Hey everyone! I want to thank those of you who've read, faved, followed and reviewed! Please continue reading!
I would really like some more reviews, because so far only three people have reviewed, and I really want to know what you all are thinking of this story so far! I really need feedback when I write a story so that I know if I'm doing good or can improve some how!
Disclaimer's on my prof.!
Sorry for any spelling problems, sometime spellcheck tries to change words x_x
Translations for Japanese terms in BOLD are at the bottom of the chap, and any Japanese words that aren't bold means that the translations are in previous chaps!
Enjoy reading!
The lair was usually a hectic place, considering that six people lived there, and five of them were brothers (brothers who had a usual tendency to argue). But that was what made it home.
"Mikey! I swear when I get my hands on ya, yer gonna-"
Jack awoke with a start at the yelling from outside his room. The sixteen-year-old groaned, running a hand through his hair and blinking blearily as he sat up, propped on an elbow. He frowned at his door, as though it were the reason Raph was chasing after Mikey at such an early hour.
Knowing that there was no way he'd be able to sleep any longer, the teen kicked off his blankets and stumbled over to where his shirt waited.
Over the years, despite the partial lack of proper nutrition, Jack had grown from being the small, shy boy he had once been, to a brave, kind teen. His voice had matured, becoming soft and warm, and he now stood at five-foot-nine (still shorter than his brothers, but tall enough for his age). His raven hair was always a bit messy and had grown to his jaw, sometimes pulled back and other times left to loosely hang about his face. He was pale, though that came with living in the sewers and only leaving in the cover of night. Like his brothers, who had Japanese Kanji on their shells, Jack had the words 'blue eyes' in Kanji painted on his upper arm in black, the 'tattoo' courtesy of Mikey. He always wore a high collared Asian-style, sleeveless shirt that was of a dark green fabric and loose fitting, black pants that were held up with a silk sash (a gift from April, who had found it at a oriental trade shop). He always kept his choice of weapon, a Kyoketsu-shoge (a long chain that connected to a ring at one end and a blade with a second curved blade at the bottom of the first connected to its other end) on his person at all times, usually on his hip.
While he wasn't amazingly strong, like his brothers, Jack had developed his speed and flexibility over the years, and could keep up with them when they'd go up-top and patrol the city. With six years of training under his belt, Jack could handle himself in a fight, and knew how to use many types of weapons as well.
All-in-all, he was more than capable of taking care of himself.
Once he'd pulled his shirt on, Jack moved to the door, walking to the railing that lined the upper walkway. He poked his head over, looking down at the main floor.
Donnie was no doubt at his computer, judging by the sounds from the monitor room, and Jack knew that Splinter was meditating at this time in the morning. Leo was leaning against the wall, shaking his head to himself as Mikey ran about, laughing wildly with an angry Raph chasing after him, the older of the two obviously having been on the receiving end of one of Mikey's famous pranks, seeing as Raph was dripping cold sewer water. Jack looked at Leo wearily.
"Again?"
Blue eyes flickered up to Jack, Leo grimacing and nodding his head.
"Again."
Jack rolled his eyes to himself, going to the nearby ladder and climbing down. Reaching the ground floor, the teen ducked around Mikey and Raph, going to the kitchen. Now more than awake, Jack began his morning routine, starting a kettle of water on the old stove and rummaging through the fridge and cabinets to scrounge together a quick breakfast for himself. Settling on some of the cereal April had brought down a few days ago, Jack snacked on handfuls of the box's contents, hopping up to sit on one of the makeshift counters as he waited for the contents of the kettle to come to a boil.
He didn't have to wait long, and soon the kettle was whistling, steam pouring from its spout. Setting aside the cereal box, Jack went to the stove, turning it off and setting the kettle on the cooler side of the stove top. Once that was done, Jack pulled out a simple tray, putting it on the counter top before digging out the ceramic, Asian-style teapot that April had gotten Splinter for his birthday (it was so fancy with a strainer in the spout to hold back the tea leaves and everything, it had to be one of the nicest things in the lair!) and one of the matching Yunomi style tea cups. Placing both on the tray, Jack grabbed the small bag of green tea leaves that hid on top of the fridge.
Pulling a couple of the leaves out, Jack paused to breathe in their light, soothing scent before putting them into the teapot and pouring the water from the kettle into the pot, over the leaves.
Setting the kettle in the sink, Jack placed the top back on the teapot, then carefully picked up the tray.
Leaving the kitchen, Jack went towards Splinter's meditation room, pushing the screen door open with his foot and slipping in.
The room was dimly lit with candles that filled the room with the scent of lavender. Splinter was balanced upon his tail precariously, deep in meditation.
