Late chapter, again. I don't have a set update time, but ad like to get out a chapter a week, but I think it keeps coming closet to two weeks than one. Anywho, at least I got it up.
The day was fairly peacefully in the lair. The sunlight flooded through the grates and onto the large tree that sat in the dojo, which would be empty as soon as Master Splinter left. Life had settled into a comfortable routine in the seven months since April had brought then Renée. In the morning they would train, first the turtles, then Renée and Splinter; they would then go about their day, which usually consisted of fighting, playing video games, eating pizza, watching T.V, and training on the many dummies that were hanging around. When night fell, they would go out on patrols, come back to find that Renée had fallen asleep waiting for them, arguing about who would put her to bed(they would end up all doing it), then going to bed themselves. The occasional visit from April or Casey would throw a bit of added excitement into the usual day, but it all followed a general path.
This day was no different. They had all finished their training and four of them were in the main room of the lair, more commonly referred to as the Meinrūmu. Mikey was sitting in the tire swing, a comic book on his lap and a happy smile in his face as he read it. Raph was over at one if the dummies, punching and stabbing it with his sais, as Spike sat on a crate nearby, watching as he chewed his leaf. Donnie and Renée were both in the couch with books on their laps. Donnie had been teaching the child to read for the past month or so and had already make significant progress.
"The...m... man...sa... sat...on...the..log... He...l...lo...locked...up...to...the...sk...sky." Donnie shook his head, signaling her to stop. He lifted his gaze from his notebook, where he was sketching out some odd contraption to make, and looked at the words on her book. "Looked, not locked. Two 'o's make the 'oo' sound, not 'oh'. Your doing good, keep going." He encouraged, returning to his own book and adding a few more details and notes. Renée nodded slightly, then returned to reading. "He...bl...bli...blinked...as..a...la...lar...large...b...bird...swoo..." Her words were interrupted by a loud splash and Raph's angry scream. "MIKEY!" The orange banded brother had his face buried in the comic, hiding his smirk from his angry brother. After a brief minute, he glanced up to look at the now soaked Raph. "Yes, Raph? Is something wrong?" He asked innocently. Raph growled at him. "You are so dead, Mikey. You have three seconds to run." Mikey tossed the comic out harms way, flipped himself onto the floor(which was only a short distance away), and ran. By the time he had landed, Raph was already after him. Leo stuck his head out of his room, shouting at his brothers to shut up and leave each other alone, but, as usual, his orders were ignored.
Renée sighed slightly and slid her bookmark, a scrap of cloth she had found in Donnie's lab, into her book. She set the book down on her spot, and, knowing she wouldn't be able to get any more reading done with her two brothers chasing each other, went to help Raph tackle Mikey. It took both of them less than a minute to catch him, then she left her orange brother to the reds rage. By the time she returned to her spot, Leo was trying to get Raph to let Mikey out of his headlock, but to no avail. Renée sighed again and dragged her book off the couch, then padded closer to her brothers. Leo had managed to get Mikey away from Raph and was now swinging his swords around at a dummy, muttering under his breath about something as he did so.
The young lizard sat, cross legged, on the ground as she watched her brother. She set the book on her lap and looked down at the cover. It showed a man in tan shorts, a tan button-up shirt, boots, with a hat on; he was carrying a small statue, and running from some unseen terror. But it was the thing that sat at his hip that caught her eye. It was a sword, thicker, shorter, and more curved than Leo's, but still a sword. Renée's gaze flickered back up to her brother as he slashed at the dummy.
A soft sigh slipped from between her lips as she traced the man on the cover's weapon with a small finger. Her gaze flickered to the other weapons that were around the lair. Mikey had left his nunchuks on the table in front of the couch, right next to a nearly empty pizza box. Donnie's bō was propped up in a corner, supposedly out if harms way. Raph had his sais sheathed and was crouched next to Spike, feeding him a piece of lettuce. Leo still had his out and had nearly removed the arm of the dummy, again.
She felt a soft paw on her shoulder and looked up to see Splinter standing next to her. "Something trouble you, Renée?" He asked, crouching down so that he was closer to her. She was about to say no, but then sighed instead. "A bit. I was just thinking about how everyone else has a weapon. Leo has his swords, Raphie has his forks, Donnie has his stick, Mikey has his swingy things, April has her fan, Casey even has his hockey bats. I have nothing." Splinter nodded slightly as he listened to the child's words. "It is true, you have no weapon, but you are still young and your skills as a Kunoichi are improving every day. The weapon is not what makes the ninja, but the ninja that makes the weapon. Do you understand?" She hesitated a moment, then gave a small nod. "I think so." Splinter nodded slightly. "Good, why don't you go see of Leonardo will read with you, seeing as Donatello has left you for his machines." The two cast a amused glance towards Donnie's lab, which had all of its doors shut and, most likely, locked. Renée nodded slightly, stood, pressed a gentle kiss to Splinters cheek, then darted over to Leo, begging him to help her. He, of course, willingly complied.
