Things are gonna turn cool now.

Chapter 18: Bonding

Several hours had passed by after the group training, Musaki was sitting in the Sacred Peach Tree of Wisdom, just reflecting on that day when he was involved with group training together with the turtles. It was something he can remember for as long as he can remember. It seems as though he's gonna get to know the turtles a lot better and maybe get used to Raph being around here.

Then, a shadow emerges from behind and he turns around and sees the turtles behind them. He chuckled and said, "Hey, guys. What's up?"

"Well, we just wanted to tell you that since you and Raph are now cool with each other, we were kinda wondering that maybe you can teach Raph some yoga skills." Leo said.

"Yeah, Leo told me that you're amazing at this yoga stuff. Show me some moves." Raph said.

Hearing this made Musaki's heart skip a beat and stood up on the ground and let out a smile, and then told him, "I'll show you what I know."

Raph got behind him and began teaching him some of his moves. He stands still, then puts his left foot to his right ankle and stretch out his arms wide. Raph tried to do the same and started to struggle with it a little bit, but is trying to master it. He grunts and actually got it right. He chuckled and figured that this should be easy.

Then, Musaki lifted his left leg in the air and he grabbed his right ankle to see if he can balance. Raph didn't know what do make of it, but he did it anyway, only he tripped a few times. Musaki looked at him and asked, "You okay?"

"Yeah, sure." Raph said.

"It's okay to mess up, just a little."

"I bet it's easy, right?"

"Oh, trust me. It's not as easy as you think."

Then, he laid himself on the ground on his stomach and lifted himself up and took deep breaths, lifted his head up, raised his entire body up and exhaled all the stress away. Raph repeated what Musaki did and almost seemed to get the hang of it. Then, Musaki teaches him the next step; thinking peaceful thoughts. He sits down on the ground, legs crossed and closed his eyes and think happy thoughts. He takes a deep breath, thinks of something cool and exhaled all the stress away.

Raph did the same thing and to his surprise, he actually feels relaxed. The other turtles were surprised to see Raph so relaxed and serene. After that, Musaki opened his eyes and saw Raph feeling relaxed for the first time. He chuckled softly and Raph opens his eyes and asked, "How you feeling?"

Raph didn't know what to make of it and only said, "I don't know. I kinda...feel like there's no pressure anymore."

"See, with yoga, you have to woosah all the stress away and all your anger out of you. You just forget about what you're angry at, but you have to want to."

"I always thought that this was just an exercise."

"It's a relaxing exercise to sort of de-program all your stress away."

"You're pretty impressive, kid."

"I've been told."

"So, is this where you go?" asked Donny.

"Of course. It's a great place to go if I need some alone time or just to relax or to just get away for a while and just reflect on everything that day. Plus, there's actual peaches in the tree, so it wouldn't hurt to sneak a taste." Musaki answered.

"I just want to ask you something." Leo said.

Musaki sighed heavily and asked, "What is it?"

"When you first got here, what were your feelings?"

"Nervous, anxious, shy, excited. Just pretty much every other emotion you can think of."

"So, have you ever wondered what was it like to be family here?"

"There were often times that I feel like I don't belong here, like everyone expects me to do like everyone else, but it's not like that at all. As soon as they got used to me, they let me do whatever moves I have, only if it's involved with everything they taught me. So, I feel no pressure from anyone at all. As for the family aspect, I never expected to be taken in by a group of animals that do kung-fu. I've waited 10 years to be adopted and I guess now was pretty much the time. 2 years later, here I am. It's like...I feel happy here and I never want to leave here."

"So, you feel happy here?" asked Donny.

"Yep."

"Were there any conflicts?" asked Raph.

"Quite a few. Most conflicts I got in were with Tigress. She d my guts, because I look like Po, but different in some ways. And she still isn't used to me being here."

"That's rough."

"Yeah, but I learned to deal with it."

"How?"

"Just joke about it. That pretty much helps out a lot."

"I play my music back in New York and most of them drive Raph insane, especially when I up my stereo really loud." Mikey said.

"Really?"

"Yep. I be ing out tunes."

"And those 'tunes' drove me to the brink where I just want to squeeze your head off." Raph said.

"Hey, it doesn't get on anyone's nerves."

"Actually, most of them get on our nerves, especially when you put them on 'repeat'." Leo said.

Musaki chuckled softly and figured that these guys can get along so easily. Donny turns to Musaki and asked, "So, Master Splinter has been like another father to you, right?"

"He's cool."

"Well, when I saw you guys talking to each other, I gotta be honest, I was a little scared he would pay attention to you instead of us."

"You know he's not like that. He told me he loves you all just the same. Nothing's gonna change that."

Donny chuckled and said, "I can respect that."

"So, how about that training, huh?"

"That was the best training ever. Ninjitsu and kung-fu makes a great combination."

"Ninjitsu and kung-fu? We might call them, 'Kung-ninjitsu-fu!'" Mikey exclaimed.

Everyone turned to Mikey and asked, "Kung ninjitsu-fu?"

Mikey chuckled nervously and said, "What do you guys think?"

"I think your brain is malfunctioning into overdrive." Raph said.

"Whatever. I kinda like it." Musaki said.

"You do?"

"Of course. Even though it sounds like a weird name, it could actually be a good one."

The turtles looked at each other and Donny said, "He's got a point."

"Maybe we can take some of the kung-fu training and use our ninja fighting skills back to New York." Leo said.

Mikey laughs and said, "Awesome! That's what I'm talking about, dudes!"

"Eh, why not?" asked Raph.

"Sweet."

Looks like they're getting along now. The next chapter will add to that. Who wants to see Musaki and Splinter bonding together? You'll just have to wait and see!