Chapter 7: Orenji and Yukan

Chapter 7

Orenji and Yukan

Leonardo rubbed his horse's neck. A modest attempt to alleviate to nervousness. No one could really blame him though. It had been a rough couple of weeks. He knew he had lost a lot of weight, and most of his appetite. He was afraid of very few things ( he had a stint of heights a while back, but he got over it , he hoped. He hadn't been very high up since). After weeks of traveling he had a very good idea about where to look. He had spent the day following his map. If the map was accurate, there wasn't another town for miles. Except for a single dot. A small village by the name of Horyu. It was a pleasant name. He traveled towards it for the last day, trying to remember how he knew that name. But when he finally overcame the hills (which rivaled mountains) he came across a impressively horrifying sight.

In the 15 years since the map had been created, sweet little "Horyu" became overflowing

"Horyu" city. And he realized it was the same city that Dorinbo mentioned, it was where he met up with other village heads. He had also mentioned that it was a filthy man-hole with sin, leeks and broken dreams. And knowing his adoptive father, those were probably the nice things.

Needless to say, it made Leo nervous. Especially since he had never seen a town so big before. And he had decided to drop off Kaze in one of the out skirting stables. And he had a feeling that the one eyed frog that owned wasn't his long lost uncle or son. He was apprehensive about leaving Kaze behind. But he had this feeling, as long of a shot as it was. He had a feeling that his little brothers were very close. Leo rubbed Kaze's muzzle , "I'll be back." he promised. But the horse simply looked at him. As though that was the most obvious thing in the world. Leo smiled sadly. Then left the stable, handing the frog a couple of coins before heading off in direction of the large dark city. Already he could feel the cold wind picking on his skin and pulled out his dark gray horo, pulling it over him and pulling his hood up. He knew he was getting close.

NO one would deter him now.

(#)(#)(#)(#)

Dorinbo glanced out around his house, he knew better then to worry about his oldest son. But the sight of Usagi swinging his sword in swift, hard jabs eased his nerves. It surprised him slightly to see Michelangelo standing a ways off with his nun-chucks. Since Leonardo had left, he hadn't seen his youngest adoptive son practice at all. Maybe Usagi had encouraged him to at least try. Dorinbo smiled softly and slid back into his house. He was proud of his boy for keeping his promise to Leonardo. That his own sadness that came from not having his best friend around wasn't keeping him from his duty. As much as Dorinbo might like to take credit for his sons sense of honor, he couldn't. that was all Usagi. He wasn't sure if Usagi had even learned it at the "Dogora School." That he and Leonardo attended or what. But he was grateful for it.

Reassured of their safety, he moved back into his house. He didn't like spending his days cramped inside a building, but he did have work to do, and a friend who probably was just as tired of being locked up as he was. When he heard the sliding of the hallway door, he knew exactly who it was without having to turn away from the front door, "you shouldn't be out of bed, old friend."

"I realize its been a while since we last saw each other, but I can assure you I have not lost skill over the last decade." His voice was full of humor. And in that moment it was as if time had not passed at all for the two warriors. The humor, pretending that everything was alright. But they knew better. Not that Dorinbo would bring it up, he turned back to Splinter who stood with a simple smile on his face leaning on the cane that Leonardo had carved for him before they left. Dorinbo could still remember when he taught Usagi and Leonardo how to use that knife. It was so dull that it probably wouldn't of cut water, but he warned them to be careful. But they had each other, always watching each other's back. Not brothers of blood, rather by choice. He tried to push those thoughts away, instead he removed the now whistling tea from the stove, "I thought perhaps you might like some tea, even though you've almost drank out town dry."

"What troubles you, Dorinbo?"

Oh great, even after all these years Splinter hadn't lost his touch for reading him. It was a skill he didn't particularly like people using on him. Then again no in in the village could read him at all. Even though it made him appear cold, it was a welcome shield, "I just find myself concerned over Leonardo, and he has never left the village before. As much faith as I have in him, I don't' share it for others he might come across." He griped the hilt of his sword, as often as that sword had broken on the battlefield; it never failed to save his life. He was hoping that Usagi might accept it someday.

