"Okay, so what's the last stupid challenge?" Karai questioned, her hands on her hips.
Mikey checked over each shoulder, motioned her closer, and whispered conspiratorially, "Tickle torture."
"Wait, wha- No!" Karai shrieked in protest. Raph seized her in a fireman's lift over one shoulder - already tickling her midsection - as Mikey and Donnie captured her arms and legs. She screamed again, this time mixed with laughter. "Leo, help me!"
Leo laughed too as he ran alongside his brothers in the direction of Mikey's room. "Sorry, no can do; this is necessary clan imitation, Rai."
As Mikey clapped one hand over Karai's mouth to stifle her screaming, Leo paused and glanced back at the mildly concerned Splinter watching from the dojo. "Don't worry, Sensei, we won't do anything too bad to her. Just some friendly tickling."
"Hmm..." Splinter folded his arms. "I suppose I will have to trust you, Leonardo. Though do not think you have fooled me; I know about the algae pool... and Michelangelo's apparent latest recipe."
The blue-clad turtle smirked nervously, before bolting to join his brothers once he felt it was allowed.
When he joined them, Karai was flat on her back on Mikey's bed, with Raphael holding her arms over her head and Mikey and Donnie each taking one of her legs. Her underarms and feet were being attacked mercilessly, so Leo chose to straddle her waist and work on her midsection after he had closed the door.
Playful betrayal flashed through her eyes as he lifted her shirt to get at her ribs. "Leo," she gasped between giggles, "how... could you?!"
He smiled down at her. "Sorry, Rai, but I can't have them think I'm playing favourites." Leo leaned in to kiss her, but pulled back quickly when she tried to bite his lip. "Well, now I have a personal reason to punish you. C'mere!"
In addition to tickling her midsection, Leo stretched forward and began to feather light kisses along her neck and jawline, making her shudder as well as laugh. She squirmed to get free, but the turtles clearly had no plans to let her go just yet.
"Hey, Leo?" Raph asked casually, gripping Karai's wrists in one large hand as the other tickled under her arms.
"Yeah?" Leo responded in kind.
"How long are we keepin' this up for?"
His blue eyes narrowed cheekily. "Until she begs."
"Never!" Karai shouted in protest through her laughter.
Her partner pecked her on the cheek. "Then have fun, 'cause you're stuck with us."
The torture continued for an indefinite amount of time. Against her will, Karai found herself crying with laughter. Raph had realised what Leo was doing, and began to blow on the trails her tears left, making her twitch even more under their grasp. She arched her back instinctively, and Leo gently pushed her back onto the soft mattress, chiding her about spine safety.
Karai couldn't help smiling at the fact that even when he had an outright intention to torment her, Leo still tried to take care of her.
"Stop! Stop!" she chortled, writhing around on the bed.
"Are you begging?" questioned Donnie. He and Mikey had graduated to tickling the soles of her feet with one hand and the back of her knees with the other.
"No!" she snapped immediately.
Raph's chuckle sent warm air rushing over her head. "Well, we ain't stopping, then."
Karai's laughter was flooding the room, and the pleasant sound was beginning to make her brothers laugh too, even if she was creating it involuntarily. She could feel many sets of thick green fingers running over different areas of her skin, but she was managing to fight past the fear it caused her. She assumed her brothers' attentiveness after her nose injury had helped, as she had almost grown used to being touched by them, and she could at least deal with the nervousness.
Until the moment when Mikey decided to see how ticklish the back of her thighs were, and his hand slipped too far up her leg.
The eager turtle didn't realise his mistake immediately, and once he did, he froze awkwardly, his hand still positioned between her legs. Donnie, the only other turtle to notice, hurriedly grabbed Mikey's wrist and pulled his hand away, but the damage had already been done.
"Karai?" asked Leo cautiously. He and Raph had both paused in their assault when Karai's face had contorted in horror.
Eyes wide and breathing rapid, Karai screamed in an entirely different way, and began thrashing for freedom with new vigour. Donnie and Mikey both leapt back in shock, but Leo and Raph kept their hold, hoping to calm her down.
"Hey, hey," Leo said softly, sliding back to trap Karai's legs between his own but straining to still look her in the eye. "What happened, Rai? What's wrong?"
"Uh, my hand mighta slipped when I was tickling her leg..." admitted Mikey sheepishly.
Leo paled. "Please don't tell me you touched where I think you touched."
Mikey wrung his hands together guiltily. "Heheh..."
"Mikey!" Leo climbed off Karai quickly, gesturing for Raph to release her. When he did so, Leo gathered the flailing girl into his arms, cradling her lovingly.
"Let go of me! Let go!" Karai cried furiously, clearly panicking.
"Shh, shh..." Leo cooed quietly, holding her close and stroking her back. "Breathe, Karai, breathe..."
Riskily, he brought her in for a light kiss, massaging her lips with his own. She squeaked in terror at first and wriggled, but once he managed to convince her that she was okay, she began to relax, not kissing him back yet but letting him kiss her. Feeling uncomfortable in front of their brothers, Leo broke the kiss, but guided her head into the crook of his neck. He pressed one side of her head to his shoulder and covered her other ear with one hand, then whispered to Raph, "Get her jacket; it's over the back of the chair in my room."
