

Catching a fish was one thing. But this... Climbing a tree that high while blind... He'd fall for sure.

No... He... He just needed to have faith in Pangur... trust the cat to figure out his own way down.

But finally, with the cooling breeze around them warning that nightfall wasn't too distant, Leo couldn't take it anymore. He uncurled from where he was sitting at the base of tree, stood up and grabbed his walking stick, stalking off with an angry growl.

"Kumquat?" the Ancient One had been sitting under the tree as well, carving away at a stick or something, and he sounded rather startled by Leo's abrupt reaction. Apparently he wasn't expecting Leo to leave.

Leo ignored him as he stalked off, inwardly berating himself for the stupid thing he was about to do even as he felt his way down the path. He made his way back to the house, shoved open the door, and strode across the ancient smooth stone floor, grabbing a woven grass basket filled with kumquat fruits and emptying it out on the table, then going over to a cupboard where he knew a long length of rope was stored. He found it, ran his hand over it, and judged it to be strong enough and of adequate length. Throwing the rope over one shoulder and grabbing the basket, he took up his stick once more, and exited the house, once more making his way back up the path towards the tall tree and the rather forlorn crying cat.

"Oh, you came back." the Ancient One sounded curious now. "Just what are you planning, Kumquat."

Leo was already busy threading one end of the rope through the handles of the basket, trying it off and carefully testing the sturdiness of the setup. "Listen, Pangur's clearly stuck up there, but I'm blind. Therefore, I'm most definitely going to be falling out of that tree at some point while trying to rescue him, most likely while descending." He coiled the rope up and tucked it over his shoulder to free both his arms, and strode over to place a hand on the tree trunk, exhaling uncertainly as he glanced upwards. "So here's the plan. When I reach Pangur, I'll put him in this basket and lower him down to safety first, so that at least when I fall, he won't get hurt."

"Hm. Okay." The Ancient One strode over to stand next to him, apparently stroking his long thin beard thoughtfully, then turned towards Leo and suggested, "You know, Kumquat, you could always try not falling."

Leo gave a humorless laugh, then shook his head as he jumped up to grab at the lowest branches. "Yeah, I wish." he grunted as he pulled himself up.

There had been a point in his life when Leo would throw himself off of the edge of skyscrapers with as little fear as if he had been born with wings, trusting completely in his training and his brothers to keep himself from plummeting to the cement far below.

Now he crept along at a snails pace, groping blindly through the air and searching with his outstretched fingers for another branch to grasp, too afraid to reach out too far, in case he lost his balance, and desperately trying not to think of how far the ground he couldn't see was below him.

Trying to keep himself calm and centered, Leo very slowly and carefully inched his way up, climbing through the thick branches of the tree. His heart was pounding in his chest, and he was pretty sure that if he let even the slightest mental control slip, then his arms and legs would start shaking and trembling. He was blind, and couldn't see where he was going! This was so dangerous and idiotic and he very well might kill himself here... but he could still hear Pangur crying, and that's all that mattered.

It was slow going. Since he couldn't see the branches, he had to feel and pull at each one, praying silently as he gingerly pulled himself upwards that it was strong enough to support his weight. All the while, he was encouraged and guided by Pangur's little mews and cries, growing steadily closer and louder.

That was his goal. That was all he needed to focus on. He had to make sure Pangur was safe.

And he was concentrating so hard on that goal, on just climbing upwards, on finding the next branch hidden in the dark fog, that he was almost startled by sound of claws scrabbling against rough bark, and then a small, warm, furry head bumping against his snout in a purr-filled greeting.

"Pangur!" he gasped, feeling intense relief flow through him. He hoisted himself up and swung his legs around so he was firmly sitting on a thick branch, and reached up and plucked the small cat up, running his hands over the purring cat, feeling his ribs and legs and reassuring himself that his small furry friend was uninjured.

He did it... he found Pangur...

Now for the truly tricky part.

He exhaled, held the purring ball of fur up to his face, and nuzzled him. "Don't worry, Pangur. You're safe now. I bet you're starving! Well, don't worry, we saved some fish for you. Its from the fish I caught myself!" As he spoke, he reached over and pulled off the rope and basket. "Now, let's get you back down to the Ancient One."