'I apologize.'

Dorinbo glanced over; Splinter had knelt by the low table (his injuries getting the best of him). He could already see that he wasn't' the only one with troubles. He walked over and knelt on the other side of the table, pouring out two cups.

"I feel perhaps my presence has done more harm then good."

"I assume you are referring to Michelangelo?" he had a feeling the orange kame was

struggling. Especially when Dorinbo found him sleeping under the bridge in his 'Secret Spot'. And if he knew that his adoptive father had carried him right back home, he wouldn't be too happy. Luckily the boy had a bad memory

"Yes, I'm surprised it took till recently for him to break down. but I am also referring to you old friend."

Dorinbo frowned (reminding himself to find Michelangelo later), "I do not-"

"When I escaped Lord Hebi's castle in search of my sons, I didn't know that you had already adopted two of them. I can't assume that the stress on you hasn't been great. For that I apologize."

The old rabbit had never lied before, but the temptation this time was almost too great. He had no desire to burden his old friend, yet, "I knew they had parents out somewhere. I kept telling myself they might come for the boys eventually, but I couldn't stop myself from seeing them as my own after a while."

There was a pause, during which all they did was sip tea. Even though his worries hadn't left, Dorinbo admitted to himself that he did feel better. Glancing over at Splinter, he tried to read him as clearly as Splinter could read him. But it was hard to look past the bounds of bandages on his old friend's arms and neck.

"Dorinbo-san, might I inquire how you came to find my sons?"

Dorinbo looked over at him, wondering if the old rat was really asking for a story. But he never known Splinter to joke too much. And his onyx eyes bore on him. He took another sip from his tea and set it back down, to recount the tale he had told his three sons many times.

(#)(#)(#)(#)

Dorinbo never had a lot, in terms of items. Even as a headman of a village. It never bothered him, what he lacked in items he had in relationships with those around him. But it turned against him during the Rebellion, when so many of his friends fell around him, and afterward when Splinter left on his own with a small goodbye.

And it hurt now, in the wake of his wife's death. As he sat in front of the family's alter, with his wife's ashes buried. He tried to find comfort in the ceremonies leading to the burial, but when his wife had contracted the Red River Virus he had refused to believe his wife, his strong beautiful wife, couldn't fight it off. Even so he had sent his son to live with the neighbors, not wanting Usagi to contract the violent sickness.

Usagi, his boy. His little brave boy who did his best to be strong. To not cry, but it had proved too much for him when his mother was cremated. His six year old son had finally broken down, sobbing long after the funeral ended despite the comfort Dorinbo tried to provide him. He was only grateful his son was outside right now and unable to see Dorinbo fighting to keep his hands from shaking. He lifted the bowl of offering and set it on the alter.

"FATHER! FATHER HELP!" came Usagi's frantic call. Dorinbo was out the door before Usagi was finished calling his name. He ran out into the yard and looked around frantically with a hand on his sword hilt, "Usagi!?" he called loudly, ready to yell for the Guards if needed.

"Father! I'm over here!"

Dorinbo finally saw the tip of Usagi's ears just behind the hills. He ran towards the sight, as he got closer he could see his young son kneeling by a small figure just as small, sliding forward he pulled his son over to him and looked over him quickly looked over him (his son was his top priority) he turned over his arms to look over them before taking his sons face into his hands. But Usagi put his hands up to try and push himself out of Dorinbo's grip, like a typical child, "I'm fine! They need help not me!"

They? It was only then he gave the figure on the ground attention and saw a young reptile ( no older then Usagi) lying on the ground, his clothes badly torn, revealing soot covered and burn covered skin and long swords stuck to his waist, a blue bandana wrapped around shut shaking eyes. But what was most surprising was the bundle moving on his back, covered in an orange blanket. Dorinbo reached forward and placed a hand on the bundle when the boy suddenly jerked under his touch, coughing heavily his hands gripped the ground.

