A/N: Ah, yeeah... it's the Epilogue. -ducks and runs from deserved shower of rotten fruit-
Thank you very much to Nikki Ross, Shorty0908, artykidd and RAPHAELFAN02 for the reviews last chapter. And to everyone else who has contributed feedback for this story along the way.
Many thanks as well to artykidd and CPQ for beta-reading and really helping to make this series much richer with their contributions and support.
DISCLAIMER: I don't own the TMNT, or any related characters (much to their relief, I'm sure!) If there is anything else in this story you recognise from somewhere else, then I don't own that either.
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It had been almost a week since Leo had received the letter from the 'Japanese Culture Appreciation Society'. He'd finally convinced his nosey brothers that it hadn't been anything of significance, and had spent many hours meditating on what it had revealed to him. He still wasn't sure just what it meant, or how it made him feel. Indeed, he had already tossed it in his waste-basket three times, only to find himself fishing it back out again a few hours later.
At a loss regarding how he could resolve his confusion, he had actually walked into his Masters' room twice; leaving on both occasions after having asked his Father a completely unrelated question instead. That had given him much more food for thought. In the end, he had put it down to not wanting to bother his Sensei with such a trivial matter; one that he should have the maturity and fortitude to deal with on his own.
Still, it was clear he needed some form of advice regarding how to deal with the situation. So, he decided to go to the source of the problem. Tausha had been careful to avoid being caught alone with him, and had made an obvious effort to keep in his good books since New Years' Day. That didn't surprise Leo one bit, though it seemed to put Raphs' nose out of joint a little. Raph and Tau were now spending some time apart after having a little disagreement over an insult his hot-headed brother had thrown Leos' way on their ride home from her work.
Hesitantly, Leo knocked lightly on her bedroom door. She opened it a few moments later to greet him with a defiant glare, staunch hand on her hip; and devilish smile. Realising who was actually at her door, she immediately dropped the attitude and started to fluster.
"S…sorry! I thought you were… Um, wha…what d'you want?" she enquired nervously.
"Can I come in?" asked Leo.
"Uh, yeah? Yeah, sure…if you want…" she stepped back to invite him in with a sweep of her hand.
He waited silently just inside the doorway as she busied herself; collecting the book she had been reading off her bed to put it away in her bedside table drawer, then fussing for a moment with straightening her slightly rumpled blankets. She jumped as she heard her door click shut, her face going a shade paler as she spotted the letter now in his hands.
"Um, Leo? I… I c'n explain…" she started anxiously.
"I'm not mad at you." he stated levelly, keeping his face straight, though he felt as shocked at his own admission as she looked.
"Oh? Oh! Well that's, um, good to know…" she nodded, rubbing the back of her neck before she timidly met his eyes again.
"I just want to know; why?" he answered the tacit query in her eyes, his calm tone unwavering.
"Uh, yeah, I s'pose you would. Fair enough! I actually thought she wasn't gonna reply, I wrote to her quite a while ago now…"
"I know; she included a copy of your letter for my reference." Leo interceded evenly. "You wrote to her back in the middle of November. Why?"
With a sigh, Tau sat on the edge of her bed. Apart from her bedside table it was the only piece of furniture in her room.
"I don't know." she lamented. "I suppose I wanted someway to…thank you. Return the favour, so to speak. After Raph and I had that big fight –you know, over the bug thing– I was kinda worried it was going to be the end of our friendship. But you helped us out; giving us a little space apart and with the advice you gave Raph. It gave us both a chance to take a breath, have a think and really sort out our troubles. And I guess; I just wanted to give you a chance at a similar opportunity. I know now I should just keep my big nose out of other peoples' relationships. I only make things worse. So, I am sorry if…" she petered out with a little shrug.
Leo walked over to take a seat on the edge of the mattress beside her.
"Does anybody else know about this?" he asked; a thread of unease in his voice.
"No. I snuck it in the post while I was out shopping with April. I wasn't sure if she would write back at all, so I didn't want to… I dunno, 'spoil it' if she didn't." explained Tau, polishing the bare stone floor with the toe of her boot.
"Has she written back to you?"
"No. Though I didn't ask her to, and I didn't really expect her to. I mean, what would we have to talk about, really?" she smiled sheepishly.