He carefully set Pangur inside the basket. Pangur meowed at him, and he gave him a small, reassuring pet, before making sure he was secured safely in there. Then he leaned over to call out, "I have him. Are you ready down there?"

"Ready and waiting, Kumquat!" came the faint answer.

Leo swallowed hard and his muscles tensed up as he clutched to his branch just a little tighter. Whoo boy. The Ancient One's voice sounded alarmingly distant. He must be really high up! But... the rope should be long enough... It was a really long rope, after all. And getting Pangur down safely was all that mattered right now.

"Alright, Pangur. Stay in there." Leo instructed him, and then, exhaling shakily, held the rope tightly, and began slowly lowering the basket down through the branches. There were a few tense moments when the rope would momentarily snag on something, probably branches, but fortunately it didn't get stuck, and eventually Leo heard the Ancient One say, "Oh, there you are!" as there was a tug on the rope. Then he called up, "Okay, Kumquat! I have Pangur now! He made it down safe and sound!"

Leo sighed in relief. He had getting pretty close to the end of the rope, and was getting a little nervous. That being said... He gathered up a handful of the rope and ran it through his fingers, frowning. It was a handmade rope, made out of local plant fibers. While more then adequate to hold the weight of a seven pound cat, there was no way that it would hold the bulk of somebody of his weight and size. He wouldn't be able to use it himself to get down.

Nope. He was going to have to climb down they way he had come up, the good old fashioned way.

While blind.

... Just how high up was he again?

Swallowing hard, Leo slowly began to inch back down the branch. Then, gathering up his courage, he began reaching tentatively out with one foot in hopes of finding the branch below he had used to get up there. Oh gods, he could already tell that this was going to be so much harder and terrifying then going up!

He yelped as he overreached and almost lost his balance, teetering on the edge of falling. He had to flail and scramble to regain his footing, crawling quickly back up onto his first branch, and, his heart racing from the close call, instead clung tightly to the branch with all four limbs, too terrified to move.

Maybe... maybe he could just live up here from now on. That could be a thing. He had the rope, so he could just use that to have the Ancient One send him up food and water a couple times a day, and this could be his new home. For the rest of forever. Yup. That sounded good!

He sighed and pressed his face against the bark of the branch with an air of resignation.

"Uh... Ancient One?" he called down, clinging tightly to the branch underneath him.

"Yes Kumquat?" came the inquiring answer.

"Ummm... You... You might want to back away from the tree. Like I said, I'm probably going to fall, and I don't want to accidentally land on you or Pangur."

"Oh. Okay." There was a pause, and then after a moment, the Ancient One spoke again, though this time his voice came from a little further distance away. "So... Kumquat? I just thought that you should know, there's also a very good chance that you won't fall. Did you ever think of that?"

"Are you kidding?!" Leo almost laughed in a kind of panicked desperation. "I'm blind, and stuck roughly fifty feet up in a tree. There's only two ways for me to get down. Slowly climbing down by groping around for branches that I can't see, or the direct route courtesy of gravity. And, I'll be honest, I'm kind of betting on gravity winning out."

Leo could hear the Ancient One's derisive snort all the way up where he was. "Oh, come on, Kumquat. Give yourself a little more credit then that! Honestly, you're better equipped to handle situations like this then most humans!"

"How so, exactly?" Leo wondered just what this human was talking about

"You're a turtle!" the old human called up as if that wasn't obvious.

Leo blinked, then protested in disbelief, "Just what does that have to do with anything?!" He shifted on the branch, still clinging tightly to it as he delicately sat up. "How many turtles have you ever found in a tree?!" Unless he meant that having a shell would help protect him as he plinko'd his way down from branch to branch as he fell. Because, yeah, that was the only thing Leo could think he had going for him at the moment.

"You have a form of tremorsense, don't you?" the Ancient One called up questioningly.

Leo paused and blinked.

"Calm down, and listen to what the world can tell you." the old human's voice was surprisingly patient. "Feel the wind through the tree's branches below you, let the movement tell you where you are and what's around you. Remember, Kumquat, use all your senses! Listen to them. Listen to yourself."

