Author Notes:

I was asked if Leo walked normally while with Mikey. Yup, almost his entire time in the apartment, he was curious enough to walk around normally. Also, while watching the movie, I like to imagine that, instead of crouching like he has been doing, he was sitting there cross legged with that stupidly happy grin on face like in the 2k12 show. Also, no, he doesn't have any of his gear on. It was mentioned early on that his swords were taken, most likely by the bounty hunters, and the subject of his mask is actually going to be touched on a little in this chapter.

Also, I'm so glad that people are noticing that I'm basing Leo's reactions on actual animal behavior. I was indeed going off of chimp behavior last chapter. We'll have to see how much longer he'll be able to pull this act off. He's gone from silently staring from hiding places to actually interacting with the brothers. Whether he wants to admit it or not, he's growing fond of the brothers.

I just need to figure out how to fill conversation scenes with something other then food. Heads up, this chapter isn't going to do that goal any favors.

Chapter 13: The Memories of Family

As he had promised, Mikey spent the night in the sanctuary with me, happily setting up camp so he could sleep next to my tiki hut. The boot print had left me nervous, and I was highly tempted to try to sneak off and try to scout out a bit more when Mikey was sleeping, but a part of me balked at the idea of leaving him here unprotected. Mikey, for all his carefree cheerfulness, seemed to be as concerned as I was under all his jokes, and constantly kept his nunchucks at hand. That had caught my attention. Though I had known that the brothers were trained ninjas, I hadn't seen them actually carry their weapons of choice around, and I had always been fascinated by anything that had to do with ninjitsu.

Mikey had apparently noticed my curiosity, and gladly showed me some of his moves and techniques, twisting and manipulating his nunchucks as if they were extensions of his very being. He was as agile as a monkey, and just as unconventional, his quick and fluid movements more like a playful game then a serious martial technique. Still, as I watched him, I realized that he could probably be extremely competent and dangerous when he put his mind to it. I could see a few places where he could improve his footwork or followups, and it took all of my willpower not to bring them up, to teach and to learn from these fascinating and endearing humans.

Maybe it was a good thing that my time here was growing short. I didn't know how much longer I could keep up this act.

As far as we could tell, though, nothing more happened. The night went by, and we remained uninterrupted. Stockman never showed up, nobody tried to sneak in, and Bradford didn't even call Mikey once, not after that previous morning fracas.

Somehow, the silence didn't reassure me.

It was later the next day, and Mikey's phone had been constantly buzzing with updates from his brothers on their status of return. It seemed like the trip was a little more complicated then just driving back to the Hamato complex, and things seemed to take a painfully long time.

Finally, though,the entrance door whooshed open, and in strode Raphael, his face weary with all the traveling, but still lighting up with relief when he saw us. Instead of his normal casual clothing, the human teenager had a red bandana tied around his forehead, holding back his short black and red hair, and was wearing a well fitted black and red shinobi shozoku, traditional ninja garb, which was obviously armored in places. I noticed three strips of colored cloth tied around his right upper arm, sea green, burgundy, and blue, as well as a pair of well used and obviously well cared for sai in his belt.

"Raph!" Mikey launched forward to throw his arms joyfully around his brother, wiggling as eager as a puppy. "You're back! How's Dad? Is Donnie with him? Did the trip go okay? Did you bring me back anything?"

Raph merely grunted, returning the hug tightly for a moment, before finally peeling his younger brother off and holding him back for a second as he rummaged around on his belt for a second, answering Mikey's string on questions in short order. "Dad's fine, Donnie's bringing him in now, the flight went without a hitch, and here." He untied two small bags off his belt, bringing them around to hand one to Mikey, then, to my surprise, turning to toss one to me.

I reached up and caught it in one hand before it could hit the ground, and glanced at the colorful paper bag covered in happy cats with various kanji written above them curiously. He had gotten me a present as well?

Mikey had already opened his bag up and peeked in, perking up. "Taiyaki! Awesome!"

