Episode 2: Map of the Gods – Part 1

"Home sweet home!" Kaitlin said, hoping the door to apartment 511. Ethan, Jess, and Kaela stood behind her, bound up in thick black coats with hoods over their heads to disguise themselves from the people on the street. The apartment had a genkan for shoes and then a long narrow hallway. An open door on the left showed a yellow lit Japanese bathroom with shower heads to short for Ethan to fit under without crouching. On the right was a closed door. At the end of the hallway was an open awning to a small kitchen and a tiny study. A pair of sliding glass doors led to the balcony five flights up that looked out over the city. In the corner was a heater humming lowly.

The walls were covered with anime posters. Ethan immediately recognized a huge poster of Narcissist King on the door to the right. "Nice," Kaela said, stepping in and pulling her shoes off and setting them neatly into the genkan before stepping in after Kaitlin. "I love these posters!"

Jess and Ethan exchanged looks before following suit, closing the front door behind them, a metal mailbox slot shaking as it shut. As Ethan walked down the dark hallway he could hear Kaitlin talking about her favorite episode of Narcissist King and Kaela gushing back. As they walked into the kitchen, the smell of potstickers and rice became prevalent.

"I think I can get you guys some futons and you can all sleep out in here!" She motioned to the study with a desk and a roller chair in the corner.

Already it was beginning to become dark and so Kaitlin quickly grabbed futons from a closet and she placed them on the floor, rolling out all three and beating them a few times with a long plastic blue stick. Ethan felt exhausted and so while the others spoke together about anime, he lay his head on the pillow she provided, staring at multicolored posters and for some reason, the only thing on his mind wasn't the past, or the information they sought; instead, his thoughts were focused on Ashina.

He remembered the drippy, cold tunnel that for some reason seamed warm when Ashina walked in it. He remembered the smile on her face when she saw him and the sound of her voice that seemed like a familiar friend's. He closed his eyes and rather than feeling resistance to the thoughts like he normally did, he felt free thinking about her and fell asleep to the sound of the voice of his siblings.

Ethan woke up early to laughter. It was a refreshing change. He sat up in the futon, sheets tumbling over him, his white bandana askew and his red fur around his cheeks perking up in weird spots from lying on it funny. He rubbed at his face.

"I love that picture!" Kaela's exasperated voice sounded, high on mirth. Kaitlin and Kaela were sitting at the table, Kaela with a bowl of cereal and Kaitlin with a bowl of steaming white rice, her backpack slung on her shoulders and her blue ice skates strapped to the bottom of it. In front of Kaela was a colorful poster of an anime character Ethan had never seen before. She looked up from it when she noticed Ethan. "Oh hey! Morning, Ethan! I'm gonna go with Kaitlin to school today."

Ethan nodded and yawned, stretching his arms up to the ceiling, "Yeah, as long as you're not seen."

Kaela nodded, "I promise!"

The shower water could be heard on the other side of the wall and Ethan assumed by Jess' empty futon that she was getting ready for the day.

Kaitlin scooped up the last of the rice from her bowl and looked up at Ethan with a mischievous grin. "You having nightmares about someone named Ashina?"

Ethan froze.

Kaela's eyes widened and she turned to look back at Kaitlin slowly.

"You were talking in your sleep last night."

If Ethan's fur could turn anymore red it would have been the shade of a nasty sunburn after hours working outside in July.

"Well, then!" Kaela stuttered out, "How about we head to school! Don't want to be late!" She stood and practically pushed Kaitlin out the door, both of them waving goodbye before they left. Ethan sat on the futon for a while longer, bunching up the sheets in his fists nervously. I talk in my sleep? What did I say? He tried not to think to hard about it, no dreams coming to his memory about Ashina. Jess stepped in, still rubbing her white ears with a towel. "I have had to use three towels since becoming a mutant every time I shower. Three." She paused when she saw Ethan. "Are you ripping up her sheets on purpose?"

Ethan glanced down at his lap and noticed one of his black claws snagging through the sheet. "Whoops."

Jess rubbed at her ears, wincing, "You like Ashina?"

Ethan threw off his sheet, rubbing at his face, feigning that he was fixing his fur, but in reality he just wanted her to not be able to see how embarrassed he was. "What, why would you say that?"

"The walls here are thin," Jess smiled and knocked her knuckles against he wall.

"I dunno," Ethan said, "That would be weird, right?"

"I mean, you liked Karai, yeah?"

Ethan grumbled a reply.

"Ethan," Jess said leaning down to roll up her futon, "It's okay if you don't know how you're feeling. And it's okay if you do know what you're feeling but just don't want to deal with that yet. I get that."

He watched as she rolled up the futon and threw it into the closet for safe keeping.

"Thanks, Jess," Ethan muttered. He could hardly imagine what she must have felt when Mako had been mutated and controlled by Kitsune. Or how it felt for her to be wondering what he was doing now. He got up and rolled up his own things and took a quick shower. (He took three towels as well, emptying Kaitlin of her supply) and then he ate a quick breakfast. The rest of the day was spent with Jess, talking about how gross mugicha was and how she felt about Raphael. ("I'm over him.")

