April isn't that surprised when she enters Murakami's the next evening and finds Karai sitting at the bar.
Sure, she is surprised, but not that surprised. Not after their encounter the night before.
Karai just knows things, and so it's only logical that she knows that April is coming here every Saturday evening, too.
Karai's wearing some casual clothes, jeans and a leather jacket, and of course her trademark make-up. She's sipping at a cup of sake. Well, April presumes, it's sake.
Her body is still hurting from last night. This morning, she frowned at all the bruises on her body. She really had forgotten how much these hurt. Years of not getting into an actual fight really could make you forget things like that.
She even had to call Donnie to tell him that she wouldn't sleep over last night. She told him she was too tired and had to study in the morning before going to university, and she's thankful he bought that.
She doesn't even want to think what he's going to say when he detects all these bruises on her later tonight. And he is going to detect them. Or the hisses of pain when he touches her.
But there's no way she could stave that off any longer. She never spent more than one night away from the lair, not since that day all these years ago.
With a sigh April walks over to Karai. The restaurant isn't that packed, so there is absolutely no reason why April sits down next to Karai, really, but she does.
She's proud that there's only one silent hiss escaping her lips when she sits down.
"Hurting much?" Karai asks, not looking up from her cup of sake.
"As if you didn't know," April replies before greeting Murakami and placing her order of pizza gyoza.
Karai giggles. "Yes, I do."
There's a moment of silence in which Karai takes her sweet time taking another sip of her sake.
"I was surprised how bad you've gotten," she says then. "I mean, you've never been good, but not that bad, you know."
April decides to ignore that comment.
"Doesn't my father train you any longer?"
This sends a pang to April's heart.
He's not your father!, she wants to scream, but then again, he is, and Karai has every right to call him that.
It just sounds weird coming from Karai. Yes, Splinter is her biological father, but she never really showed him any affection. A little hug here, a smile there, but it never looked like she actually meant it. She fooled Splinter with it, but not April or the guys. And then she betrayed him, luring him to the final battle with Shredder, something Splinter would never have done on his own, without Karai telling him that she needed his help.
"No, he doesn't," April simply replies.
"Not after … you know," she adds after a moment, and she doesn't understand why she did that. How on earth would Karai know!? She hasn't seen Splinter after that fight.
"Oh, that," Karai says. "Didn't think it would get him that down. I thought he were a fighter. Guess I was wrong."
The urge is there just to raise her hand and slap Karai's face, but April fights it down. There's no use in starting a fight here. And Karai is still Karai. Who knows if April's hand would even touch her face?
Splinter has been a fighter, that's right. But all of his strength and his will, it broke the moment Shredder's blade cut into him. This one last blow of his mortal enemy, it has killed Splinter. Yes, he's breathing and limping around the lair, leaning heavily on his stick, and kneeling or lying under the tree in the dojo, but that's all. The spark from his eyes is gone along with everything else that makes him seem alive.
April says nothing about this. That's something Karai doesn't need to hear from her.
Her pizza gyoza arrive and April eats in silence. They taste good, as always, but they leave a bitter taste in her mouth with every bite. They always do.
When she's done eating she gets to her feet, and she has to give it to her that she manages without any sound of pain.
She thanks Murakami for the meal, and the blind man hands her a package of pizza gyoza for the guys.
"Greetings to my friends," he says. "I'll be happy if they come visit me again soon."
He always says that, and April always lies, "They will! They've just been so busy lately, you know."
"Oh, I do," Murakami says. "All you young people, always so busy!"
April smiles. It only hurts a little bit.
With a sigh she turns away from the bar. Time to face Donnie, time to tell him that she was being oh so clumsy last night and fell off a fire escape.
She really wishes she could stave this until her bruises weren't that salient any longer.
"Headache," Karai says all of a sudden and it makes April frown.
"Headaches always work," Karai continues as she turns towards April, and it's the first time that evening they actually look at each other. "Guess they must work with your nerdy turtle-boyfriend as well."
April just nods, turns around and leaves.