Like I said, it's not the end of the story yet. Splinter still wants to know about his family history so here it is!
Chapter 26: Family History
The next morning, Zuko was standing in front of the Sacred Peach Tree of Wisdom, waiting for the sun to rise. He feels the wind blowing through his fur and closed his eyes as he was meditating. Seconds later, Splinter comes in and sees Zuko meditating as well. He can tell that he is definitely family to him, even though they only met for a short period of time.
Zuko opened his eyes, turned around and saw Splinter behind him. He chuckled and said, "Good morning, brother."
"How are you?"
"Fine. Just finishing up meditating. I always like to meditate when the morning comes every morning."
"I meditate at home all the time as well."
"You do?"
"Yes, I do."
"That sounds amazing."
"Yes it does."
Splinter walked towards him and sits next to him to watch the sun rise together. Zuko asked, "What is the reason why you choose to come to China?"
"Well, back in the sewers, I started reading my family history to see what my family looks like. All of my ancestors were from Japan, but what really took me by surprise is that most of my ancestors were from China as well. I did not believe it, but I wanted to find out about my ancestors from China and what is the better idea than to actually go there. So I started thinking that my sons should come along with me to understand my family heritage." Splinter explained.
"How did they take it?"
"All three of them were looking forward to go to China, but Raphael wanted to stay home and I know I could not leave him at home by himself, because he is not responsible for being in charge of the house by himself, except when he watches over his brothers."
"How come you didn't want Raph to stay home alone?"
"Last time I did, Raph threw a party and it was a moment of 'what was I thinking?' and when I came home, it was a huge mess and Raphael was the troublemaker in that party. He cleaned up the entire house and I told him to never have parties like that in here again."
Zuko chuckled and said, "You must be one heck of a strict father."
"Yes, I am."
"I always figured what you were gonna do if you have kids. Now I know why."
"Well, I keep all four of them in a straight line and as long as they have been taught about the lessons of ninjitsu, then it will be no problem."
"Well, since I moved to China, I have seen a couple of rats here that are parts of our family, some of them are spirits from our ancestors and others that are living."
Splinter's face lit up and gasped in surprise as Zuko heard about it. He turned to him and asked, "Where do I find it?"
"Well, I look at this temple, right? As I go through these mountains, there's this place somewhere, past the mountains and I walk into this cave and on one of these areas, there's a little temple inside there and I see all our ancestors from there. You ask the ancestors to see them, they appear quicker than ever and you can actually talk to them."
"What is the place called?"
"Spiritual Ancestory Caverns. It traces every part of your family history, both from China and Japan."
"Well, I think I want to see it for myself."
Zuko turned to him and asked, "You want to learn about our family history, do you?"
"Of course I do. I only met my long-lost brother a few days ago."
Zuko smiled and said, "Am I still part of the family?"
"Of course you are. And you will when you come back home with us."
"Really? I get to come back home to New York with you guys?"
"Yes. You will grow to like it there."
"Sounds great. Tell me when you're ready to go."
"We are staying for three weeks, so how about next week?"
"Sounds good to me."
Splinter was excited to learn about his family history and what's better-to actually see his ancestors' spirits. It sounds like Splinter is looking forward to learn about his Chinese ancestors, even though he has some of them back in Japan. It would be an amazing experience for him to see for the first time.
Splinter finally gets to see where he can see his ancestors. Could be a spiritual moment!