Taiyaki? I opened my own bag, reached in, and pulled out what looked like a fish-shaped waffle. I sniffed it, and tilted my head curiously.

Wait, that's right, the Hamato clan was originally from Japan. Master Splinter had lived there with the Hamatos when he was a young rat, before they had moved to America after Tang Shen's death, and I always loved to hear him talk about the culture over there, trying to emulate it as much as I could. I wondered how much time the brothers had spent living over there. Did they consider Japan to be home? I had lived in New York my entire life, but the Hamato brothers had probably been all over the world. It made me wonder, had they come to New York just to find me?

"Try them, Leo! They're really good!" Mikey encouraged me, pulling out one of his own fish shaped waffles and taking a big bite to show me.

I looked at him, then down at the fish-shaped cake I was holding, before tentatively taking a bite. It seemed to be filled with some sort of sweet red bean paste, and was actually quite tasty!

I looked over at Raph, smiled, and gave him a pleased chirping growl to show him my thanks, before I sat down in the grass, crossing my legs and happily munching on the new treats.

"Daw, Waffie! You did a good." Mikey nudged him teasingly, sticking one of his own cakes in his mouth.

The muscular human almost looked shy, watching me out of the corner of his eye as he crossed his arms, a small grin on his face. He was obviously thrilled that I liked his gift. Shaking his head, Raph snorted and gave Mikey a halfhearted shove. "What did I tell you about calling me that? Anyways, I'm going to hang out with Leo for a bit, so go say hi to Dad and help out Donnie a bit."

"'an 'oo." Mikey saluted with a fish cake in mouth, waved at me with a broad grin that wrinkled his freckled nose, then he bounded off.

Raph watched him go with a fond shake of his head. Then he cleared his throat and glanced at me. "Uh... so... glad you like the Taiyaki, Leo." He paused for a second, then carefully walked over, apparently trying to judge by my reactions what an acceptable distance to sit at was.

I watched him. It was almost sort of adorable, the brusk and normally aloof Hamato obviously wanted to be near me, but at the same time he didn't want to spook me by getting closer then I was comfortable with.

He finally settled down gingerly in the grass a only few feet from me on my left, watching my reaction closely.

I watched him sit down while chewing on my fishcakes, and when I didn't show any signs of discomfort, he relaxed, drawing a knee up and leaning an arm on it while he watched me. I noticed he kept fiddling with his right hand, flexing his fingers and rubbing them as if unsure about something.

Finally he cleared his throat and casually rolled his shoulder, trying to act nonchalant. "I suppose I should thank you for keeping an eye on the blonde twerp for me while I was gone, protecting him from Bradford and all that. So... uh... yeah. Good job, Leo."

He ever so slowly extended his right fist towards me, trying to act all blase and casual about it while eyeing me hopefully out of the corner of his eye.

Wait, was this what he was all nervous about? He was hoping for a fistbump like I had given Mikey earlier? Obviously he had been overthinking the concept for a while. I tilted my head, then, holding one of the half eaten Taiyaki's in my mouth, I scooted a little closer to him and reached over to give him the fist bump he had obviously been hoping for, my green three knuckled tapping against his five fingered gloved fist.

He watched, fascinated, then a wide grin crossed his face. Pulling his hand back, he flexed his fingers, examining them, then looked over at me fondly. Then he cleared his throat and straightened up, obviously having displayed enough emotional vulnerability for now. "And don't worry, Leo. I don't know who was sniffing around here, but I ain't going to let anything happen to ya."

I noticed that he was watching the wall of the sanctuary, the rectangle imprint in the wall where I knew the room for Yoshi was on the other side. Was Yoshi over there right now? He had almost been like a mythical character from a fairy tale my whole life so far, and he was most likely just on the other side of that wall at this very moment. It was strange to think I was actually finally going to meet the man, probably within the very hour.

And where would I be tomorrow?

...

I wasn't going to think about that right now.

I finished the last of the Taiyaki, licked the crumbs from my fingers, and peeked into the now empty bag with a twinge of disappointment. That was probably the only taste of authentic Japanese food I would ever have in my life. It had been delicious.