Leo swallowed hard, then exhaled, and shakily unwound himself from the branch. He gingerly reached down with a foot again and searching for a foothold in the darkness.

"Come on, Kumquat, you can do it!"

Leo wished he felt as confident as the Ancient One sounded. He was so high up, and not being able to see just how high somehow made it worse. He couldn't even see how far he was going to fall!

His foot brushed against bark, and he prodded at it, eventually concluding that it was a solid branch that could possibly hold him. Keeping his body close to the trunk of the tree, he slowly slipped off his branch, and, with a exhale of relief, settled on the branch.

One branch down, only like a hundred left to go.

And, to give himself credit, he managed to make it almost two thirds of the way down.

Slowly, painfully, Leo had picked his way back through the dark fog down the tree, slipping cautiously from branch to branch as he very carefully felt his way. His muscles were starting to protest from being tense for so long, and his the pads of his finger were sore from rubbing against the rough bark. He was starting to feel hopeful that he might actually make it.

Then he almost slipped, and the panic started to rise up again as he clung to the tree trunk

He was going to fall. Oh gods, he most definitely going to fall! He was so high up, and there was no way he wasn't going to fall!

He started to move just a little bit faster, desperate to get back down to solid earth before he fell. He lowered himself towards the next branch, easing his weight onto the branch and silently pleading that it would be strong enough.

Hm, this branch seemed fine so far, so he released his hold on the branch above, preparing to start the process over again to reach the next branch below him. He just wanted to be back down on the sturdy ground already, where he couldn't fall! But just as he relaxed and let his full weight settle on his new perch, it shifted slightly with a creak.

Leo froze in alarm.

Then there was a crack, and he desperately leapt up, trying to scramble back up to the branch above. But he misjudged horribly in his blind panic, and in the next instant, the world became a dizzying, bewildering, and extremely terrifying sequence of flailing and painful crashes and falling and oh dear gods he was going to DIE!

And that was when Leo discovered the hard way that there was a rather large thorn bush situated at the base of the tree.

Which... true... The mass of thorny branches did cushion his fall a little as he crashed into them.

But ow.

Ow...

Owwwwwww...

With a groan, he rolled out of the leafy brush, small sticks and branches crunching underneath him, to plop out onto the grass. He lay there in the dirt, breathing heavily. Urgh... time to do a mental check. Hm. Toes and fingers still responded, that's good. Shell seemed to be in one piece. Every part of him was silently screaming in pain, but honestly, nothing seemed broken.

But... yaaaaay... he wasn't dead.

He thought, anyways. Maybe? Everything hurt too much for him to be dead.

A small, furry head bumped up and rubbed against his snout, intense rumbles rolling through the air.

With a small, resigned sigh, he reached up and gently pet Pangur's head.

"Hm." the Ancient One knelt down next to him. "Well, good job, Kumquat. You managed to both rescue Pangur, and fall out of the tree. You accomplished all the goals you set out for yourself." He patted Leo on the shell, and added, "Though, personally, I think next time I would instead make the goal to be to not fall. Just something you might take into consideration."

Laying on the ground, Leo only covered his face and groaned.

It was an hour later, and Leo was laying on the warm, smooth stones of the cabin's floor, wincing as the Ancient One concentrated on working out a particularly large and sharp thorn out of his left shoulder. Thankfully, there weren't too many serious injuries on his actual limbs and fleshy parts. Another checkmark in the case for loving being a turtle, because most of the thorns and splinters seemed to be embedded in his shell, leaving his arms and legs mostly just scratched up and bruised. Very, very bruised. Oof, he definitely was going to feel this one for a few days.

Pangur had pressed a small paw firmly on Leo's snout in an attempt to keep his large and stubborn turtle friend from moving, and was in the middle of vehemently bathing Leo's nose, his tiny rough tongue rasping across the smooth scales.

"Alright, I think that's all the thorns in this arm." Leo felt the Ancient One shift, reaching over to grab something nearby. "This might sting a bit, Kumquat." the old man warned him.

Leo braced himself, and hissed as the human pour some liquid over his arm.