The old rabbit put all of his suspicions aside and pulled the boy towards him and off the hard ground careful of the burns he could see under the boys clothing. Holding him close to appease the poor boys shaking, he looked to Usagi, "Go get Arata and tell him to meet me at my house. "referring to the village doctor Usagi nodded and ran back towards the village as fast as he could , he undid the knot that kept the bundle tight against the boys back. Using his free hand to keep it from hitting the ground, the blanket falling away and revealing a baby, sleeping peacefully. But it wasn't the baby that surprised him. It was the shell attached to its back.

Kame.

He had never seen a kame before, but it was something he couldn't focus on right now.

Especially since he had uncovered the baby (a boy he could see) had started shivering heavily.

Dorinbo, shifting the two to one arm, took off the top black layer of his kimono and wrapped the two up together and held them tight against his chest. To offer what warmth he could. He stood up with the bundle in his arms and stood up, hurrying in the direction of his house.

Like a good I-sha, Arata the Ferret was there to take the two boys and set off to work. First looking over the baby (suspected to be around three years old), he confirmed the baby was suffering from a mild fever, but was fine other than that. That's when Usagi had come in, carrying some clothes and told his father he had gone to the Neko's and asked if he could borrow them. But Dorinbo had only a little bit if time to have pride for his clever son before Arata turned to the older 'blue' kame. Whose news weren't as simple.

When they had dressed the boy in one of Usagi's other robes, it was revealed the boy had numerous burns that covered his arms and the bottom of his feet were torn from walking nonstop, and his lips were heavily cracked from dehydration with eyes swollen shut. Even with the new clothes, bandages and blankets, the new boy was still shaking with his own fever.

And that's why he sat by his side, as the young kame slept in the spare futon in the main-living space (close to the kamado for warmth) and the baby turtle sleeping in his arms. Using the crook of his elbow to support the babies head. He had already asked two trusted Guards to run to the nearest villages and ask if anyone had seen any kames around. Dorinbo suspected he already knew the answer, but it wouldn't hurt to see the boys parents were around.

But the truth was, he didn't think the boys parents were alive. Especially in light of the older boys injuries. He suspected that the two boys were alive only by luck. And that the older boy had sacrificed a great deal to keep the baby alive, "Brave boy." he muttered, placing a hand on the boys scalp. Before seeing the room to the hallway slide open,

"Father? May I come in"

It was quite remarkable that his young boy had this good of manners so early in life, and he couldn't help but smile, "Of course my boy," supporting the baby kame with one arm and held his arm out to him. Usagi walked on over and sat by him, Dorinbo wrapped his arm around him and held him tight against his side. Even though Usagi was very young, he had very little tolerance for such affection. Normally he respected these wishes, but since his wife's death he couldn't help his paternal instincts from gong into overdrive.

Usagi pulled out from his side but still in his fathers embrace to look down at the three year old, "Is Orenji-chan alright?"

"He will be, he and his brother-" then he paused before looking at his son confused, "Orenji-chan?"

"Yeah, cause he was wearing Orange and we don't know his real name."

"Oh?" he looked over at the other boy, "and him? Do you call him Buro-chan?"

Usagi looked over at him confused, as though it was the most obvious thing in the world,

"Yukan-san."

Dorinbo stared at his son a little bit, finding pride swelling in his chest but chose to keep it to himself, especially when Usagi looked back over to the baby, to the boy then back to his father, "What are they?"

"They are Kame,"

"Kame? What's that?"

"An old species, warriors. From what I heard from travelers they began to die out when the wars did, a few more of the peaceful ones went on and formed a traveling entertainment group. But they disappeared a few years ago."

"Were they samurai?"

