A Walk With Gelato

Almond petals danced around them as laughter echoed through the streets of Venice.

"Try it!"

"It's too sweet."

"How do you know if you won't try it?"

Yoshi laughed as his beautiful wife, Shen, sat in front of him playfully attempting to thrust a cup of gelato right up his nose. He could tell from her mischievous expression that she wouldn't be giving up on her quest to force her frozen treat into his face any time soon, so, reluctantly, he tried a spoonful of the extra-sweet, Italian ice cream.

Immediately, his face scrunched up as the overwhelming sweetness hit his taste buds. Shen laughed all the harder at her husband's gently twisted features.

"How you stand these Western desserts is beyond me." said Yoshi as he waited for the sweetness to slowly fade.

Shen shook her head. "Honestly, Yoshi. You're too closed minded. Japan is wonderful, but there's so much more out there."

"I know." He said as he wrapped his arms around her. "Which is why I'm thankful to have a wife with such…unique tastes to broaden my horizons."

She laughed, smacking him on the arm before leaning back into his lap.

As she stared up into his eyes and he stared back down at her, she slowly lifted a hand to cup his face, the cold from the gelato tingling against his cheek.

"Trust me, my love." she said, a smile gleaming in her eyes. "Before our honeymoon is over I will show you exactly what this country has to offer."

A cry pierced the air.

Splinter jolted awake. He looked around his newfound home, the algae covered stones alien as he slowly tried to remember where he was. Thankfully, the cry coming from the other room served as a quick reminder.

With a sigh he rose from the makeshift table he had apparently been passed out at. He swore parenting hadn't been this exhausting the first time around.

As he stretched the cry amplified in volume.

"Hai. Hai. I hear you, my son."

He shook his head, smiling. He had only been a parent for one day and he already knew who was causing trouble.

As he walked into what he deemed the nursery room he looked down at his four children, each of whom now lie in a make-shift crib composed of plastic tubs and worn out blankets he had salvaged from the dump. He turned to the left to the crib nearest the door where now lay the source of his awakening.

"Upset again, little one?" asked Splinter as he picked up the crying child in question. Ever since he had brought this one home he had done nothing but cry and flail his tiny little limbs about like miniature windmills. He was a troublesome child, but something about the fire in his spirit reminded him of himself when he was little.

As he slowly rocked his screaming son, he realized that he hadn't actually named him yet. Or any of his new sons for that matter. Sure, he had names for them when they were regular turtles, but Zippy, Speedy, Lightening, and Flash hardly seemed appropriate for his newfound children.

"It appears you need a name, my son." said Splinter smiling. "Perhaps I'll call you…Gelato."

WHAM!

Splinter flinched back in surprise. Did he just…Did he just get punched in the face by a baby?!

Splinter looked down at his son, the small turtle's arms flailing even as newfound soreness blossomed across Splinter's jaw. Truly, he needed to redouble his ninja training if an infant could deal him such a mighty blow.

As Splinter rubbed his jaw with his freehand, he remembered something from years ago.

It was Florence, Italy. His wife had taken him to the Palazzo Pitti museum to see a painting.

"Well, what do you think?"

Yoshi stared up at the painting. It depicted God surrounded by storm clouds and seated among angels and ferocious beasts who looked ready to rend anyone who might approach their master to pieces.

"I think these Westerners have the subtly of a cannon."

Shen laughed.

"Because Kabuki is soooo subtle."

Yoshi's cheeks burned red. His wife always knew how to point out his little hypocrisies. A trait he both loved and loathed.

"This is the Ezekiel's Vision, painted by the great artist Raphael." she continued." It's one of the most passionate depictions of God ever to come out of the Renaissance."

"Is he supposed to seem so…frightening?"

"He's supposed to seem strong." she explained. "That's how you know he'll protect you."

Splinter was jolted from his thoughts as another fist barely missed his newly elongated nose. He looked down at his unhappy son and smiled.

"Very well then. If you don't care for Gelato, then I shall call you…Raphael. Does this suit you, oh angry one?"

As Splinter continued rocking his son, slowly the child began to calm down, his wildly whirling limbs gradually ceasing their rampant rotations.

"Raphael it is."

With a gentle kiss on the head, Splinter laid the little turtle back in his crib, silently praying he would stay silent for at least a little longer.

"Uh! Uh!"

Splinter's head turned to the right as he noticed yet another of his sons had woken from their slumber. He walked over to the back, left-most corner of the room where his son was now gently moving his limbs as small grunts escaped from his lips.

