When April had turned four, she got her first and only concussion. She had been at a baseball game with her father, and got hit in the head with a foul ball while her father was turned away buying peanuts. She had been unconscious for a few hours, and awoke in a hospital room with no recollection of what had happened and a splitting headache.
When April awoke with another brain-numbing headache, she immediately feared that she had another concussion. She propped herself up and looked around, shielding her fragile vision from the blinding light that seemed to come from everywhere.
"Donnie, she's awake!" said a voice April seemed to recognize, but figured she heard it wrong. There was no way he would be standing vigil by her bedside. She turned to look in the direction of the voice but was struck with a bolt of pain through her head.
She lay back down and closed her eyes, drawing some comfort from the darkness. She felt a light hand on her left shoulder, someone she figured was either Casey or Donnie.
"April?" asked a voice she recognized as Donatello.
"Lights...too...bright.." she groaned. She heard someone scramble and the heat of the light was gone. Her eyes timidly opened and she saw Donnie smiling over her. She mustered a smile. "Thanks."
"I'm glad you're awake, we were getting worried," smiled Donnie, showing off his adorably adolescent tooth gap. "I'm going to run a few more tests before you can get up."
"What happened?" she asked. "Why does my head hurt?"
Donnie looked uneasy as he put two patches attached to wires on each side of her temple. "I'm honestly not sure. I wouldn't be the person to ask."
April nodded, crestfallen, but craving to close her eyes and return to the ease of darkness. But suddenly, she came to a realization. When she first opened her eyes, Donnie was on her right side, closer to his counter filled with his science-y stuff. Unless he awkwardly reached over her body, which she suspected he was too uncomfortable to do, Donnie was not the person who stroked her arm. She turned her head to the left, but saw nothing but an empty room. She assumed it was just Casey playing a prank, but part of her hoped it wasn't. There was sliver inside of her that hoped it was him, the owner of the voice. There would be no way to know for sure, he would simply deny it if she asked. Unless…
You're crazy, April thought. There's no way he shares feelings for you.
Donnie finished his tests quickly and gave her some painkillers for her headache. The rest of the lair seemed to be vacant, so April figured now was a good time to get some questions answered. She walked to Master Splinter's room and carefully opened the door. Splinter was perched on her knees, eyes closed, obviously meditating. April considered coming back later, but her sensei's head turned to the side.
"It is alright, April," he said, eyes still closed. "I figured you would come here for answers."
April sheepishly sat across from the rat, feeling incredibly unprofessional in the presence of the best ninja warrior she had ever met. She copied his perched position, though it was incredibly uncomfortable. She took a deep relaxing breath. "What happened to me, Master Splinter?"
Splinter's eyes opened suddenly. "You were possessed by a very dangerous dark spirit. Your telepathic abilities made it easy to take over your body."
April grimaced at the thought of another person taking over her body. "Who was this spirit?"
"An man from my past," Splinter sighed. "His name was Kaito Yoshiro, and was a prominent leader of the Kaito or "Sea" clan. He was proud and stubborn, and we were acquaintances. His clan was prosperous, creating incredible sea-vessels that traveled around the world. We had an agreement that I would sail one of his boats to the buying port in return for free passage to the town."
"Sorry, Master Splinter," interrupted April. "But what does a boat have to do with an evil spirit?" Splinter shot her a sharp glance, and she patiently lowered her head.
"I was taking one of Kaito Yoshiro's boats to a small port, where I planned to meet up with my family. But while I voyaged, a terrible storm hit the boat, and the boat was lost and all of the crew died. I managed to survive by floating on a piece of driftwood. I wasn't able to let Yoshiro know about the boat; he did not know until the Buyers angrily stated how the boat never arrived at the Port. Yoshiro's business was not affected, but his pride was. He continued to send boats to the Ports, but each and everyone was destroyed by the same storm. Even boats that were sent to different docks were still affected by the tempest."
"He couldn't have blamed the storm on you?" April asked.
Splinter sighed. "I am afraid Yoshiro believed heavily in the supernatural and he was constantly paranoid. He believed, since I was the first to be in the storm, that I cursed his boats to always be destroyed. His prosperous business was slowly demolished as his boats continued to fall to the storm. Yoshiro himself died in the storm, but his spirit and vendetta were so strong, that his spirit remained, and the devastating storm follows wherever he goes."