And that was probably the most important question to his young boy; to him it was the same as asking if there were any good people. But Dorinbo didn't know how to answer the question, when he had been in the Rebellion all of the Kame had been working for the Rebels. He didn't want to think of the idea that he had probably killed the parents of the two young kame. No. The Rebellion was 8 years ago. They were too young. And he found no point in persecuting their parents, "I'm sure there were." he rubbed his sons back.
Usagi leaned back over the baby again, but Dorinbo pulled him back down onto his

knees, "don't crowd him Usagi, he is very tired."

"Sorry." he said sheepishly, settling back down with his fists in his lap. Dorinbo fought the smile trying to form on his face but found it sliding away when he acknowledged his sons rush to grow up. He reached over again and rubbed his sons back. His brave boy.

A moaning caught his attention and he turned back to the boy. The boy wasn't awake but he had begun to shake, shivering as terrors raked his mind his face cringing and muttering through his whimpers. Dorinbo cradled "Orenji' against his chest before handing Orenji over to Usagi as he bent over "Yukan'. He reached out to stroke his brown but the child flinched heavily withdrawing away from the touch but calming down when he realized he wasn't hurting him, "It's alright boy, you're safe. " using the same calming tone he used when Usagi fought a bad fever.

But the young kame didn't seem to think it true or his tone didn't work. He began to shake harder with tears leaking from his swollen eyes, "Otouto, Otouto," his voice was thick and weak. It pulled at Dorinbo's heart string. He felt a gentle nudging and turned to see his son trying to get by. Unsure what his son was doing but moved away to see what he would do. Usagi cradled "Orenji" against his shoulder and scooted closer. He pulled the blanket back slightly before sliding the baby under the blanket and right next to "Yukan".

The blue masked boy flinched at the weight against his arm. But it seemed to be familiar to him as he rolled over onto his side and pulled the baby close, hugging him as tight as he could unable to stop the soft sobs from leaving his lips. All Dorinbo could do was stroke the child's head until the boy calmed down. It would take a while, but when the boy would finally wake up he wouldn't be able to tell them anything but his and his brothers names. Dorinbo had known what to do, so when he talked to Usagi later that day he agreed with him. That the boys needed a home, and Dorinbo would take care of them.

(#)(#)(#)(#)

"And it was that way for many years, Leonardo and Michelangelo adjusted to our life and Usagi and I adjusted to two more additions." he took a deep breath as he remembered the last ten years. Of having three sons. As much as he hated to admit it (to which he added a small prayer for his wife) having so many children to take care of helped him deal with the loss. He took another sip of his tea before looking over at Splinter who had set his yunomi on the table, eyes closed sadly, "I knew my sons had been through a hard time, but this." he shook his head, "My poor sons, to go through so much."

Dorinbo frowned, setting down his yunomi, "They were not alone, I made sure of that. They were taken care of, they were, are loved. We might not of been blood but we were always a family." He didn't know why he felt so defensive. Maybe he felt that Splinter was insinuating that the last years that Michelangelo and Leonardo had no one. But that was the biggest lie, he had been there for Michelangelo's scraped knees, for Leonardo's first calluses and for the night out camping when Michelangelo would be convinced that there was a bear hiding in the River so he'd try to sneak under his older family members thinking that literally sleeping under them would keep him safe. And he'd always wake up after a bad bad storm with all three of his sons curled up under his blanket. Leonardo and Usagi would claim that they weren't scared, but they didn't want Mikey walking the 10 feet to his bed room alone and while they were there.

Before Dorinbo could voice his words, he saw Splinter had a smile on his face. A odd smile a mixed with sadness, gratitude and, was it admiration?

"Thank you, my old friend. I would not have trusted them to another person, even if I had the choice to have the Emperor himself adopt them."

Finally, Splinter seemed to understand. With that Dorinbo exhale the breath he had been holding (which he only did when he was feeling mad). Perhaps he had been hard on Splinter, he had been a prisoner for years. Not knowing if his sons were poor or abused. Silently he decided to forgive him, "I have to ask, what happened to you over the last ten years."