Jack smiled to himself, gently nudging the screen door shut with his foot.
"Sensei." He said softly, approaching his father. "I have your morning tea."
Dark eyes opened, and Splinter smiled, feet returning to the ground as he turned to his youngest child.
"Ah, my son, you always take such good care of me."
Jack grinned, laughing.
"Well someone has to make sure you keep yourself healthy, and the others are way too forgetful."
Splinter chuckled softly, sitting at the low coffee table, Jack sitting across from him and setting the tray down. The teen carefully took the teapot by the handle and poured the tea in. Splinter bowed his head gratefully.
"Thank you, my little one. I know that making tea is not the ideal past-time."
Jack shook his head.
"I've told you, sensei, time and time again, it's fine. Dad, I've been doing this for you since I was ten and a half! It's nothing more than habit by now."
Splinter hummed, taking the tea cup when Jack offered it.
"And every day since that first day, I have been grateful for each pot of tea you bring me."
Jack only smiled, resting his elbows on the table, hands folding together. There was a few minutes of silence, Jack only watching as Splinter drank his morning tea. The rat then set the cup down, eyes turning to the boy's right hand.
Splinter reached forward, gently taking the three-fingered appendage in his hands, running careful fingers over the bandages that were wrapped around his wrist and where his missing pinky and neighboring finger once were.
"It has almost been eight years since the incident..."
A flicker of sadness passed through Jack's eyes, but was quickly shoved away. The teen offered a smile, his hand gently gripping the rat's.
"C'mon, sensei. It's been years. I'm over it. Besides, it's...Turtle chic."
Splinter chuckled warmly.
"I suppose so, my son."
They remained there for a moment, Jack relishing the warm, soothing touch his father was brushing over his hand. After a few minutes, Jack sighed, pulling his hand away.
"I should go see if I can help Leo calm Raph and Mikey down."
Splinter smiled, inclining his head.
"Very well, my little hikari."
Jack blushed embarrassedly as he stood.
"Daaad." He whined. "I wish you wouldn't call me that, you'll have Mikey starting to call me little light again, and I only just got him to stop."
Spliner gave him a knowing look.
"You will always be my little hikari, Jackson. That will never change."
Jack sighed, but smiled all the same, heading to the sliding paper door. He left, shutting the door behind him-
With a yelp, the teen jumped out of the way as Mikey thundered past, laughing his shell off as Raph bolted after him. Jack grinned, shaking his head to himself as Leo yelled at them, trying to get them to stop before they broke something.
Even with all the chaos...This was home.
The next time Mikey and Raph ran by, Jack hopped up, clinging to the elder of the two terrapin's shell.
"Morning Raph!" Jack greeted as his weight on the red-clad turtle's shell made him skid to a halt.
The large, burly terrapin seemed surprised by his sudden appearance, apparently not having seen his human brother come down from his room.
"Jay, what up?" Raph asked, his anger all but forgotten as he took in the warm smile his baby brother had.
Jack had always been the only one able to calm Raph down, for some odd reason. Probably because, despite their vastly different personalities, they were the best of friends ever since they were little.
And that as why as Mikey was scolded by Leo, Jack hung onto Raph's shell, working on bringing the terrapin's temper back down.
Jack smiled, laughing slightly as he climbed over to sit on Raph's broad shoulder, the turtle wrapping a large hand around his ankles to keep him steady.
"Not much, just got woken up by yelling. Again."
Raph huffed while his little brother sent him a knowing look.
"Yeah, well, Mikey was an idiot 'gain."
Jack fiddled with Raph's sunglasses absently.
"Well maybe next time keep the yelling to a minimum." He suggested, "It makes sleeping in on the weekend hard."
Raph rolled his eyes.
"Ya don' need t' sleep in tha' late, it's already nine."
Jack smirked, resting his elbows on his knees as he leaned forward to look at his brother.
"I seem to remember someone sleeping in until noon on Saturdays at my age."
Raph frowned, cheeks turning a slightly darker green.
"Ah shut it."
Jack chuckled as Raph made his way to one of the couches, the turtle dumping him off.
"Just saying!"
Raph flopped down beside him, the springs of the old couch creaking in protest at the weight of the giant terrapin.
"So, what did he do this time?" Jack asked, grabbing one of the sai from Raph's belt and twirling it about in his fingers. Raph sighed, rubbing the back of his neck.
"Cold sewer water while I was sleepin'."
Jack winced sympathetically.
"Dude, what did you do to him?"
"I didn' do anythin'! The idiot jus' thought it'd be frickin' hilarious!"
Jack shook his head to himself.
"It's like you've got a target painted on your shell sometimes."
