I went to the room the turtles called a 'dojo' to see what was stored inside. Japanese culture, from what I knew, had a room called a dojo that was a training room. I was hoping that it would give me insight into what kind of weapons these mutants used so I was better off in case I ever had to fight them. I'd yet to see any other weapons besides the ones on their backs, but I was under no expectation that was all they used.
Upon entering the dojo I noticed that there were a lot more weapons than the ones they kept, and most of them I didn't even know existed. I would have investigated the new weapons but there was a turtle already here. He was fighting alone, and his movements weren't exactly unmeasured. He looked like he was going through something he had done on repeat, and he didn't have any other care in the world as he swung his weapons in an almost liquid fashion. I didn't have to be even slightly knowledgeable to know that he was far more skilled than he should have been, and he used his katanas as if they were his own arms.
I lifted my arm for the door, preparing to knock so Leo didn't lash out at me. He probably still would, but at least I tried.
"I know you're there," He murmured. He stopped abruptly and turned to face me. His eyes were closed, which made me even more nervous. Had his eyes been closed the whole time? "I assume you came here for a reason and not to watch me as I did my kata."
I made a face at his words, and slid sideways along the wall, wanting to keep as far away from Leo as I physically could. As soon as I got to the weapons I could defend myself. Leo's head followed me, and I watched him as he eerily seemed to know where I was. Was I that loud? I prided myself on being exceptionally quiet, but if Leo could hear me when I was trying to be quiet, then either he had freaky hearing or I wasn't as quiet as I thought I was.
"I came to look at the weapons." I murmured, sliding onto the next wall. Why did the weapons have to be on the other side of the room? Why not close to the door? I felt like Leo was about to lash out at me with his very sharp looking katanas.
Leo quirked his mouth in a slightly amused manner, and I paused. I never amused Leo, even when I tried. Not that I did that often in the last week I'd been here, but still, it was enough to know he almost never looked at me with anything less than distrust. So what in the...
"Choosing a weapon to use to kill us in our sleep?" He asked. I halted in moving and felt a flare of anger.
"I would never-" I started.
"Oh please. We don't know you, you don't know us. You're technically here against your will, and your word is as good as a liar's as far as I'm aware." He bit back instantly.
Leo opened his eyes to stare at me as I inched closer to the weapons. I stopped instantly because Leo's eyes were like a hawk. Sharp, mean, and unforgiving. He turned his body towards me and I think he flexed his weapons on purpose.
"I would never kill a host in their house. Besides, as far as I know, you guys are innocent. For all I could know, you bring teenage girls home often, put them in a safe zone, and then trade her in circles like rabid animals in heat." I snapped back. His jaw tightened and his muscles clenched at me implying he would rape someone. I realized, too late I should add because I'd already said it, that I might have crossed a line.
"You know nothing about my family," Leo growled, taking several steps closer to me. I raised a hand out to make him stop, though why he'd listen is beyond me. He did stop, but only after he made it halfway to me.
"Exactly," I said right back. Leo's brow pinched forward into confusion. I continued, "You know nothing about me. So stop judging me after some TV News."
"I'm not judging you after some News Channel. To them, you're a hero! A hero!" Leo told me. He sounded like he couldn't believe it, and the worst part was, I could agree with him on it.
He pointed the end of his katana at me and I backed further into the wall. The blade was suddenly much closer to me, and the distance didn't feel far enough.
" You put people on the streets, you put animals in a pound, you put businesses out of order, and you're praised as a hero. I'm not judging you, Liza, I don't have too. I despise you." He spat.
I looked away from his weapons to look at his brown eyes that were shining. I took a deep breath to try and keep my anger in check, because a fight with my 'host' was the last thing I wanted, even if I did want to fight. I could save the want for tonight, when I was less likely to be flattened on my back the second I took a step.
"I feel the same way," I answered, honest.
Leo's nose flared and he took the last few steps towards me. He bought the blade up and against my neck, pinning me to the wall. I pressed backward, but I couldn't move any further back. Leo boxed my arms in by pressing his elbows into the wall behind me, and he held the blade steadily against my neck. I could feel the sting as the metal dug in a little, and I stopped breathing as Leo's face got close to mine. I could see every scale in his face, and I could see the sharp lines in his eyes that looked as poised as his sword.
"You talk highly for a murderer." He murmured.
"You misunderstood me," I whispered, worried that if I talked too loud his sword would do its job. Leo looked at me in a confused manner yet again, and he pulled away a little. "I was agreeing with you, not saying I despised you."