*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*Three Weeks Later: 9:56 A.M*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*
Renée stood on a tall, skinny pole, her toes grabbing onto it in a extremely lizard-like way. There was about twenty-six identical poles set up in the dojo, each one set up my Splinter earlier that morning as the reptiles slept. It was mid-November, so the five youngest mutants all were much more sluggish, and Splinter would allow them to sleep in a bit. Donnie always insisted in was because they were cold blooded, so their animalistic side was preparing for a hibernation that would never come, but he said it in larger, more scientific words. Renée had a blindfold on and Leo, Raph, and Mikey were all trying to knock her off and onto the ground, Donnie had disappeared into his lab again the night before, right after his new machine failed its test run.
Renée spun her head around, listening closely for any signs of her brothers. She had always felt like it was slightly unfair to have the untrained ninja the one wearing the blindfold, but she also knew that by training with her well trained brother, she could work without her eyes better than most. A slight noise caught her attention and she turned her focus onto it, although she was still alert for any other sounds that may give her brothers away. A gentle breath and another soft clip of a pole being landed on was the only warning she had before Leo swept his leg towards her feet. She jumped and landed neatly on one of the nearby poles. She heard a soft rattle as Raph moved from one pole to another, slowly working his way towards her. She waited until he was a few poles away, then jumped from pole to pole until she landed on one of the outside corner poles. She heard a soft mutter to her left as Mikey charged forwards, hoping to use his momentum to knock her off and over the side. She waited until he was two poles away, then flipped over his head, using his own trick against him. He barreled right past her and, unable to stop himself, toppled off of the poles. "One down. Two to go." She muttered as she turned her attention back to her remaining brothers. She quickly dispatched Raph, using his own anger issues against him and taunting him into tackling her and missing one if the poles so he toppled to the ground. She turned to where Leo had been sitting, biding his time until he could attack.
"Your doing well, Renée. Using our brothers strengths against them. However, you can't hope to win this fight. I've managed to best everyone except for Splinter on this." The lizard simply shook her head. "I guess we just have to add one more to your 'unbeaten' list." Leo let out a soft chuckle, then slowly advanced. She stood her ground, waiting for him to near her. He was a few poles away and she was about to move, but then her pole wiggled violently. She let out a startled scream as she fell, but then wrapped her arms around one of the poles, halting her descent. Leo jumped off and landed next to Splinter and his brothers, so she let out a triumphant laugh. "I win! Leo touched the ground first. The rules are the last one on the poles wins. I'm still on the poles and everyone else is on the ground, so I win!" She said and she let herself fall the rest of the way to the ground. She walked over to her brothers and Sensei. Leo chuckled slightly. "I guess your right. You beat me." He rubbed her head, then turned towards Splinter as the old rat spoke. "Well done. Leonardo, Raphael, Michelangelo. You are dismissed, Renée, please stay." The three turtles bowed respectfully to their master, then stood and left.
Once they left, Splinter turned to his daughter, who was looking up at him with a questioning gaze. "Renée, do you still wish for a weapon?" The child nodded eagerly, already anticipating where this conversation would lead. "Then we should begin." Splinter turned and walked over to a small wardrobe that was nearly hidden behind the tree in the dojo. He opened the doors and the many weapons inside jangled slightly.
They went through almost every weapon in the wardrobe, and each one ended up flying out of her hands or destroying something. Finally Splinter pulled out two wooden, practice kamas and handed them to her. She was extremely hesitant as she grabbed the nigiri(grip) of the weapon. She turned them over in her hands, then started experimentally swinging them around. After a few minutes of this, she turned to Splinter with a wide grin plastered across her face. "These will work perfectly." She said, Splinter nodded slightly, having known that as soon as she held the small weapon. He put the practice kamas away and ducked into his room, returning with two bladed ones. He handed them to her and pulled a biscay mask from a pocket. He swiftly tied in around her face and gave her a smile. "Your favorite color, correct?" She lifted a hand and gently stroked her new masked, nodding happily. A smile pulled at Splinters lips and he gestured towards the door. "You can go now." She nodded and turned to dart away, then whipped around, dropped to her knees, and bowed to her teacher. "Arigatō, Sensei!" She jumped up and ran out of the dojo, her kamas clenched tightly in her hand as she went to show her brothers.
Finally done! This chapter gave me much grief. As I've said before, I type this story on my iPod, and I accidentally erased my whole story as I was typing this chapter up. I had nearly finished the chapter too. But, it's up. Renée's mask is a dark blue called biscay, and her weapons are kamas. She will get the rest of her equipment in a few chapters. Well, review, fave, follow, all that good stuff? I'd love to hear from anyone, critiques are welcomed as much as praise, after all, I can't get better without knowing where I go wrong. Also, Renée does know the proper names of everyone's weapons, but she prefers to call them by her own names.