Alright! I'm back with a new chapter! Happy New Years!
I don't own TMNT. But if I ever do, I will die happy. ^_^
"Hey sensei, you want a waffle?" Mikey said, shooting to his feet as his older brother walked into the kitchen with a tired smile.
"Yes, thank you Michelangelo," Leo said, staring down at the teenage ninja turtles below him before he sank into his chair.
"Did you sleep better last night?" Don asked, "I updated the heater yesterday, it should keep your warmer at night."
"Donatello, are you telling me you went into my room without permission?"
The purple clad started sweating, "Well um sensei I was just um uh…"
Raph and Mikey chuckled behind their hands while Leo smirked, enjoying as Don dug himself further and further.
"Alright stop, it's ok Donatello," the blue banded turtle said with a smile.
Don breathed a sigh of relief, to which Mikey laughed out loud at.
"Shut up Mikey," Don remarked.
"Donatello," Leo warned sternly.
"Sorry sensei."
"Kids," Leo said while rolling his eyes.
"Here you go sensei, Bon appetit !"
"Don't tell me, French?"
"Oui, Oiu," Michelangelo said with a horrible French accent.
"Just sit down and eat your breakfast," Raph said good naturedly with a shake of his head and an amused smile.
"Yes sir, Fearless Leader!" Mikey said with a mocking salute and smile.
The eldest turtle rolled his eyes, somehow, Raphael had fallen into his previous place. He thought it was so ironic now that the red banded turtle that had always teased him with the nickname was now being teased with it as well.
"Michelangelo?"
"Uh yes, sensei?" Mikey said quietly, his eyes widening, "Um, am I trouble?"
"No," Leo said with a smile, "I'm just wondering how you came up with that nickname."
"Sensei, please don't get him started," Raph said and then sighed while slapping a hand over his eyes.
Mikey giggled, "That's easy, I heard it on Space Jam!"
"That movie with Michael Jordan and the Looney Toons?"
"Duh!" Mikey says with a goofy expression, "Daffy said it to Bugs."
"You and cartoons," Raph said while rolling his eyes, before glancing down at the can of coke in front of him. He almost reached to take a drink when he glanced over at his older brother.
"You want some tea sensei?"
"Yes, thank you Raphael. That would be wonderful."
"Suck up," Don muttered as Raph walked towards the stove where their large, bronze tea kettle was sitting.
Leo pretended to ignore what he had heard as Raphael handed him a cup of green tea.
"So sensei?" Mikey asked meekly, causing Leo to look up at him suspiciously as he placed his cup down onto the table.
"Yes?"
"Well uh, you ask him," Mikey said, looking pointedly at Donny.
"No way, Fearless Leader over there can ask him."
"Raphael, what are they talking about?"
"Well," said the red banded turtle, rubbing the back of his head sheepishly, "We were hoping that maybe we could, stay out an hour later than usual?"
Leo sighed heavily as he bent forward and rested his head on his folded hands. This was what the younger turtles recognized as a bad sign, this always meant an outright, "No. Absolutely not!"
"Alright, if you complete your evening practice an hour early as well."
"YES!" the smaller three mutant turtles cheered, high three-ing each other over the table.
"I suppose this means that you'll be stuffing yourselves with pizza on the other side of town?" Leo asked, hiding a frown and forcing a fake smile onto his face.
"Right on sensei! I can't wait to try that new spicy barbeque Hawaiian at Vinny's," Mikey said, his smile stretching from one side of his face to the other.
"Why can't you like anything normal?" Raph asked, leaning back a bit in his chair.
While the orange and red masked turtles got into a debate about the best pizza toppings, Leo stood up and slipped outside, heading for the main room to watch the news. He'd been studying the city for years, searching. Strangely, Karai and the Foot empire had mysteriously vanished 11 years ago, when his students had been only five years old. There was no trace anywhere he looked but he continued looking, keeping his eyes open and his hearing acute.