Leo took a full step away from me and let his arms rest at his sides. I relaxed as soon as the metal disappeared and took a deep breath while rubbing my neck. I looked up at Leo, and noticed he was still very confused.
"I also despise me," I clarified.
"Not the time to be pulling the Cheesy Movie Card. I'm being serious." Leo said.
"Oh, and because you said it first means this whole thing is different? If I had said at a dinner table while you lit a romantic candle, would it have been different? Or how about in the middle of the ocean in shark-infested waters? It means the same damn thing. I also dislike myself. Everyone I cared for has left one way or another, either by my decision or inability to have one. I'm scarred, I get angry easily, I never learned algebra, never even got into high school. I've got a fortune on my head but no money to my name. I'm a murderer. I'm fucking agreeing with you, and you're looking at me like I'm daft." I retorted blithely. Leo looked like I had just told him he was actually a raccoon. He looked perplexed and about ready to drop to the floor with how confused he was. I took advantage of his dumbfoundment and walked all the way to the weapon rack. Finally, closer to safety rather than closer to death.
"That doesn't go to say I don't like you either. In fact, the feeling is mutual." I muttered, picking up one of the more confusing weapons. "What is this?"
Leo hesitated for a moment, and actually rocked on his heels while he thought. He must have mentally decided to do something because he put his katanas away and walked towards me slowly. When he was within touching distance he stopped and reached out for the weapon. I let go of it, letting Leo take the thing completely.
"Bakuhatsu Gama. A Sickle," He lifted the ax up and continued talking, "Attached to a chain." He handed the chain side back to me, but tilted the sickle upside down.
"It usually has poison pouches in it, which you can release and throw." Leo pointed at where the poison pouches were, and I look down to see them. He opened a little compartment at the bottom of it, and I peered into the hollow hole. Leo shuffled away as I leaned closer towards him, like he was awkward with me there. I didn't blame him, I was awkward with me there. "But we don't use poison pouches. It's a cheap escape."
"Thanks," I said awkwardly, leaning as far away from Leo as I could without letting go of the chain. Leo did the good thing and handed the sickle back to me. I turned towards the weapon rack and away from Leo. "Go back to your thingy. I'll just look at these and try not to kill myself."
"Don't try too hard," Leo muttered as he took three large steps away from me.
"Is Mikey always so... exuberant?" I asked Donnie around a bite of a turkey sandwich. He looked up from the table where he was sipping on some coffee and reading a book across from me, completely unperturbed by my presence. The domestic sight was a strange one even after spending almost three weeks in this even stranger home. Something about giant turtle and normal life.
"Depends. What did he do?" Don asked.
"Skateboarding," I answered.
"He's usually more outta control," Raph grumbled as he came into the kitchen. He sounded tired, which wasn't too big of a surprise. Being Nightwatcher and all, he had to sleep during the day. Speaking of night time, I looked over at the clock in the kitchen, checking the time. Oh my, it was nine-thirty. I should probably get dressed for my 'Job' soon.
"Well, it's about time you got up." Donnie murmured, abruptly standing and walking towards the door. Raph grumbled something unintelligible in reply. "Remember what Master Splinter said-"
"Yeah yeah, Donnie. Go to ya room, I got it." Raph answered with a wave. He rubbed his eyes with the heels of his palms. "I have watch."
"I'm sorry, watch?" I asked as Donnie left. "Who are you watching?"
Raph looked over at me, and I noticed he didn't wear his mask. His eyes were bright tonight, and without his bandana, they were a very violent contrast to his skin. He did a very long and deliberate blink, and then he frowned.
"Master Splinta asked us ta watch ya." He answered. I raised an eyebrow.
"Why?" I asked. I curled my fingers tighter around the turkey sandwich I had and watched Raph as he followed the sandwich with an intense stare. He looked away before I bit it, and went deeper into the kitchen.
"There's been a spike in The Foot's activities. Master Splinta thinks it has somethin' ta do with ya." He answered. I stopped chewing at the name he gave me. The Foot.
"Me? Why?" I asked. Raph grabbed some Lucky charms and pulled a bowl from the dishwasher.
"He thinks it's because yer a criminal. Shredder feeds off the people who can't go to the police. And yer also good at killin', so Shredder knows ya would be a great ally. He's tryin' ta recruit you." He answered. He glanced at me for a split second, then looked back at his cereal with a smile. "Or tryin' ta kill ya."
"He's not trying hard if that's the case, I didn't know I was being hunted," I muttered. Raph shrugged while he brought his bowl of cereal over. He took Donnie's seat, and the domestic sight was restarted.