"It might sting now, but it cleans the scratches out and helps promote healing." the Ancient One informed him conversationally, now starting to wrap bandages around the arm. "Let me get this wrapped up, and then we'll work on your other arm."

"Right. Awesome." Leo muttered, and winced at a particularly painful pull. He decided maybe some conversation might help take his mind off all his aches and pains. "So...I need a distraction. Do you mind if I ask you some questions?"

"Go ahead and ask away, Kumquat." the Ancient One said almost cheerfully.

"Alright." Leo exhaled, trying to ignore the pain. "I never really asked you... How did you come to be here, ojisan? An island with a bird sanctuary seems like a strange choice for retirement. And, for that matter, where did this cabin come from? Obviously it's been here for a long time, and it seems more like a temple then an island hut."

The Ancient One chuckled, still wrapping up Leo's arm. "Well, Kumquat, I'm actually a fairly new arrival on the island myself. I arrived just shortly before you did." He finished up the end and paused, then there was a snip of scissors as he cut the cloth strip. He began to tie off the end securely. "And you're probably not going to believe me when I tell you why I came here."

Leo's snout wrinkled as Pangur's tiny but rough tongue got a little too aggressive. "I'm a mutated turtle who's seen a lot of unbelievable things in my life. Try me."

The old man set Leo's left arm down, and waddled around him to start examining his right arm. "Well, Kumquat, don't say I didn't warn you." He immediately found a large splinter, and began working it out. "I'm actually here at your father's request, as a personal favor to him."

"What?" Leo hadn't been expecting that answer, and started to turn his head towards the Ancient One, but Pangur's small paw pushed down on his snout stubbornly, and Leo obediently relaxed once more, allowing the cat to continue the bathing of his snout.

"Yup." the Ancient One didn't sound in the least bit perturbed as he worked. "Your father used to be a student of mine, you see. Many, many years ago when he was just a child himself. He had realized that you were going to need some serious help for a while, and asked if I'd be willing to come over and look after you for a bit."

Leo gave a quiet snort. Okay, just what was this eccentric human angling for here? If he didn't want to talk about his past, he could have just said so. Obviously he now was making up a story to try and help distract Leo from the thorn extractions, but still... going with such an obvious lie? But, eh, Leo decided to play along. The slightly crazy old man didn't know that Leo's father had been murdered by the Shredder over seven years ago, and was only trying to help. "Ah. Then you're here because my father asked you?"

"Indeed." The Ancient One managed to get the splinter out, and twisted Leo's arm around, looking for more. He found a small thorn, and had it flicked out almost before Leo could react. "As to the house, like I mentioned earlier, this is Pangur's island, and he graciously agreed to host in his home for as long as we needed. This is actually his home we're staying in."

"Hm." Leo started to move to respond, but the slightest extension of claws against his nose warned him against movements like that. To cats, bathing was apparently serious business. He continued with his agreeable charade. "Well then, I'm just glad that apparently you all seemed to have the foresight to know exactly what random island in the middle of the ocean fate decided to wash me up on."

The Ancient One laughed, though it seemed to be more of a warm, friendly laugh then an eccentrically amused one. He shook his head and went back to examining Leo's arm. "Yes. This exact small, deserted island, where you found shelter, food, water, a place to slowly heal and learn alongside a mentor, who, I should mention, is also blind? Indeed, Kumquat, those are quite the little circumstances for fate to put before you." He gently put Leo's arm down. "Why, it's almost as if somebody's spirit is watching out for you, silently guiding you from afar." His voice almost grew a little sly. "Isn't it?"

At that, Leo went still where he lay, his breath catching ever so slightly as his blind eyes widened.

The Ancient One continued on almost casually. "And I have to admit, it's been quite an amusing adventure so far, Leonardo. Eldest son of my former and beloved student... Hamato Yoshi."

Author Notes:

Trust me, there's much more going on then Splinter just playing spiritual chessmaster. Things will be explained much more satisfactorily in the next two chapters.

Also, I have this little headcanon that Casey has some Canadian relatives on his mother's side that he was close to as a kid, thus explaining his obsession with hockey. It's something that might make its way into my stories at a few more points.