"Huh." grunted Leo in bemused reply, shaking his head slightly. "I'm surprised she wrote to me! You were pretty obtuse in your letter."
"Yeah, I kinda didn't want to give away too many details. And I figured, if she couldn't work out who I was referring to, I was on the wrong
track anyway." she shrugged again.
"I suppose I should thank you for that. Apart from our postal address you haven't given anything away. Reading this…" he pointed to the copy of her original note "…it doesn't even seem as if you know us that well, let alone are living with us."
"Hmm." smiled Tau crookedly. "I know Dad isn't making her life any easier lately, so I was a bit worried she might try to play him and me against each other a bit if she realised where I was. I mean, I don't know her that well, but I don't think she would. Still, being stuck in a cell most of the time…I was worried she might've wanted to take her frustrations out on someone else."
They sat in silence for a minute as Leo contemplated her reasoning. It didn't make an awful lot of sense to him. He wasn't opposed to Raph and Tau being friends, only. But, 'saving' their relationship certainly hadn't been his motivation when he'd tried to get them to spend some time apart.
"I still don't understand why she wrote to me." he admitted quietly. Tau chewed her lip for moment before she answered.
"Sometimes Leo, when all you have are enemies, the least of them is the closest thing you have to a friend. It's a dark place to be, I know. I
wouldn't wish it on anybody! And I was very lucky that Raph and you guys helped me out of it fairly quickly. I hate to think how she has to cope with losing everything, so I suppose I did it to help her out too." she quietly explained.
After pondering for another minute Leo nodded, thinking he was finally starting to understand.
"I'm just… Do you think…I should write back?" he asked tentatively. "I mean, she doesn't ask me to, and…well, she's been pretty blunt…"
"That's up to you really. What did she say?" queried Tau. Leo held out a single page featuring a small section of kanji for her to take.
"Um, I can't read this." she reminded him.
"Oh, sorry." he sheepishly took the page back, clearing his throat nervously to gather the courage to read it out loud. It took a lot more nerve than he expected to keep his voice steady. "It says; 'Hamato Leonardo. I want to make one thing irrevocably clear. I hate you. A mutual acquaintance has suggested you may benefit from obtaining my point of view on certain matters. I do not see how it will change anything. Sincerely, Oroku Karai.'"
"Wow. 'Blunt' is a bit of an understatement!" commented Tau softly. "What's this down here?" she pointed out a notation in English below the main body of the letter.
"It seems to be some kind of Post Office Box. Her return address, I guess." explained Leo.
"Oh, maybe it goes direct to Bayview, rather than through the whole prison admin system… or something." she speculated.
"Or it could be a trap." added Leo; Tau quirked a dubious eyebrow at him.
"For what, your letters?" she asked sardonically.
"A way to trace where we live, or get my fingerprints off the paper, or… I don't know." he replied, getting a little exasperated. Tau rested her hand on his arm.
"Or it could just be her return address, Leo." she pointed out gently.
The uncertain turtle stared at the letter in his hand, as if he could somehow see through the paper to the truth behind it.
"So, what do I do now?" he finally asked.
"Well, she has gone out on a bit of a limb just writing to you. I think the least you can do is write back; even if it's just to tell her your
'acquaintance' is an interfering idiot, and you're never gonna write to her again!" suggested Tau with a brief, self-effacing laugh. "But, seriously, it's up to you. Whether you see it as an opportunity or a trap, I won't try to change your mind or anything. Whatever happens between you two is your business. I'm stayin' well out of it from now on!" she declared with certainty.
"'Between us two'?" Leo picked out with a deep scowl. "You know that I don't feel that way about her at all!"
Tau frowned back at him.
"That's not what I meant; I thought you were friends once. I'm not about to assume it's anything more than that, just because she's a woman!" she reprimanded him lightly.
"Good." nodded Leo. "So long as you understand that. And don't think this is going to make me ease up on you and Raph becoming anything more either." he warned. Tau fixed him with a cool glare.
"I wouldn't expect it to. I do know you have more integrity than that, Leo." she assured. "And so do I." she added, haughtily turning her nose in the air.
"Alright." he acquiesced shortly. "Then this is the end of the matter. I doubt I'll write back. What's the point of trying to settle our
differences now anyway?"