He grumbled something unintelligible once more as he took a spoon full of food and shoved it into his mouth. That ended the conversation for a while. I finished the last few bites of my sandwich while Raph downed his cereal. If I'm watched, then I'm probably not killing tonight. Best enjoy some more sleep.
"How old are you?" I asked, curious to know. Raph shrugged in a way that said 'I'm not telling', and smiled humoredly when I glared.
"Same age as you." He answered. Then, as a tit for tat, "When's your birthday?"
"May 19th," I grumbled, more forward than he. Anything I didn't say Don could look up with ease, which was not a luxury I had in return. Raph choked on his milk.
"That's a few weeks away." He coughed.
"Yeah, I know," I said blandly, eyeing his coughing form in the event he needed the Heimlich. How does one give Heimlich to a turtle?
"Yer older than me." He coughed out, like that was the takeaway here.
"And?" I asked, preparing to get up and pat his back if he continued coughing. He cleared his throat loudly before coughing a little more, and I scraped the chair back. He waved me off as I stood but I continued to move as he began to rub the liquid that collected in his eyes. When I got behind him, I remembered the shell was a bigger problem than the turtle. How does one pat a back through bone?
"I'm good Liza, ya can sit." He squeezed out. I tilted my head at his shell, a bubbling interest rising in me. His shell was course and rocky, which after nearly three weeks, you'd think I'd notice, but I didn't. How many times have I been shouldered to the ground and not notice his back scraping against my arms?
"Why does me being older bother you?" I asked to keep the conversation going. Raph looked over his shoulder at me before answering. He pinpointed where I was staring, and then he rubbed his hand on his shell self-consciously. He harrumphed and turned in his chair to look up at me, pointing his back away from me.
"It doesn', it was jus' surprisin'. I thought you were the younger out of us." He answered. Which, if I thought about it, was fair. I said I was sixteen, I never said I was aging up soon.
"Are you guys quadruplets?" I asked next, shifting the topic back on him. Donnie said they weren't, but maybe Raph thought otherwise.
"Nah, we have different birthdays. Leo's older than me by three months. I'm two months younger than ya, Donnie is a week younger than me, and Mikey was born in September." He answered while shaking his head. I raised an eyebrow at him.
"You don't know how you guys relate to each other, but you know your birthday?" I asked incredulously. Raph hummed as he looked at his empty bowl. He suddenly stood up, which made me move back a step so we didn't crowd each other. He still rocked on his heels at our proximity before he grabbed his bowl, but he didn't move away.
"No. We've always had the general idea on who was older, so we jus' pointed at a date on a calendar and said that's my birthday. And they stuck. As long as Leo was ahead of me and Don and Mikey were behind, I was fine." He explained simply.
I felt an odd sensation. I wasn't close to Raph often, save for fighting, and I couldn't recall a time I was close while he was maskless. Now that he was, and now that I was close, I could see the tiny scales acting as freckles along where his nose should be. And there were tiger stripes in his eyes: really thin, brown, tiger stripes. And he had really thin scars on his face, neck, and arms that I'd never seen before either. They should have healed completely, but the material of his skin held the scars. I couldn't count the crisscrossing, paper-thin lines on his arms, or the very thin scars on his chest plate that looked like his plastron had been cracked several times.
"Huh," I hummed as I looked at the fusion of skin to plastron. It looked flexible, and I was reminded that turtles, real turtles, could pull their arms, legs, and their head into their shell. Can Raph do that? He looked a bit big for the plastron, but he probably could pull his head in if he really tried.
"Liza?" Raph asked. I looked back up at Raph's face. He looked closer, but I hadn't seen him move. No, he hadn't moved, I did. I twitched my hands to make sure they were still by my side and not lurking closer to the fascinating body of this half turtle. I moved my toes and figured out I had moved one foot in front of the other. I'd moved closer, but Raph didn't seem to care. Now that I knew what I happened, I did care. I took a large step back.
"Sorry, your skin is-" I stopped to find a word that didn't sound weird. "You don't meet a lot of people like you, I'm interested in how-" Nope, that's still weird.
"I'm curious about how your body works," I explained, just to get it over with. I jumped on the balls of my feet and pivoted to leave with my declaration, and at Raph's surprised look I bolted. I left the kitchen and Raph to his own devices.
A/n: Thank you for reading this. I know this story is old and I have more projects going, but I still read and love comments and favorites. If you want to do any of those, I will be forever happy.