I do not own TMNT or Usagi Yojimbo

Xxxxx

The lair was silent, but it wasn't the silence of an empty house. This was the heavy anxious silence where no-one was daring to speak. We were all watching Usagi as he sat on the couch, quietly drinking from one of Master Splinter's traditional tea-cups, Mike sitting on his right and me on his left. The smell of ginseng hung thick in the air, adding to the almost suffocating atmosphere. I'm sure the others had as many questions as I did, but the samurai had been through so much and I myself didn't feel right pushing him any further right now. I was sure my brothers felt the same way as I did. As for Master Splinter, he was merely sitting silently, patiently waiting for Usagi to finish his tea. He was the only one of us who wasn't staring at the samurai.

After the bombshell he dropped on us when we first regrouped in the Battle shell I was dying to ask him, oh I don't know, hundreds of things! Usagi had a son? When did this happen? Who with? Has he completed his musha shugyō, his warrior's travels? Has he settled down, taken a wife and started a family? What is his son like? Did he have any other children? How old was the boy? What was his name? I was holding back so many questions I was afraid I was going to burst! I know that that's technically impossible but it's a good way to describe my impatience.

But after Usagi had told us the news that the thing this "monster" had stolen was in fact his son and once we'd gotten over our initial shock Leo immediately stepped in and said we would discuss the rest of the matter once we got home. Mikey was so close to saying something about this but one look from Leo was enough to make him keep quiet. I was the one who drove us home so I couldn't give my full attention to what was being said behind me in the van but from what I could tell the conversation was mostly Raph explaining to Leo where he had found our friend and what had happened between then and now. Apart from that not much was said between any of us really. Usagi himself had remained silent the entire trip, so much so that I was getting worried about him. Usually when Usagi came over you couldn't shut him and Leo up! It was unnerving to hear neither of them say anything. I understood Leo's reasoning behind telling us to drop the subject though. Suddenly this was no longer a matter of our friend being in trouble and fighting an enemy. This was a family matter, and what's more there was a child involved. On top of that it wasn't just any child, it was a blood relative. The weight of the matter had suddenly become almost overbearing and I knew Leo didn't want us to add to our friend's trauma by immediately asking him too many questions when he was still wet, tired and stressed out of his mind.

When we got home Mikey showed him to the bathroom to dry off while Leo and Raph went to tell Master Splinter what had happened. I was left hovering around which I wasn't too happy about. I wanted to help in some way but I wasn't sure what I could do. Eventually I went to the kitchen and decided to make some tea. It sounds a little silly but somehow the idea that a cup of tea fixes most problems had been imprinted on us for most of our lives. I have a lot of memories where I had been hurt or upset and Master Splinter had given me a warm cup of tea to make me feel better along with some kind words and a warm hand on my head. These memories were all comforting, so I was hoping the drink might have the same effect for the samurai. He was handling himself quietly and was being reserved with his feelings but I can only imagine what he must be going though. When he'd managed to dry himself off as much as possible me and Mikey ushered him to the couch where we put the tea in his hands and a blanket on his shoulder. Master Splinter appeared along with Leo and Raph and welcomed him to our home, giving him assurance we'd give him whatever help we could. He thanked us wholeheartedly and since then we've been sitting close by, waiting to hear if he would tell us more about his story from earlier.

So far he's been silent though. Out of the corner of my eye I could see Mikey was getting fidgety, shifting his weight every few moments before he started jiggling his leg up and down causing the couch to shake very slightly. Any minute now he was either gonna blurt something out or burst a blood vessel in anticipation. His wiggling was making me seasick though, and I ended up being the one to break the silence.

"Mikey would you sit still please? You're making the whole couch shake."

"Sorry," He said and stopped.

Usagi lifted the cup a little higher to drink the last of the tea before he lowered it with a sigh. He then turned and handed it to me with a grateful smile.

"Thank you Donatello-san."

I nodded, taking the empty cup and getting up to put it in the kitchen.

"Refill?" I asked.

He shook his head. "No thank you. I do not think I could stomach any more."

I wasn't sure whether to feel hurt about this or not. My expression must've given my thoughts away because he quickly added: "It was a great comfort my friend but I am so tense to the point of feeling ill. I honestly do not dare drink any more."

I sunk slightly and nodded. My heart bled for him, it really did.

"It'll be ok Usagi," a surprisingly soft-voiced Mikey said from the other side of the couch.

I saw Raph give him a sideways glance, as if to tell him to drop the subject. Usagi however seemed ok to talk about it.

He turned to look at Mike. "I wish I could share you're optimism Mikey-kun," He gave a heavy sigh.

"Honestly, I do not know what I am going to do. I am terrified for him. He is so very young and I do not even know where he is..."