The red-banded turtle nodded and exited the room. Donnie tapped Leo's shoulder and asked curiously, "Do you know why she's freaking out like this? I mean, yeah, Mikey shouldn't have touched her, uh... you know, but it's not like he meant to. This seems like quite a big reaction."
Leo shrugged, peppering little kisses along Karai's forehead as she started to cry softly. "I have no idea, Don, but we can wonder about that later. Right now, let's just worry about calming her down."
Raph re-entered, spiky jacket in hand, and passed it to Leo, who mouthed his gratitude before draping it around Karai. She slipped into it gratefully, allowing Leo to zip it up for her. She hadn't been given a chance to apply her make-up that morning, and seeing her so vulnerable without any lines of defence stirred a tight feeling in Leo's chest.
"Are you okay now?" he asked her softly, sweeping her overgrown bangs out of her eyes.
Karai took a few deep breaths, before whispering, "I think so. I... I'm sorry."
"You don't have anything to be sorry for," Leo said with a chuckle, wiping her tears away.
"Yeah. If anyone's gotta apologise, it's totally me, dudette," added Mikey kneeling beside her. "Sorry for upsetting you."
"It's... It's okay, little brother. You didn't mean to. My own fault anyway..." She scrubbed at her still-watering eyes with a sleeve.
As Mikey climbed up onto the bed and cuddled his sister (to the teasing of Raph), Leo caught Donnie's attention and signalled for him to go and get Splinter. Karai seemed to have recovered, but this had proven their suspicions that something was seriously amiss with her.
When Donnie returned with their father, Karai glanced up guiltily from Mikey's shoulder and forced a smile. "Hello, Master Splinter."
"Miwa, what is the matter?" he questioned immediately, crossing to place a hand on her head.
"I, uh... It's nothing. I freaked out for no reason."
"That's not true, she freaked out 'cause I-"
"Mikey!" Karai hissed to him, but Splinter already had a thoughtful expression on his face.
"Leonardo, may I speak with you for a moment?"
The blue-clad turtle nodded as he followed his father from the room. "Hai, Sensei."
Upon Splinter's request, Leo calmly (at least, as calmly as he could) explained the entire story of what had happened, trying to ignore how his father's face grew gradually more haunted as the tale progressed.
When he was finished, Splinter sighed pointedly. "I knew there was no way she could be handling this so well..."
"Uh, Master Splinter? Who's handling what so well? Karai? What's she handling?"
"I... I think it is about time I explain this to you all, if Miwa will allow it." He creaked open Mikey's bedroom door and addressed his daughter. "Miwa? I believe we need to tell them."
Head drooping, she heaved a sigh. "Hai, Master Splinter."
"What?"
"How could he?!"
"That monster!"
"Uh... What's rape?"
Splinter exhaled slowly. Even talking about Miwa's torture made his blood boil, though a small part of his heart warmed at the innocence of his youngest.
Mikey blushed sheepishly. "I'm guessing it's, like, a bad thing... right?"
"Mikey, rape is-" Donnie almost choked on his words, unable to comprehend that he was describing what a sibling of his had endured. "It's- Okay, you know the birds and the bees talk we had when we were kids?"
"Ugh!" The orange-clad turtle shuddered. "Don't remind me, dude!"
"Well, rape is someone doing... that to someone else, but... without permission." The turtle genius swallowed heavily again. "So yes, a bad thing."
"And... And..." Mikey seemed to be understanding at last. "And... Shredder did that to her?!"
"Shush, Mikey!" hissed Donnie. "She's only in the dojo; stop shouting or she'll hear you!"
The sound of something being torn in half interrupting Mikey's retort, drawing both turtles' attention to Raph...
... Who was gaping at Leo as his leader furiously mangled an innocent sofa cushion.
"Leo?!" all three exclaimed in shock. Their oldest brother was rarely this violent.
Splinter, however, made no move to discipline him, though he did plan to later. He understood exactly what violent emotions were raging through his son, as they had been plaguing him too since the minute he found out what the Shredder had done to his child.
Once the cushion was well and truly beyond repair, Splinter leaned over and set a hand on Leo's shoulder. "Did that help, my son?"
"Not really," he spat. "It wasn't Shredder's head."
That startled everybody in the room, Leo himself included. Nobody had been prepared for such violent talk from the leader, though he couldn't bring himself to regret it or take it back. Imagining what Karai had been through... It made him want to vomit.
"I would like to say that vengeance is not the answer, but I know that will not aid you at this point. Truthfully..." Splinter hesitated, then finished with, "I too wish to see Saki suffer for his actions."
Leo glanced up, an unreadable look in his eyes. "Is that why you were going after him that night? When Karai stopped you?"
"Yes," he admitted. "I had struggled against the urge for days, but my control slipped that night. Thankfully, Miwa was there to stop me making any mistakes."