Speaking of acute hearing, "Yes Donatello? Do you need something?"
The purple clad turtle sighed and shook his head, "Why am I not surprised? You do that all the time sensei."
"Hey one of these days my hearing won't be so sharp."
Don frowned and walked around to sit next to his older brother and teacher on the couch, "You can come too sensei. If you want."
"Hmm?"
"With us tonight," Don explained and then looked down at his hands, which were fiddling nervously in his lap, "I mean, you can come with us. I know you want to but we've never invited you and I thought that if I did, well you could come and well, because I've always noticed how sad you look when we mention patrols and pizza. When we do I know you end up eating alone and well I-"
Leo laughed silently before turning to his purple banded little brother, setting a rough, scarred and elderly hand on his shoulder, "Thank you for noticing Donatello, but you three need room to grow without me. Yes I often eat alone, but it's worth seeing all of you come home safely. Plus, don't worry, I have my own adventures and no offense but sometimes our home is at its most relaxing when there are no teenagers present."
He purple masked turtle looked worried for a quick second before he nodded in acceptance, "I'll bring you home a pizza all your own for tonight and maybe we could stay up and play chess?"
Leo smiled and reached out, pulling his little brother to him in a gentle embrace, "Gomenasai Dai-kun," he whispered before nuzzling Donny's head affectionately like he used to back when they were toddlers.
"Aniki," Donny said playfully, pulling away quickly, his cheeks red from embarrassment.
Leo laughed good naturedly before he glanced up as Michelangelo and Raphael walked out of the kitchen.
"I claim the PS3!" Mikey yelled, diving for the game system.
"Mikey, sensei's watching the news, we have to know what's going on. Especially if the Foot decides to pop out of no where," Raph said, his arms crossed as he leaned against the back of the couch.
"Yes oh mighty leader, sir!" Mikey said while rolling his eyes.
"Michelangelo," Leo warned, his narrowed eyes meeting his youngest brother's causing the said youngest turtle to curl up with wide, trusting eyes, "I'll be quiet."
The eldest relaxed against the back of the couch with a sigh before a hand fell onto his shoulder. He glanced up to see his immediate younger brother staring down at him, "Are you ok sensei?"
The blue banded turtle almost rolled his eyes, he thought Raphael had been protective of his family before. Boy had that become an understatement.
"I'm fine Raphael," Leo assured the red masked turtle.
After a boring story about a malfunction at a construction site where a building frame collapsed (no one was hurt) Leo turned the TV over to Mikey. Who beamed as his mind settled into the world of a game he slipped inside the console.
"Just don't pour orange juice down that thing again," Don warned his younger brother, "It's already gone through five resurrections."
That having been said Don slipped into his lab. Leo smiled as he did so, yes Donatello was a bit different. The genius turtle's lab wasn't completely cut off from the rest of their home, it was simply like a station set up on the far side of the room. No walls separated it from the rest of their home. The eldest glanced back as the television gained that starting menu of Mikey's video game. He wasn't really sure what it was, but his thoughts went back to the Foot, Karai, Stockman and the missing time scepter. He had a strong suspicion that they all had something in common.
Time, it had become his teacher as he raised his younger brothers as his sons for 12 years. He glanced down at his hand and saw too many scars and cracked skin. He had to admit it, he was getting on in years, being now 41 years old. He wasn't his once youthful age of 16 any longer.
A hand covering his made him look up into concerned blue eyes, covered by a red mask.
"Are you sure you're ok sensei?"
Leo smiled, holding back a frown. He HATED when one of them asked him that. It not only made him feel older than he was, it also brought out his greatest fear.
"I'm fine," he assured his younger brother, "I think I'll head to the dojo."
With that Leo got to his feet and walked off down a hallway, opposite from the hallway that lead to their bedrooms, and pushed back a sliding door. His eyes gleamed when they hovered around the dojo. He was proud, they had all built it together, even if his little brothers had just been toddlers.