Splinter's eyes narrowed. This was crunch time. The sputtering calm right before the storm that would soon lead to another wailing storm of tears and agitation if he didn't move quickly enough to placate his son. He looked down at the child, noticed the rounded movements of his mouth, and automatically knew what had to be done.

With all the speed of a ninja master he picked up his child and flew out of the room straight to the kitchen. Or rather what he called the kitchen since it was just an old cooler sitting in a little alcove amidst his solid stone lair, but calling it the kitchen helped him feel just a little bit more normal.

He quickly opened to cooler to produce a lukewarm bottle of thankfully not quite expired milk mixed with algae and ground worms. He had discovered from a pamphlet he had "borrowed" from the pet shop that baby turtles were omnivorous from birth, but since his sons were some part human he had decided to mix it with some milk just to be safe.

With one swift motion he plopped the bottle into his son's mouth, who immediately calmed, pacified by the presence of much needed food.

Splinter smiled, his breathing slowly returning to normal now that the crisis was averted.

"That's it, my son. Drink as much as you like."

With warm eyes Splinter watched his son do exactly as told, filling his tiny belly with the apparently pleasing invention.

Invention…

Yoshi watched with a mixture of curiosity and downright confusion at what was going on before him.

They were in the town of Vinci, Italy, another one of his wife's honeymoon destinations. He had expected rolling green hills and rustic building.

Instead, before his very eyes, he and a crowd of people watched as a man dressed in Renaissance clothing was sitting in a tiny cart with a large wood and paper spiral coming out of the top pedaling like a mad man in an attempt to get the cart to fly!

Yoshi watched as the man and his cart bounced around the town square like a psychotic chicken, the strange flying mechanism on top giving him aerial lift for precious seconds at a time before falling right back to the ground only to hop back into the air seconds later. All in all it reminded him of something he might see at an Italian circus!

"And you call this…genius?" asked Yoshi incredulously.

Tang Shen shook her head. "This? No. This I call comedy. But beneath the comedy is where the genius lies. That thing coming out of the cart is called an aerial screw, one of the first prototype flying machines ever created by the great inventor, Leonardo Da Vinci."

Yoshi cocked an eyebrow. "I thought Da Vinci was a painter. Is he not?"

"He's a painter, yes, but he's also an inventor, musician, mathematician, botanist. Over the course of his life he mastered more than fifteen different area of study."

"He must have been extremely disciplined to master so many."

Tang Shen smiled as she looped her arm around her husband's elbow.

"He was. A lot like you."

Splinter looked down as his child drained the last drops from the bottle.

"My! Someone was hungry." he said with a laugh. He lifted the tiny turtle to his shoulder, patting him once on the back. Immediately, the little one let out a tiny burp before relaxing into his father's warm fur.

"Well done. My Leonardo."

The child snuggled more firmly into his father's shoulder as Splinter slowly crept back to the nursery. With silent footsteps he set little Leonardo back in his bed.

As he tucked the tiny turtle in he felt a strange sensation. As if he were being watched. He looked behind him only to find yet another son awake and currently staring at him with wide, watchful eyes.

Splinter shook his head as he stepped over to the third crib.

"Does no one wish to stay asleep tonight?"

He looked down at his child who continued staring at him with those same curious eyes. Splinter reached down a finger to stroke the little one's plastron, as he learned it was called, only for the little one to grab his finger with wondering hands.

Splinter smiled as he watched his son curiously grasp his knuckle.

Tuscany, Italy.

Yoshi and Shen stood outside the Effizi Galleria, staring up at an imposing statue of a man in medium length robes with a turban on his head looking off into the distance.

Shen sighed. "The one day we come to visit and it's closed for renovations." She ate her Gelato in a huff, savoring the sweet taste to contrast her bitter heart.

"I admit it is a setback." said Yoshi carefully. "However, if you knew it would be closed why did we come?"

Shen took the spoon from her mouth and plopped it back into her gelato.

"Because not all the sculptures are inside the museum." she said pointing up at the one before them. "This is the great sculptor, Donatello. While everyone else in his time was using the same old Gothic style, he pioneered new ways of combining ancient Roman form with innovative new techniques in perspective. Some say his sculptures were so filled with emotion that they looked as if they had been sculpted from life itself."

Yoshi looked at the statue of the man before them, slowly taking in the details of the piece. His strong features. The way he looked off into the distance as if analyzing the world itself.

"He does have an air of wisdom to him." he admitted.

Shen grinned. "Finally, taking an interest in Italian art I see. Are you sure you wouldn't rather have him in a kimono?"

Yoshi smiled at her. He had to admit, this Western style of art was slowly growing on him.

