Snow Days
Age: Three Years
Quiet laughter trickled across the snow laden landscape.
Yoshi stopped, the broom in his hands still for just a moment before he continued sweeping snow off the walkway in front of the family dojo, a small smile etched across his face.
WHAM!
A snowball nailed the ninja master right in the face.
There was a brief pause before he continued sweeping as if nothing had happened, though the slightly larger smile on his face betrayed his true intentions.
With a barely suppressed giggle Shen stepped out of her hiding place around the corner of the building, traces of snow still clinging to her mittens.
She slowly walked over to Yoshi and stood right beside him as he swept, more and more laughter slipping through as she watched little chunks of snow fall from his hair.
"Hello, my love." said Shen, unable to contain herself.
"Hello, Shen." said Yoshi. "Lovely weather, is it not?"
Shen nodded, suppressing yet another giggle.
"Strangest thing." continued Yoshi. "Just a moment before you arrived the largest snowflake I had ever seen landed right on my face. At least I assume it was a snowflake, for otherwise I would have to suspect there were snow ninjas hiding behind the gazebo."
Yoshi gave her a sideways look, the grin clear in his eyes.
That was the final straw. Shen burst out laughing, a laugh as light as the snow still clinging to Yoshi's hair, before she wrapped her arms around her husband in a sudden embrace.
She smiled as she caressed his cheek.
"You could have dodged it." she stated matter-of-factly.
"I could have." replied Yoshi as he set aside the broom. "But then I wouldn't have gotten to do this."
He pushed the hair from in front of her face before the two leaned in for a frosty kiss.
Laughter rang through the air.
Splinter smiled as he watched his four turtle children run around in a small patch of snow.
It was their fourth winter. And though none of them were allowed to go to the surface Splinter had found a place where a large chunk of tunnel roof was missing allowing snow to fall down into the tunnel below. It wasn't exactly a winter wonderland, but they loved it nonetheless.
Splinter clapped his hands.
"Okay, children. Time to go home."
"Awwwwwwwwwwww." came the unanimous response.
"Do we have to?" asked Michelangelo.
"Yes, we do."
"Why?" asked Donatello.
"Because if we do not you will turn into popsicles."
"What's a popsicle?" asked Leonardo.
"It is an ice cube that tastes like fruit."
"I wanna be a popsicle!" yelled Michelangelo.
"You do?" asked Splinter, smiling. "And what kind of popsicle would you like to be?"
"A monkey popsicle!"
"A monkey popsicle?" asked Splinter laughing.
"Yes." replied the tiny turtle with a smile.
Splinter shook his head. If there was one thing he loved, it was the logic of three year olds.
"Well, how about this: We go home now, and tomorrow I teach you how to make a snowman?"
"What's a snowman?" asked Raphael.
"A snowman is someone you make out of snow."
"Can there be snow turtles?" asked Donatello.
Splinter smiled. "You can make anything you want out of snow. Now come. Let us go warm up with a nice cup of hot tea."
"I want popsicle tea!" said Michelangelo.
Splinter grabbed their hands and shook his head with a smile. Popsicle tea…
…
What would that taste like?
A small fire crackled in Splinter's homemade hibachi.
He placed the tea kettle over the fire as the children all sat around it warming their cold little hands. Though Splinter had learned a great deal about his turtle children after three years of parenting, he still wasn't one hundred percent sure what their tolerance for cold was considering their reptilian origins, so he always made sure to keep things extra warm during the winter.
"Can we have tea now?" asked Raphael.
"Not until the kettle whistles." replied Splinter.
"When will that be?"
"Hmmmmm, tell you what. I need to go to the other room for a moment. How about you watch the kettle and call me the moment it whistles. Okay?"
Raphael smiled. "Okay!"
"Good. And make sure no one touches the hibachi or the kettle."
Raphael nodded.
Splinter smiled as he got up and walked across the lair.
The door to Splinter's room slide open.
His bare feet padded softly across the carpet as he slowly made his way to the dresser next to his bed.
And more importantly, the picture on top of it.
A sad smile crossed Splinter's face as he lifted the framed picture of himself, Shen, and Miwa from the top of his dresser.
He stroked a finger along Shen's cheek.
She would have loved today. Ever since she was little she had always loved snow. Even when she was pregnant with Miwa she would still wrap herself up in a swaddle of coats and blankets and sit outside just to watch the snow fall across the city.
Splinter's eyes fell from Shen's face down to the baby held in her arms.
He wondered if Miwa would have loved snow as much as her mother. He closed his eyes and imagined what it would have been like. The three of them, walking through the snow laden forests around the Hamato family dojo. His arm linked with that of his beloved wife while his young daughter sat on his shoulders. They would have been so happy, just being together and watching as the snow fell.
"Who are they?"
Splinter opened his eyes.
He looked down to see little Michelangelo standing on his bed and looking at the photo. He had been so caught up in his own musing that he hadn't even heard the young turtle enter. Either that, or his child had somehow mastered the ninja art of stealth in the two minutes he had been in the bedroom.
