Chapter 14

A Meeting Arranged

The next night came, and things were almost as if it was a normal day, with a few exceptions. Michelangelo was nearly ecstatic about his new-found love, and so excited for introducing her to his friends and family, that he couldn't focus properly during training, something that earned him a few stern looks from Splinter, luckily that was all that was needed to get him to focus again, if only for a while.

Kate, on the other hand, was still very upset and hurt, though she did her best at hiding it behind her tough act, but she still had some trouble with both focusing during training and keeping her temper in check. It had been very close several times that she had snapped at the others, Splinter included, but she managed to hold it back, if with some difficulties.

Once their training was done, and they were off to do something else, Splinter halted Kate just before she left the dojo.

"Miss Kate, a moment, if I may."

"Yeah, what?" she asked rather roughly.

"I noticed that you had some difficulties maintaining your focus today, and you seemed agitated. Is all well?"

"It's nothing, just some... personal problems. Haven't slept that well either."

"Do you want to talk about it?"

"No. Sorry, I know you only want to help, but I can handle this myself."

"Very well. If you change your mind, I will listen, and so will the others."

With a nod, Kate left the dojo, but once she was out of sight, Splinter's face fell. He had noticed several things with her behaviour changing after Michelangelo had revealed the existence of Shari, and, after just that short conversation, the wise old rat understood why.

'So, that is what is haunting you. Poor child, her love having been unintentionally rejected, now her heart aches greatly and she tries to hide it. I have seen this pain before, Kate, and I pray that you can open up and talk with those that care about you, for holding it in will only harm you and possibly those close to you.'

As soon as their training had finished, Michelangelo didn't waste any time heading out to meet Shari again, and bring her the good news, that the others would like to meet her. He grabbed his skateboard out of habit and rolled the familiar path that he had taken the other days, feeling relieved that he didn't have to hide the reason he went out alone every night.

But as he got closer, his happiness was slowly replaced with worry, as he remembered what master Splinter had told him the night before. He didn't want to hurt Shari in any way, and he didn't want to lose her either, but the truth was that both of those were not only possible, but actually had a high risk of happening, with the Foot and everything. He had to figure out a foolproof way of protecting her, that would allow them to be together, meaning he had a lot of work ahead of him.

After climbing up to the rooftop, he saw that Shari was already waiting for him, and as soon as she saw him, she ran up to him, hugging him and giving him a quick kiss.

"No-one's ever greeted me like that before." Michelangelo said with a blush.

"Is that so? And what did you think of it?" Shari asked with a slightly mischievous glint in her eyes.

"Let me think… I think I love it." he said and kissed her. "Have you waited long?"

"A bit maybe, but I wanted to see you again so badly, after last night, you're all I've thought about."

"Me too, and that almost got me in trouble when I couldn't concentrate during training today. But, boy do I have news for you!"

"You do? This must be something really good, with how excited you are."

"Well, it's really mixed good and possibly bad news, but mostly good, and I'll start with the almost bad ones." Michelangelo took a short pause to gather both words and courage. "Last night, I just couldn't control myself, and I told the others about you, man were they shocked when they heard that."

"And? What did they say?"

"They were actually happy for us, once they had gotten over the shock, but they did tell me of a bunch of stuff, stuff that I had forgotten. You see, we got enemies, really bad guys that we try to protect the city from, and with you and I being a thing, you'll be in danger if they learn about you."

"Does that mean that we can't be together?" Shari asked with a hint of sadness in her voice.

"I'm afraid that it does, but I won't give up on this, I will find a way for us to be together, I just don't know what right now. We can't protect you twenty four seven, since we're active at night. The only thing I could come up with is that you move in with us."

"Move in with you? You would let me do that?"

"Of course, but you wouldn't be able to live as you do now, so no work, no studying, that kind of stuff, and you'd pretty much leave all your friends behind, there's a lot of stuff that would change if you lived with us."

"I understand, but… if I can be with you, maybe it would be worth it, but it's a lot to think about."

"I know, and I really want it to work between us, so I will keep thinking. But I did say that I had some good news as well, and that is that the others want to meet you as well."

"They do? That's wonderful news, I've been wanting to meet your family too. Are you going to take me to your home?"

"No, sorry, but my big brother wants to meet you down in the alley below first, he want to be sure that you can be trusted first. I tried to tell him that you're okay, but he's very stubborn when it comes to keeping us safe. You understand, right?"

"Yeah, sure, I understand, you have to be careful, not being human and all. Did he say when he wanted us to meet?"

"Tomorrow night, same time as you and I usually meet, if that's okay with you."

"I'm fine with that, but I'm not sure why we can't meet right now."

"If I know Leo right, he wants to make sure that we're prepared, just in case something major bad would happen."

"Leo? That's the name of your big brother?"

"My oldest bro, yeah, I'm the youngest outta four brothers. Our adoptive sister is also older than me, and so are the guys that are visiting us, shell, I'm the runt of the group."

"It's not that bad, at least you got siblings, me on the other hand is an only child. Growing up, I would have loved to have a brother or sister, even if I would have been the youngest."

"Yeah, you're right, it just hit me that everyone else is older than me. And don't you worry, once they get to know you, you'll be treated like a sister by them."