Shen turned back to the sculpture.

"He chose to try things no one else had ever thought of. And became famous for it. If he can do that, maybe going to a museum without actually going inside the museum doesn't seem quite so farfetched."

Splinter watched as the tiny turtle's finger slowly slipped away from his knuckle, falling back onto the covers as his son drifted back into his slumber.

"Rest easy. Donatello."

With a gentle smile he slipped the blanket back over Donatello's sleeping form.

He looked around the room. Thanks to their apparent inability to sleep three of his sons now bore strong names which carried with them a legacy of great artists, inventors, and philosophers. Names that one day he hoped the whole world would know and love them by.

And yet one remained.

Slowly, Splinter walked over to his last remaining son, the only one who had actually decided to sleep through the night. This was his smallest son. Even at the pet store he had known this one was the runt of the litter, hatched last out of all his brothers, and yet somehow that fact had made him want to bring this little one home all the more.

As he stood staring down at his peacefully sleeping son he actually felt…disappointed. After of moment of staring without incident he finally sighed, shaking his head in resignation.

"Well…Why not?" he thought humorously.

Laughing both to and at himself, he gently picked up his youngest son, stroking his cheek in hopes of lulling away the sleep for just a moment.

"Wake up, my little one. It's time to find out who you are."

And as the very words left his mouth, he remembered something. Something precious.

It was the final day of their honeymoon. Tang Shen had shown him all across Italy, from Rome to Venice to Tuscany. She had shown him so many wondrous sights.

But now he couldn't see anything at all!

"Where exactly are we going?" asked Yoshi, fumbling blindly as Tang Shen held her hands firmly over his eyes.

"It's a surprise."

Yoshi frowned. As a ninja he didn't exactly like nor trust surprises. Usually they resulted in either a blade at your throat or a shuriken in your back. However, since he doubted that his wife had suddenly hired a bunch of pizza eating assassins to take him out he went along with her little game, praying that wherever she was taking him, they would get there before he found himself eating a mouthful of pavement.

Suddenly, Shen brought him to a stop.

"Are you ready?"

Yoshi cocked an eyebrow. "A ninja is ready for anything."

"Then open your eyes."

Tang Shen's hands slide away from his face. Slowly, Yoshi's eyes opened, his blurred vision adjusting to the light after his long period in darkness.

But as his eyes adjusted they quickly widened in wonder.

Around him, on every side, north, east, south, west, were walls upon walls of paintings! Murals depicting hundreds of figures, each person a work of art in themselves and yet when positioned side by side created the greatest masterpiece his eyes had ever seen.

Tang Shen stood beside him, watching as he stared slack-jawed at the world around him.

"Welcome to the Sistine Chapel. One of the greatest works of art in the entire world."

Yoshi continued to stare.

"I have to admit, I was not ready for this."

Tang Shen laughed.

"It gets better. Look up."

Slowly, Yoshi turned his eyes skywards to reveal even more wonderful paintings! These more grand, more powerful, more beautiful than even the ones he had already beheld.

As Yoshi strained his neck to see all the elements to the beautiful tapestry of art above him, Shen stood innocently beside him, looking up and following his gaze.

"You know what my favorite part about the Sistine Chapel is?"

Yoshi shook his head. "I can only begin to imagine."

"It makes you look up."

Yoshi turned to her confused.

"Up?"

"Up. We spend so much of our day looking down and around that we never stop to actually look up."

Yoshi stared, confused. "And why would that be so important?"

Shen laughed.

Splinter looked down upon his youngest son whose eyes slowly fluttered open as he stared skyward towards his teary eyed father.

"Because silly. When you look up…"

Slowly, the edges of the little turtle's mouth began to curl.

"You smile!"

A tear slide down Splinter's face as he stared into the eyes of his beaming son, a smile as bright as the sun itself painted across his tiny features.

Unlike all their other trips, Shen had waited until he had asked to tell him the name of the artist. But it was a name he had never forgotten.

"It is an honor to meet you." He said with a smile.

"Michelangelo."

Author's Note: Hi Hi Everyone! The second chapter is here at last!

First off, thank you all so much for reading. You guys ROCK OUT LOUD! And second, you would not BELIEVE how much research had to be done to get this chapter out here. I spent half an hour just trying to find out what flowering tree native to Italy would be in the first scene. It was a complex and difficult story to write, but it was soooo much fun! And like my writing teacher always said, "A writer who loves their work is a writer who does their research."

Anyway, I would love to hear what you guys think of this latest chapter. Thank you so much for reading, and as always have a super happy day! LOVE YOU GUYS~!