The loud banging of a fist on wood cut off Taushas' reply. With a sigh she gave Leo a brief, consolatory pat on the shoulder as she stood to
go answer the door. Opening it, Raph was stood there with his arms crossed and a scowl on his face. Before she could say a word he gave a loud 'Hmpf'.
"Look Tau." he said sternly. "I'll 'pologise to you, 'k? But there's no-way in hell I'm gonna say sorry to… You!" he growled, spotting Leo past her shoulder as his brother got to his feet.
"Uh, Raph, wait…" Tau tried unsuccessfully to stop the hot-head from barging into her room.
"What the hell are you doing in here?" he demanded of his brother.
"Just talking, Raph." answered Leo levelly, his letter safely hidden from sight in his belt pocket.
"Talking? Talking 'bout what?" before his brother could answer his brusque questions Raph turned and gripped Tau by the top of her arms. "Are
you ok?" he asked in sudden concern. "He hasn't upset you; has 'e?"
Tau gave him a warm smile as she shook her head.
"I'm fine!" she assured, resting her hands on the top edge of his plastron to calm him. "It's nothing for you to worry about, really."
"Dinner!" echoed Mikes' voice from below. Despite Taus' assertions, Raph still turned his head to glower at Leo as his brother walked past them to head downstairs. As soon as Leo was out of sight, he tried to face her again to get the real story of what was going on; only to find his attempt hindered by her pulling him close to press three quick, warm kisses along the side of his jaw.
"What's that for?" he asked, pleasantly surprised at her being so forward. Tau responded by wrapping her arms loosely around his neck and
murmuring in his ear,
"I just realised; the only good thing about fighting is…making-up afterwards." she explained with a mischievous note in her voice.
"I'm down with that!" he agreed, giving a low chuckle. He quickly trailed small nips and kisses of his own along her jaw-line towards her chin, turning her face towards him with a gentle hand on her cheek.
"No. 'Friends' remember?" she breathed, as his lips brushed close to hers; tilting her head away slightly to evade him, not enough to break the touch of his mouth on her cheek.
"HOY! I said 'Dinner'!" interrupted Mikes' raised voice again. The two of them stepped apart; Raph with a grimace, Tau with a resigned sigh. Just as they'd anticipated, Leo peered back in through the doorway to see what was keeping them.
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Final A/N:
I hope you're not all disappointed with this story. I got the feeling everyone was hoping that Raph and Tau would be the ones doing the 'revealing' in this tale. I'm afraid not! Well, they have taken a few small steps closer to sorting themselves out… and Raph did have his own little revelation that he wants his relationship with Tau to be based as much on respect and trust as the physical stuff. Tau has also realised that some of her reasons for them not getting together are as strong or relevant as she first thought. That's gotta count for something, right? Even though she's still being pig-headed about the whole thing.
Sorry this fic kinda 'cuts off'; it was always just a bit of an insight into life in the Lair between major adventures and everyone getting to know each other a little better. And there have been quite a few little points raised in this that are seeds for upcoming stories;
Hun has a very bad day in the not too distant future. The Foot, the Scorpions and the Turtles are all going to converge on him at once. And Tau manages to get herself caught up in the middle of it all, of course.
Casey and April have decided to tie the knot… will it all go smoothly? Will anyone raise an objection when given the chance during their ceremony? Will Angel be there, and will she ever speak to Raph or his brothers again?
Karai is still haunting the turtles' lives; or the life of one at least, no matter how deeply he can immerse himself in denial of that fact.
And we found out how Tau is earning her fare for her trip home, and got a few more insights into what is driving her need to leave.
As some of you know, and others have probably guessed, this is going to be a fairly long running series. I am hoping to advance, if not resolve, most of these plot-lines this year. And a few extra ones to boot! Fingers crossed I'll get there! To that end, I will post the first chapter of the follow-on fic from this one; 'The Curse of the Broken Pearl', within the next day or so. Poor Tau is gonna find out the hard way just how randomly adventurous the turtles lives can get! BWAHAhahaha!
Ahem, yeah, well… hope you all continue to enjoy reading this series. I'm having an absolute ball writing it! -grin-
Cheers!