"Sensei?"
He turned around to find Raphael in the doorway.
"Yes Raphael?"
"I think I got the Spinning Hawk down, if you want to see it," he said, a certain spark of pride lighting in his eyes.
Leo smiled slowly and proudly before nodding stoutly and asking, "With or without your weapons?"
"Both."
The eldest laughed softly and pulled Raph into the dojo before shutting the door softly behind them.
"Alright, let's see what you can do."
Raph smirked and reached for his weapons. Leo closed his eyes, enjoying the cling of two blades coming together. He crossed the room and sat on one of the many meditation mats they had gathered and even made over the years before opening his eyes and staring proudly at the brother before him. Then, the movement began, the blades dancing, like they had in his hands, so long ago.
Yes, it may surprise many but it wasn't a pair of sais that the red masked turtle held, it was a pair of katanas that Leo had once held close to his heart. He raised his hands and unsheathed the two swords that rested on his shell. One had been a sword that had belonged to Master Yoshi, Splinter had used it in battle when the elderly mutant rat had found himself in a dangerous situation, then when their father had passed away, he had left it for the eldest. The other was a sword that had been a gift from his best friend Usagi at Christmas, so many years ago.
"Sensei?"
Leo looked up from where he was staring at his swords to see his younger brother looking at him in concern.
"My apologies Raphael," he said softly while he sheathed his swords.
Raph nodded and continued on in his movements.
Back…left…forward strike…back kick…side strike…uppercut…turn…downward slash…end.
Perfect.
Leo smiled proudly, "Excellent Raphael. you're advancing rapidly."
"Too rapidly," he silently thought with a hidden frown.
It's true, Raphael was showing great potential but-Leo feared that his potential would overcome his own teachings. He wasn't their father, he never would be. He wasn't a great ninjitsu master, of course, he did know one. It had been a little over a year since they had last seen Rennet, who was only able to travel to their time by Lord Simultaneous' powers, for the Time Scepter, as far as the knew was with Stockman. He could be in prehistoric times, or hundreds of millennia into the future.
These thoughts only brought up Leo's greatest fear, that they wouldn't find Stockman and the Time Scepter. If they didn't he wasn't sure how long he had. He remembered Leatherhead's speech about the red eared slider species living around 70 years, while a human's was around 70 as well. Even if he did have those 30 years he doubted that he would stay with his brothers for too long. His greatest fear, was that they would watch him die, as they had watched their father die so many years ago. Rennet and Lord Simultaneous had already been searching for 12 of their years, of course, this meant nothing to them, they would live for eternity. Whether he wanted to admit it or not, Leo had to face the truth that almost 1/3 of his time was gone. If they couldn't find the scepter, of they refused to return the others' memories and restore him to his normal age, what then? He would have to leave them.
The eldest shook off the thoughts and stood up to join Raphael in a sparring match, letting his thoughts melt away, he would deal with them when the time came. Right now, all he could do was enjoy the thrill of clanking swords and the feelings and memories it returned to his mind.
Fighting the Foot…
Eating six pizzas on the rooftops with his brothers…
Meditations with his father…
Mikey's old pranks…
Sparring sessions…
Weapons Practice…
Don's victorious cries after he finished an invention…
Camping in the forest by the farmhouse…
Casey's clumsiness…
April's words…
Raph's sarcastic remarks…
He missed it all, but all he could do was go on, and if he was lucky, Rennet and Lord Simultaneous would find Stockman, regain the Time Scepter…
And return his world to him.
Alright, now no one bite my head off because Leo's still older than the others. I know All Turtles 16 won, but this isn't the end. There's still a bit of an adventure for the Turtles to go through, so just hold on.
Plus, I wanted to get one last chapter up before school tomorrow. Finally, I'm going early, if it wasn't for my writing, these breaks would drive me crazy! O_O
Anyways, PLEASE REVIEW!
~Moonsetta