"Wait, when was this?" demanded Raph. "Sensei, when did you try to go after Shredder?!"
"It was a few weeks ago, but fear not, I did not make it out of the lair before I was caught." Splinter sighed. "The desire for revenge truly can blind you, my sons."
"I just don't get it," declared Mikey. "Why would he wanna do that to her?"
Another pained sigh from their father. "I believe it was because of how she resembles my Shen, Michelangelo. Saki was always jealous of us, and perhaps when he took Shen from the world, he figured that Miwa was a suitable substitute." He shuddered at the words he was saying. How could this horrible man have been raised as his brother?
"Do you think that's why he took her, then?" asked Raph, ever blunt.
"I do not know, my son, though for the sake of my mental well-being, I am choosing to believe it was not." Splinter grasped his staff tightly. "I like to hope he found Miwa wherever she had been left and took her because he believed my wife and I had both perished, but I know it is a foolish sentiment with the man Oroku Saki turned out to be. Even if he did not take her with intentions for such a thing, his intentions would most likely have still been to spite me."
"And... And he's been doing this to her since she was six?"
"Not quite, Donatello. She said that was the first time he kissed her." Splinter and his sons all shuddered at the thought. "It did not escalate fully until she began to mature."
"That's disgusting," growled Leo. "We can't let him get away with this."
"Of course not, but we must remember to be tactical; we must still act like the ninja clan we are."
"Hai, Sensei," they agreed in unison.
The brothers were silent for a few moments, each struggling to process what they had heard. Yes, none of them had expected their lost sister to have had a necessarily pleasant childhood under the Shredder's reign, but none of them had realised quite how cruel he could have been to her. When Mikey began to sniffle quietly, nobody said a thing, but Donnie lay one arm around his shoulders.
Once the silence grew too heavy, Splinter tentatively broke it. "Would you like to see her, my sons? I know it certainly helps me deal with the knowledge to see her face-to-face."
Leo nodded immediately, and though his brothers hesitated, they also agreed. Splinter led them through to the dojo, where Karai was kneeling in front of Splinter's family shrine, nursing a cup of green tea as she studied the photograph of her mother.
Three out of four turtles hesitated.
Raph felt an ache of guilt as he remembered the panic she exhibited after he hit her. He had presumed it may have been a memory of Shredder perhaps slapping her in her childhood, but understanding what she really thought was happening to her made his stomach churn.
Donnie also felt guilty, for not pressing the issue further. He knew a nightmare about Shredder couldn't exactly be nice, but if he'd had even the slightest clue what the nightmare had really been, he would have stayed by her side until morning. He also felt very responsible for her freak-out in Mikey's room, since it was his idea to put her through initiation. He had thought it would cheer her up, but now he understood how anxious she must have felt.
However, Mikey felt even more responsible than Donnie did, since he had actually caused Karai's little breakdown. He made it a mission of his to keep his family happy and smiling, and literally giving his sister a panic attack definitely worked against that. He was also struggling with the knowledge that rape existed; a concept he had never been familiar with until moments before. It had been a tough day for the young turtle.
Leo was the only turtle with no reservation. He walked right up to Karai and wrapped his arms around her body, holding her as if she would fade away if he didn't. To everyone's relief, Karai merely set her mug of tea aside and threw herself into him, burying her face in his plastron.
"Oh, Karai," he murmured. "Why didn't you ever tell me?"
"It doesn't come up in conversation much," she quipped.
"Well, it should with your family. Especially with your partner." The turtle tucked her in closer. "For a partnership to work, we've gotta understand each-other, Karai. And... I really want to understand you. So please," Leo tilted her head up to look her in the eyes, "stop building these walls around yourself."
When she began to cry again, Leo slotted her head under his chin and let her hide there. He motioned his brothers closer, but none of them dared to approach.
"You can come over here, guys; these are good tears, right, Karai?"
She took a moment to steady her breathing, then mumbled past Leo's shoulder, "Yes, they're happy tears."
This at least convinced Mikey to come closer, and Leo guided him around to hug Karai from behind. When this was met with positive reception, Raph and Donnie both advanced, each taking a side and enclosing Karai in a square of turtles.
"Y'see? Now you've got four big turtles to protect you," Leo told her kindly. She twisted in his arms to face her brothers, smiling hesitantly at them. "And you're stuck with us now," he added in a little whisper.
As the turtles crowded in even closer, she reclined comfortably between them. "You know," she breathed softly, catching sight of a smiling Splinter in her peripheral vision, "I think I'm okay with that."
Disclaimer: I still don't own them, sorry :P
"Hey, I think I'll do another two-part chapter... Yeah, I can handle the faster update." NO YOU CANNOT, CECE. STOP DOING THIS. So yeah, next time I decide to do faster updates than usual, please tell me not to, okay? :')
Anyway, I hope you guys enjoyed these two chapters (even if some people understandably found parts of it unsettling, sorry for that, by the way), and I will hopefully see you on Thursday again :) Until then, thank you so much for reading/reviewing/following/favourite-ing xD