"You think so? That would be lovely." Shari said with a smile, but inside, she had been smirking every since she got the news about meeting the rest of the mutants.

'Things are going according to plan.' she thought. 'But now I have one of the most difficult tasks ahead of me, gaining the trust of the rest of the freaks and learning the location of their 'lair', without them blowing my cover. I will make you proud, Uncle Arashi, I promise.'

Meanwhile, back at the lair, Kate was still trying to keep up appearance and to think of something else, currently watching TV to help take her mind of things. But with nothing worth watching, she ended up zapping between every channel she could find.

"Nothing. Absolutely fucking nothing." she mumbled.

"Got a moment, Kate?" she heard someone ask behind her. Turning around, she saw Leonardo.

"I suppose, it's not like I'm doing anything important."

"Then would you please come with me to my room, I'd rather that we talk in private."

"Private? What the fuck's going on?"

"Just trust me, I'll explain, but it is important."

Knowing that she wouldn't get any more out of the turtle, Kate sighed and followed him, a bit reluctantly but she knew that he could be trusted with just about anything. Once they were inside his room, he closed the door behind them, so that they wouldn't be disturbed.

"Okay, we're here now. Care to tell me what the hell that's so important?" Kate asked irritated.

"How are you feeling?"

"That's what you wanted to talk about!? That's what's so important that you have to drag me to your room!? What the fuck?!" Kate snapped, as she started to get really angry.

"I'm serious, Kate, I'm worried about your sanity."

"My sanity?! Why the hell would you be worried about that of all things?!"

"Because I've been in the same situation as you once."

"What the fuck are you talking about?! What situation?!"

"Kate, we all know that you have feelings for Mikey."

That sentence made Kate fall silent in shock, she didn't know how to respond and her rage faded.

"… you… you do?" was all she could manage to say.

"Yes, though I'm sorry to say that Mikey didn't know that."

"Tell me about it. But how did you know, and for how long?"

"No more than a day, but Mona, Sephie, and possibly Tyroth too, apparently knew for some time, and told us shortly after Mikey told us about Shari. I'm fairly sure that master Splinter has figured it all out as well."

"So that's how it is. But what did you mean with you having been in the same situation?"

"Precisely what I said, I have also been in love with someone that was unaware of my feelings. Back when Mona joined our family, both Raph and I became attracted to her, but unlike Raph, I took it slow, while he was more… aggressive with his attempts to win her heart. In the end, he won, and he and Mona have been together since then, but no one ever knew that I too had feelings for Mona, not even herself."

Kate listened to what Leonardo said. They had been told that Monalisa had been human before and mutated in a different way than the turtles or Mutopians, but nothing about how it actually happened, and that was understandable, there were still many Mutopians that never had told anyone about their past, Kate included. But that there was something like this involved in how Raphael and Monalisa became a couple, was something Kate would never had guessed.

"Just like you," Leonardo continued. "when I found out that she had chosen Raph instead of me, I was devastated, broken beyond words. Once I knew that you had such feelings for Mikey, I noticed similar things with you that I too experienced, and I fear that you will fall into the same darkness as I did unless you let us help you."

"Darkness? What do you mean?" she asked.

"Learning that she loved my brother and not me, I took that very hard, and I started having horrid nightmares about how I would destroy my family because I couldn't have what I wanted. I kept quiet about that, hoping that it would go away if I ignored it, but it didn't, instead it turned my sadness into hatred, a festering darkness within my soul, and one day, I couldn't take it any more and I snapped. I almost killed Raphael, and almost destroyed my family as well, with my actions causing the others to be captured and tortured by the Foot. It wasn't until I was able to get help that I managed to banish the darkness, and save my family, and even then it almost cost me my own life. However, that darkness still linger deep within me, always making itself known, even to this day. It may not have any real power over me any more, but it is still there. I don't want you to go through the same things I did. Tough as you may be, this isn't anything to take lightly."

Her mind processing everything Leonardo had said, Kate sat down on the bed. She knew that what Leonardo said was true, he wouldn't lie, least of all about something like that, the fact that those things had happened to them was enough to shake her to the core.

"Remember, you're not alone, Kate, we're here for you, all you have to do is open up to us. Once you do, we will help you through this." Leonardo said, and walked over to the door, but before he could open it, Kate spoke up.

"Leo, wait." she said. "You're… you're right, I'm not as well as I wanted you to believe. I… I… when Mikey said that they kissed, my insides turned, my heart broke. I was devastated and angry, I still am, and I wanted that girl dead, wanted to outright kill her, I still want to, because she stole him from me..." A few tears fell as she spoke.

"I felt the same way, I know your pain. It will not be easy to overcome this, but I will help you with the same meditation that helped me, and you will recover."

"You think?"

"I know you will, you're a strong willed woman, that's one of the reasons why I think you would do well with ninja training. But that will have to wait until after we've dealt with all of this."

"Thank you, Leo."

"Don't thank me just yet, there is still another… hardship that you have to pass before things can began to get better."

"And what's that."

"Tomorrow night, all of us will be heading topside. Mikey will introduce us to Shari."

"WHAT?!"

That sure came like a shock to Kate. Maybe Leo could have been a little more tactful with that last part, but why beat around the bush, it had to be said. Next time, we'll see just how this meeting will go, and how Shari/Ren will succeed at deceiving the mutants.