Splinter sat down on the bed beside him and showed him the picture.
"This is my family from when I lived in Japan."
"What's Japan?"
"It's a place faaaar away on the other side of the world."
"Who's that?" asked the little turtle as he pointed to the man in the photo.
"That's me."
"No, it's not. This is you." said Mikey as he grabbed Splinter's furry, rat nose. Splinter laughed as he pried the tiny hand off his face.
"This is what I looked like when I lived in Japan."
"Who's that?" he asked pointing at Shen.
"That's Shen. She was my wife. And this little baby here is my daughter, Miwa."
"Are they in Japan?"
Splinter looked sadly at the picture.
"No. They are…gone."
"Why do you look sad?" asked Mikey as he stared up at his father.
"I'm sad because they are gone."
"Where'd they go?"
"They went…to a different place."
"Can they come here?"
Splinter stared as he tried to find the right words.
Suddenly, the whistle of the tea kettle echoed through the air.
"It's ready! It's ready! It's ready!" shouted Raphael from the other room.
Splinter set down the picture and picked up his youngest son.
"Come. Let us go have some tea."
"Okay." said Mikey quietly.
Splinter walked with his child in his arms as he made his way towards the kitchen.
And the entire time Michelangelo's eyes never left his father's picture.
A fire raged across the Hamato dojo.
Saki leapt through the air in slow motion, his arm drawn back to finish Yoshi with the razor sharp claw in his fist.
Yoshi watched in horror as Shen stepped in front of Saki's blade.
"SHEN!"
Splinter jerked up in bed, his breathing heavy as the images from his nightmare still burned in front of his eyes.
He quickly calmed himself, slowing his breathing with practiced skill as he worked to push the terrifying visions from his mind.
As his panting subsided into normal breathing, his ears perked up as a new sound reached his ears.
The door to Splinter's room slid open.
And it took only a moment to find the source of the sound.
There, in the middle of the dojo, sat Michelangelo, dressed sloppily in half his winter attire and sobbing on the ground.
Splinter quickly made his way over to his crying child.
He knelt down beside him.
"Michelangelo, what's wrong? Why are you crying?"
The tiny turtle continued to sob. He pointed in front of him.
Splinter followed his finger to a small pile of mostly melted snow sitting on the dojo floor.
Splinter quickly put two and two together.
"Did you go outside to get snow?"
Slowly, Michelangelo nodded.
A flurry of worries sprang into Splinter's mind. The snow place was a good distance down the tunnels and the tunnels were no place for a three year old to go unsupervised.
He quickly started looking over his child for any possible injury.
"Are you hurt? Did you step on anything?"
Michelangelo's crying increased in volume.
Splinter took a deep breath. He knew rapid fire questions only made crying worse, but it was hard for him to slow down when disaster after disaster played through his mind. Taking a deep breath he sat down and placed the crying child in his lap.
"Michelangelo, calm down. Now, are you hurt?"
The crying child shook his head.
Splinter's shoulders sagged as relief washed over him.
He wiped the tears off Michelangelo's cheek.
"Good. Now, what happened?"
Michelangelo sniffed.
"I was trying to make snow people. Like the people in the picture."
Splinter's brow furrowed.
"What picture?"
"The one from Japan." explained the three year old turtle. "You said we could make anything out of snow, so I wanted to make those people because you said you missed them." Fresh tears sprung to the child's eyes. "But I didn't know how to make snow people, and then the snow went away!"
His hands tightened on Splinter's robe as he leaned into his father's chest.
"I just wanted you to be happy!"
Renewed wails filled the air as Michelangelo broke down in Splinter's arms.
Splinter sat frozen as his mind slowly put the pieces together.
His arms slowly wrapped around Michelangelo, squeezing him tightly.
A smile blossomed across Splinter's lips as a tear rolled down his cheek.
"I am happy." said Splinter. "Thank you."
The two sat together in the center of the dojo, tears on both faces as each gripped tightly to the other.
"Now, roll the ball nice and tight."
"Like this?"
"Just a little bigger."
Splinter smiled as he watched his four children build their very first snow people. True, they were more blob-like than traditional snow people, but to Splinter they were works of art worthy of the Louvre.
Leonardo ran over to Splinter.
"How'd we do?"
Splinter looked at the scene.
Before him stood five snow people, four little ones for each of his children and one tall, skinny one for Splinter himself complete with tiny twigs for Splinter's whiskers.
Splinter stared at the frozen image of his family glistening under the sunlight.
"Absolutely perfect." said Splinter with a smile. And he meant it. While he still missed his old family, his new family, his new life, as unique and imperfect as it all was, was absolutely perfect.
Author's Note: MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYONE!
It's a beautiful season of Blessings, Joy, and tons of fun! And to celebrate I wanted to make sure to have a chapter up just in time for the Holidays. I hope each and every one of you have an amazing, incredible, and wonderful Christmas!
Let me know what you think of this latest chapter. Thank you so hyper much for reading, and, as always, have a hyper happy day! LOVE YOU GUYS~!