April was stunned. "And this man wants revenge against you?"
"He thinks that I took away everything he had with that storm, so he vows to do the same to me," answered Splinter.
"We have to stop him!"
"No," he said, sharply. "You six are the first that he will go after. This business is between me and him."
"He dragged me into this by taking over my body," April explained. "I want to help!"
Splinter's silence cut through her confidence like a knife. She began to slump over her knees, eventually dropping her head and it was obvious that her sensei was not going to budge on the issue. It wasn't fair to Master Splinter, there was no possible way for him to have created the storm. But since the demon needed someone to blame besides himself, they would suffer.
"One more question, sensei," April said, almost whispering. "Of all the times to take revenge, why now?"
Splinter paused but said nothing. April tried to meet his gaze, but the rat kept deflecting it. "I do not know. Now if you would excuse me, I need to meditate."
Her sensei quickly returned to his somber state and April was taken back by the abruptness of it all. She was positive, after all her had told her already, that he knew why the Spirit was looking for revenge now. He has to know, she thought. The stark contrast in tone, the averting gaze, the hesitation, they were all physical cues that pointed to lying.
But she suddenly felt ashamed, assuming the worst about Master Splinter. He had done so much for her, taking her in and giving her a new home while her dad was missing. She could only assume that there was good reason for his secrecy.
As she stepped out of Master Splinter's room, she saw Mikey in his usual spot in front of the television. Leonardo was lounging against the couch, reading some sort of magazine. As she went to take a seat on the couch, her eyes wandered, against her will, to the corner of the room, where Raphael punched viciously at the punching bag. Her eyes danced upon the tightening of his biceps every time he would land his fist into the sandbag. She pulled her eyes away, but her ears continued to selfishly listen to his grunts of passion as he torn into the innocent figure.
"How are you feeling, April?" asked Leo, as she took a spot next to him on the couch.
She sighed. "Well my brain feels like it's being hit repeatedly by a hammer, but I'll live."
"You were in Sensei's room for a long time," Leo stated, obviously begging for details. She smiled at the blue turtle's pleading tone. If she ever imagined having an older brother, Leo would be it. He radiated leadership, and he was willing to go to incredible lengths for his family. He pestered her and joked, but he always knew what needed to get done and how they would do it.
"When I woke up, I couldn't remember anything that had happened. I went to Splinter for answers," she admitted.
"I could've told you what happened!" input Mikey, excitedly. "You were like 'I'm coming to take everything away from you' and 'I'm keeping a close eye on you'." He stood up and began to march around the layer, spewing babble, and acting like a zombie. "I'm an April-zombie, blarrrhhh!" She thought she heard Raph scoff.
April was taken aback. "I really said those things?"
Leo nodded. "It was pretty freaky."
"I'm sorry," April shuddered and tucked her knees into her chest.
"It's fine. It wasn't you," said Raph. Was he trying to act comforting?
"Master Splinter told me the demon was a guy from his past who has sworn revenge on Sensei and all of us," explained April. Leo and Mikey looked to her for elaboration; she couldn't she him, but she assumed Raph was listening intently.
She continued to tell the store that Sensei had just told her, and she watched a confused look spread across the boy's faces. When she had finished, Raphael started to laugh. April, Leo, and Mikey looked at him, horrified by his reaction.
"That's the most ridiculous thing I've ever heard," Raph said, giving up on the punching bag and timidly taking the spot on the other side of April. "Sounds like Sensei's got the wrong angry demon."
"I agree that it doesn't make sense," April concurred, putting her hands to her temples, pleading with her brain to scrounge up even the slightest memory from earlier. She uttered a huff of frustration by the nothingness that she found. "I just wish I could remember. Maybe, if I could regain my memories from when the spirit took over my body, then we would be closer to learning more about him."
"And when we know more about him," continued Leo, "we'll be able to figure out what evil things he's planning."
"And then we can kick his ghost butt back to the storm he came from," smiled Raph.
"Oh, oh! And then," added Mikey, "we can do one of those group high-five's like they do in Crognard!"
"Mikey, we only have three fingers."
I had so much fun writing this chapter. I hope you guys enjoy it as much as I did! I'm going to have some extra time on my hands so it's possible you might get an update tomorrow or the next day :)
Keep it up with the awesome reviews! I really enjoy seeing what you guys have to say; I need all the help I can get.