The sound of ceramic against wood filled the air. The yunomi that Splinter had been holding was on the table now between fingers to tight it cause small tears to go through the bandages on his fingers. At first Dorinbo thought he had slammed the yunomi on the table out of anger. But no, the emotion on his face said otherwise. Probably he didn't expect the question and that would explain the strained look on his face. But that wasn't like Splinter, his friend from the war was always calculating. But Splinter was recovering, he had to take that into consideration, "My apologies my friend. I forgot how difficult of a question it was-"

"I will relay my experiences. Just not now. It is not the time." Splinter collected the yunomi in his hands again to take a drink.

Dorinbo nodded . That was understandable. But he couldn't help but feel more comfortable. And judging by the way Splinter looked out the window he felt the same.

After all, they were just fathers worried about their missing son.

(#)(#)(#)(#)

To say Horyu City was unpleasant was a lie. To say it was downright dreadful was the

truth. Leo didn't like the large crowds. He didn't like the cold rain and wind that seemed to pound on him since he entered the dark city. How did anyone live like this? Especially the smell ah Spirits the SMELL. Leo jerked up in time to see something large bear running about the size of his house. Thankfully his instincts sent him stepping out of the way with his back against the nearest building, the thing rushing by sent mud flying up, barely giving him time to cover his face. When a loud voice broke through the loud ruckus of the crowd

"I SAID STOP YA FREAKN' ASS!"

Before Leo could see where it had come from, something fell out of the sky and landed against the large bear, the added weight causing the bear to slam against the building the opposite side of the street, luckily the crowd parted in time to keep from getting crushed.

The large bear roared loudly, thrashing around despite the gashes on its arms. Leo searched the large creature for whatever was keeping the bear in place. Almost expecting to see a rhino, or elephant.

What he did see was a figure dressed in a strange black material. Form fitting, the person wasn't any taller then him. But there was obvious muscle, a triangle metal helmet covered his head. Crude but it definitely did the trick as the bears arm pulled free and swiped at the assailants head. Leo half expected to see the black clad creatures head to go rolling across the road (and he had been prepared ot step in) but the head stayed firm in place. Even unhurt as the guy grabbed the bears arm again and twisted it up his back. The creature reached behind him and pulled out a chain, tying the thrashing bears hands together, "Nice try, jack ass. You're lucky I need money for my brother's birthday or I wouldn't of even bothered." he yanked the chain tighter using one hand to keep the chain tight and the other pressed on the bears back and began to march the bear away down the street yelling,

"Nothing to see here folks! Mind you're wn business!" The crowd watched for a little bit before it began to disperse with whispers that Leo could barely pick up.

"Was that the NightWatcher?"

"Yeah the Manrikigusaris Master. The bounty hunter."

"Did you hear what he said? He's a cocky son of a bitch."

"I bet he's handsome though."

"Wouldn't try it though, you never see the NightWatcher unless he's after a bounty."

NightWatcher? Leo didn't bother to look to see who was saying those things. He didn't particularly want to take his attention off of his search, but he as curious. And slightly apprehensive. He couldn't help but imagine the NightWatcher chasing 4 year old Donatello and 7 year old Raphael with a chain spinning over his head. Leo shivered and used his gloved hands to make sure his hood was pulled down.

All he could do was hope his little brothers didn't know that brute

A/n

Now, i never meant for Dorinbo to get that much attention, but what can I say. I like him

:) I haven't had a chance to say this yet, but thank you for for all of the reviews! Especially

Rivenchu, Inoshi,Lunamayn and Guest!

Yay! More terms!

I-sha: feudal Japanese doctor

Yukan-san- "Yukan" means brave and "san" is a suffix used for someone who you dnt' really know. Eitehr way, Usagi was trying to be respectful.