Setting the empty bag aside, I instead turned my attention to Raphael. This was the closest I had been to him yet, and I was intrigued by the human's outfit and weapons. The sais at his belt had well worn red leather wrapped around the handles, and the fine steel of the blades was strong and expertly forged. These were obviously not decorations, and from the way he carried them, he knew how to use them.

His armored outfit was also intriguing, a black gi made of a thick, fine material, with red lining and matching red undershirt. I tilted my head, studying him, and while I was no judge of such things, I thought that it fit his human form well. I could see several neat repair jobs, and I wondered if he had gotten them in battles. I could see a little scar on the bridge of his nose, and had earlier noticed a few on his hands, when he wasn't wearing gloves like he was now. Were there more hidden under each of those patch jobs on the shinobi shozoku?

"Hm?" Raph noticed my curious gaze. He looked down at his clothing, picking at it. "Oh. Yeah. I guess you've only ever seen us in our casual clothes. You've never seen us geared up before, have you?" He tapped on his chest, and I could tell that under the cloth, there was a strong, padded plate of some sort, to help absorb and deflect lethal blows. "This is what we wear when out on missions and stuff, helps protect us. We weren't fortunate enough to be born with such impressive natural armor like you have." He tilted his head towards my shell with a smirk, obviously admiring my green and brown patterned shell. Then he paused, eying my left shoulder. He frowned, and reached over to gently trace the broken edge of my carapace. "I really wish that didn't happen. It... doesn't hurt, does it?"

I blinked at him, then looked back at my shoulder, surprised by the unexpected hand on my shell.

He must've acted without really thinking, because he suddenly seemed to realize what he was doing and quickly pulled his hand back. "Uh... sorry!"

Ever since my encounter with Agent Bishop and the EPF, human touch had always made me uncomfortable. Just the thought of five fingered hands on my shell was usually enough to make my scales crawl. So I found it kind of strange when I realized that I was surprisingly comfortable with his touch.

I tilted my head and blinked at him, letting him know he hadn't offended or distressed me.

Raph cleared his throat, pointedly keeping his arms close to him as he changed the subject back on topic. "So... um, yeah. Donnie's currently wearing his gear like this too, you'll see him in a bit. Of course, his is purple instead of red like mine, and Mikey's is orange. We each also got these..." He reached up to the red bandana wrapped around his forehead, and pulled it down over his eyes, revealing two eye holes as it unfolded. His hazel green blinked at me from behind the red mask as he gave a smirk. "Y'know, typical ninja hero gear, I guess."

I studied him, then glanced at the colored bands tied on his upper arm.

"Oh, these?" Raph lifted up his arm and looked them over. "They represent family. It was Mikey's idea, he says its so we can carry those we love into battle with us, even if they can't physically be with us. Sappy crap like that." He pointed at the sea green cloth. "This one is for our mom, Tang Shen." He moved his hand down to the burgundy band. "And this one is Dad." His hand moved again, then paused, and he instead rubbed the back of his head awkwardly. "And, um... the blue one is for you, Leo."

Wait. What?

"We, uh, added it when we learned that you existed." He lower his arm and shrugged, turning back to watch the wall. "At first Donnie suggested we make your color green, but Mikey accused him of being racist, assuming you'd like green just because you're a turtle. Donnie corrected him to say that first off, it would be more like speciesist, not racist, and second, no he wasn't." He rolled his eyes at the memory. "It turned into this whole intense debate that was comprised of total and complete stupidness, and so finally I told them both to knock it off, and that your color would be blue." He glanced over at me. "Uh... hope you don't mind."

I stared at the bands on his arm, then up at the one on his face.

I swallowed and lifted a hand slightly, then paused, my three fingers curling slightly as I hesitated. Then, my blue eyes meeting his hazel green, I carefully reached out towards him. His eyes widened and he held his breath, not daring to move as I gently reached over and touched his red mask on his face, examining it closely. I lightly traced the sturdy fabric tied around his face, and took the tail between two of my fingers, feeling it curiously. Then I shifted my attention down to his arm, letting my hand drop to lightly brush the cloth on the other three colors tied there, studying them reverently.