As soon as it started to get dark outside, and after fifteen rounds of playing cards, the front door opened and Kaitlin and Kaela emerged, still in mid laughter as if that was all they had been doing for the last eight hours. "Hey, guys!" Kaela said.

"What took you so long?" Jess asked, her elbow propped on the desk, her head resting in her palm.

"Kaitlin took me to the Ice Skating rink after! She knows so many cool tricks! She's awesome."

"Aw, you're nice, Kaela! But it's true, I am awesome." Kaitlin smiled and then slammed her heavy backpack on the table. "And not just at Ice Skating. Boy do I have some stuff to share with you guys about the stuff you asked about yesterday."

Ethan perked up from the dining table by the sliding glass door.

Kaitlin pulled out several large leather books from her bag and flipped open the yellowed pages. "I need an audience," She said to Kaela, "Take a seat."

Kaela tucked herself in between Jess and Ethan and Kaitlin began.

"So, back in feudal Japan, as you guys probably know, the whole country was in civil war. Monarchs all wanted to own everything and owned small bits of land and this resulted in constant wars between different families. At the same time, a bunch of crazy ninja clans exited. Some of them worked for specific monarchs, some of them had their own agenda. The Hamato Clan and the Foot Clan are two really well known ones!" She flipped to a picture and showed it like a teacher showing a picture book. It was a symbol of the Foot Clan. "The Foot Clan was one of those that had its own agenda. Killing monarchs was like a sport for them. The Hamato Clan mainly was just trying to stop the Foot Clan wherever they went."

"What about the Shinotomo Clan?" Ethan asked.

Kaitlin wagged a finger at him, "All in good time!" She said it like a wizened mentor. "The Shinotomo Clan didn't exist for most of the Civil War. But then, a prince of one of the largest provinces named Ryuga Taeshinobu created the Shinotomo Clan after a skirmish between the Foot Clan and the Hamato Clan resulted in the destruction of his home and the death of both of his parents. Ever since then, the Shinotomo Clan's purpose has been to destroy both the Foot and the Hamato Clans."

Ethan remembered the odd dark world with the burning eclipse in the distance – the Void of the Ten Dimensions. Ashina had told him there that Lord Nightshade wanted nothing more than the destroy both clans. "Apparently Ryuga Taeshinobu was trying to find some way to make himself immortal, and that is where Kitsune comes in." Kaitlin's voice grew more excited as she put down the book and picked up another, pausing to flip through a few pages. "Kitsune was a single mother with three children. Some people say she had magic of some kind that was granted her from an ancient Japanese deity called the Mother of Souls."

Ethan, Jess, and Kaela locked eyes at the mention of three children. He slowly turned back to Kaitlin. "So…" he said, "What happened to all of them?"

"It's believed that Ryuga Taeshinobu died. He had terminal illnesses at a very young age and then he vanished one day."

Nightshade might be a descendant then… Ethan thought to himself.

"As for Kitsune, she was poisoned to death according to most history books. As for her kids, I don't know that you could be them. They were said to have been killed in the middle of the night by the Shinotomo Clan after she was unsuccessful at granting their leader immortality before he died from his illnesses."

"That doesn't really add up." Jess said, folding her arms across her chest and leaning back.

"Right," Kaitlin replied, "But it does give us a place to start! Tomorrow I'm gonna see if I can find out more about this Mother of Souls person. That might lead you guys to more answers!"

Ethan smiled, standing up and putting his hand on Kaitlin's small shoulder. "Thanks for all the help, really."

Kaitlin reached up and tugged at his whiskers.

"Ow!"

"Sorry! I just can't take your adorable face seriously. Now, my voice hurts from talking. Let's eat some food!" Jess and Ethan helped Kaitlin cook rice and prepare potstickers. While they poured the oil into the pan, Kaela squealed excitedly from the table. Kaitlin's laptop was in front of her. "Donnie emailed!"

"Read it!" Jess said excitedly.

Kaela began:

Dear Kaela, Ethan, and Jess,

Guess what! April's back! More good news – she found Leo. But he isn't planning on coming home soon by the sounds of it. I think Raph is still having a hard time dealing with it. He still doesn't come out much and just sleeps all day long. I think Splinter is worried about the whole thing.

April found some interesting things while she was away too! She had to deliver these old statues of some ancient war generals to Winter's Corp last night. Other than that, the city is still really quiet. The Foot Clan hasn't been spotted in a long time. Here's hoping you guys are finding some of those answers you were looking for in Japan and that you're all safe. Life might be more exciting here now. I'm just so glad that April's back!

Donnie

Kaela grimaced at the last sentence in the letter, but hid it quickly. "I miss them." She said. Ethan nodded, and returned to the oil in the pan. He missed them too.