Raph only grunted in agreement, grabbing for the TV remote and switching the old set on, flipping through the channels, Jack's presence setting his frayed nerves at ease.
"So, do we have patrol tonight?" Jack asked conversationally. Raph hummed.
"Yeah, we do. Ya sure yer up t' it, though?"
Jack frowned, brow furrowed in confusion.
"Huh? Why wouldn't I be?"
"Well...Y'know...Tomorrow's th' eight year anniversary o'...well..."
Jack blinked, then lifted his right hand.
"What, this? C'mon Raph, it's been years! You and the others are taking it harder than I am! I mean sure, I'm missing a couple fingers, so what?" He lightly punched Raph's shoulder. "I can still kick your aft."
Raph snorted, smirking as he wrapped an arm around the teen's neck in a playful headlock.
"Yeah, ya wish ya could keep up with me 'n a fight!"
Jack struggled, punching at his brother's leg and laughing.
"Hey! No fair!"
"Wha' fight is fair?" Raph retorted, the blows being delivered to his leg being absorbed easily by the terrapin's tough hide. "C'mon, tell me, who's th' best big brotha' in th' world?"
"Leo!"
Raph used his free hand to tickle the teen's side.
"Eh? I didn' hear ya, who's th' best brotha'?"
"Leo is!" Jack managed through his laughter.
Raph grinned, continuing to tickle him mercilessly.
"Who is?"
"You! You are!" Jack gasped out, lungs aching from lack of air thanks to his violent laughter. "You're the best brother!"
Satisfied, Raph released Jack from the headlock, no longer tickling him. Jack gasped in deep lung-fulls of air, glaring half-heartedly at Raph.
"You can be such a baka!"
"Part o' my charm, lil' bro. All part o' my charm."
"I wouldn't call it charm." Jack retorted, lightly kicking the side of the terrapin's plastron. "It more of it's a part of your issues."
Raph chuckled, grabbing the anlke of the kicking foot and yanking the boy over, leaning sideways on Jack so that part of his weight was on him.
"Can't...Breathe!" Jack wheezed. Raph rolled his eyes.
"I'm not tha' heavy."
"I'm not talking about the weight, I'm talking about the smell."
Raph frowned, leaning more of his weight on the human.
"Yeah, well ya smell like I do, we live in a sewer, ya lil'-"
"Raph." Leo sighed. "Stop crushing him."
"Ah lay off, Fearless! 'E's fine!"
"That's a matter of opinion." Jack wheezed, earning a cuff to the back of the head.
Jack whooped as he lept across the gap between two buildings, rolling when he hit the next rooptop. He grinned when his brothers darted past, and he flipped up onto Leo's shell, holding on with one hand, knees pressed against the hard, grooved surface. Hitching a ride to the top of one of the other buildings he couldn't reach on his own, Jack then jumped off, hitting the ground running (literally).
This was one of Jack's favorite things: patrolling the city. The cold, nighttime air would bite into his skin and stain his cheeks red, and the freedom he felt on the rooftops when he would flip and jump, twist and slide...Nothing beat that. And with his brothers, he could reach even the tops of the tallest buildings by just hanging onto their shells...
The five brothers were nothing more than shadows that danced upon the rooftops, sometimes melting into one form and other times dispersing, jumping and climbing, never seeming to have trouble reaching the places they wished to reach.
Reaching another tall building, Raph lowered a hand, letting Jack hop in, and the terrapin launched him up to the roof before following suit, jumping up and grabbing the edge of the building, pulling himself up. The others were already up there, Raph having been the only one to fall back so he could help Jack up to the building.
Jack and Raph moved over to where Leo, Don and Mikey were peering over the edge of the building at the docks bellow. Jack managed to squeeze between his brothers to the front so that he could better see, and Raph crouched beside Leo. The red-banded turtle frowned when he saw the people that were moving quietly about the docks, unloading suspicious crates and machinery, faces hidden by masks.
"Who're they? They don' look like th' Foot 'r Purple Dragons..."
"No." Leo agreed. "They don't."
Jack looked at his eldest brother.
"What should we do?"
Leo was silent for a moment, thinking things over carefully, then,
"Raph, you're with me, we'll try to get closer and see what intel we can gather. Don, you take Mikey and Jack and go check that warehouse." Leo ordered, pointing at the building in question, where the crates and machines were slowly being taken. "If we're seen, don't try to face them all on your own, get back to the lair, understood?"
After they all agreed, they split up, Jack following Mikey and Don to the warehouse, only pausing to bump his shoulder against Raph's arm along the way.
"Try not to get shot." Jack said to the red-clad terrapin, grinning.
Raph only rolled his eyes.
"Yeah, ya jus' worry 'bout yer own shell."