What color would Master Splinter have liked? Probably something natural and earthy, a shade of brown like his fur, or even a white grey like his whiskers.

My fingers paused over the burgundy cloth. Tang Shen had been murdered almost fourteen years ago. And I, of course, had been living down in a sewer for nearly twelve years. But why was Yoshi's color here?

Raph, who had been sitting completely motionless, watching me with bated breath, suddenly shifted a little as he noticed something. "Hey... Leo..."

I paused and looked at him.

He tilted his head towards the wall, and I looked over to see that the rectangle set in the wall had transitioned into a transparent window, allowing us to see the room on the other side.

"Dad's all settled in." Raph's voice was unusually gentle, and he pushed himself up off the ground, standing up. He glanced at me, then reached own and offered me a five fingered, gloved hand. I hesitated for a second, then put my three fingered hand in his and took the offered hand. He used it helped pull me up to my feet, took a deep breath, and carefully and gently patted me on the shoulder in a reassuring gesture. I glanced at the window, then back at him, and carefully mirrored the gesture, patting him on the shoulder. He smirked and shook his head, then turned and beckoned me to follow. Together we walked up to the window.

I had escaped the hell that was the EPF science lab, I had fought gangs, been shot at, stabbed, and shocked. Almost my whole life, I had been in one sort of dangerous situation or another.

There were very few times I could recall that my mouth had been so dry, or my stomach had been filled with a nervous jitters as this moment, looking through a window to finally look upon the man who's blood gave me my humanity.

Both Mikey and Donnie were in there on the other side of the glass. Mikey pressed up at the glass and waved at us cheerfully. He was saying something, but I couldn't hear him through the soundproofed glass. He turned and gestured towards Donnie, who looked exhausted and was going over a clipboard. At Mikey's movement, he looked up, and when he saw us, he broke out in a warm, if not weary, grin, obviously glad to see me. Just like Raph's clothing, the chuunin was dressed in a black shinobi shozoku, his decorated with purple lining and undershirt instead of red, with a matching purple headband that could probably be pulled down into a mask like Raph was wearing. A tall and well worn bo staff was strapped easily to his back, obviously his weapon of choice.

I swallowed hard and rested one hand on the glass, looking in at the third human in the room.

I honestly wasn't surprised. From all the clues I had picked up on, I had been expecting something like this to be the case.

But that didn't lessen the sudden painful lump in my chest.

I quietly looked at the hospital bed surrounded by a protective circle of blinking machines.

And there, laying with his eyes closed, motionless and frail under the blanket, was the comatose form of Hamato Yoshi.

Author Notes:

Finally! It honestly wasn't supposed to take fourteen chapters to get to this reveal. In fact, according to my story map, it should've been nine, ten chapters tops.

You know, in the notes of every story I write, I comment with surprise on this phenomenon. You'd think by now I'd be resigned to the fact that I'm easily sidetracked by tiny details like waffle fish, instead of focusing more on the main meat of the story. Writing out a story summary and plan to follow is turning out to be far less useful for keeping me on track then I had hoped. There were several plot points and story ideas that I was planning on adding, but ended up having to scrap already, just because when I came up to that point, having the characters do what was planned would be out of character or not make sense. Which is a shame, because one huge plot point I had to cut involved Leo's cracked shell, and was supposed to be the major bonding point between him and Raph. Instead, Leo now just has a cracked shell as homage to the 2k3 series, and Raph, for now, just gets this little scene here. I'm seriously considering doing what I did with my In Search of Shadows story, and add the scene at the end as a deleted scene, just because it's a neat story plot point, even if it didn't work.

Next, Donnie will get his turn for Leo Time, and then things are REALLY going to start getting crazy. I'm guessing we're about at the halfway point of the story? My planning calls for roughly nine more chapters, so we'll assume it'll be fourteen or fifteen, knowing how I write.