I sat down again, the tea-cup still resting in my hands. I knew I should probably go rinse it out but somehow I couldn't make myself leave the room.

"Usagi," Leo said after a rather uncomfortably long pause. "I don't mean to be insensitive, but I gotta tell you I'm shocked to hear you have a son at all. You've never told us about him before."

I looked at Leo quietly. Was it my imagination or did he seems a little bit hurt? Maybe he was unhappy that Usagi didn't let him know about this sooner. I wasn't sure though. It may just be me reading into things too deeply or something.

Usagi lifted his head to look at Leo who was standing next to the arm-chair where Master Splinter was sitting. Sensei hadn't said anything yet, but he was watching the conversation closely with his sharp eyes.

Usagi managed a sheepish, sideways smile. "To be honest Leonardo-san, it has been a recent development. I do not think I have seen you since it has happened."

"Hey wait a minute!" Raph suddenly said, rather loudly. "Are you tellin' me this scum-bag snatched a baby from ya?!"

"Geez Raph, calm down!" Mikey said, jarred by the sudden outburst.

"I won't calm down! That's the biggest load a' crap I've ever heard!" He got up sharply. "What kinda monster kidnaps an infant?! That's sick!!"

"Raphael" Master Splinter spoke up, instantly causing Raph to go silent. "Raphael. I understand your disgust, but I do not think you are taking our guest's feelings into consideration."

Raph made a noise and dropped his shoulders, suddenly looking ashamed. He sat back down and crossed his arms, still very agitated but keeping quiet.

Again we fell silent, each of us lost in our own thoughts.

After a while Usagi spoke up, but he sounded almost reluctant to do so. "He is not an infant."

I turned to look at him. Now I was confused. "He's not?"

Usagi shook his head. He wasn't looking at me as he spoke "He is already approaching 10 years of age."

"I'm confused." Leo voiced my thoughts. "You said this was a recent development didn't you?"

Usagi nodded but rather stiffly, avoiding Leo's gaze as he slowly tensed up again. "It is. Last time we spoke I had not known of him yet. I have only recently become involved in the situation..."

The silence that followed was threatening to choke me. Leo was staring at the samurai in such disbelief I would've burst out laughing if I wasn't just as shocked.

Usagi sank a little in the seat as if wishing the couch would swallow him. If his fur didn't mask his skin he would've been bright red, that's for sure. As it was I could feel my own cheeks flaring up as what Usagi was insinuating became clearer and clearer in my mind. I couldn't help thinking to myself; 'He's so much more adult and complicated than we are.'.

"Ooooh! I get it!" Mikey broke the silence. "You mean you didn't know you'd-"

Raph's hand flew out so fast to wrap around Mike's mouth he nearly threw himself off balance.

Usagi was avoiding every-one's eyes, staring at his knees instead. He was biting down on his bottom lip, rather hard. I watched him silently although I was aware my eyes were probably wider than they should be. I could still feel the hot prickling of blood in my cheeks too. My brothers sometimes teased me for how easily I blushed. Raph once went so far as to say I'm worse than a girl but a few 'argumentative taps' from my bo made him change his mind. I was trying to suppress it right now though. Usagi really seemed upset about this and I had a feeling telling us this little bit of information was one of the things he probably wished he'd never have had to do.

As far as I know Usagi's dimension was pretty much an alternative past of our own world. It supports an interesting theory I've recently been reading about on how dimensions branch off from every decision we make in life. Every possible choice we would be able to make in a situation happens in a number of different alternative universes right at that moment, and then those dimensions continue along their destined paths until they each reach a point where our alternative selves need to make another choice and then those branches create branches of their own. In short this basically means every single possibility that could ever exist probably already does in an alternative dimension somewhere. I believe Usagi's dimension is one of these branches where animals had evolved into sentient beings because no human race was ever created or something like that. But despite the absence of the human race his dimension still mirrored the feudal Japan of our dimension's history. I found the whole business fascinating. I really wished that I could some day visit his dimension myself to see what it was like first hand.

However if I was going to do so I should really brush up on my knowledge of early 17th century Japan. Like this whole situation right now. Usagi was obviously very reluctant to tell us of this... rather personal issue, but I didn't even know how an illegitimacy is seen in Feudal Japan in our dimension's past. Samurai are higher class than mere commoners, so was it not really a big deal and it's merely Usagi's personality making him so ashamed about it? Or was it really something that was heavily frowned upon? I didn't know and I hate not knowing things! I would seriously need to research that once I had the time.

"Hello! Earth to Donatello!!"

The loud voice derailed my train of thought and I started slightly.

"Huh?!"

I was a little alarmed to see every-one was staring at me expectingly. Darn it! They'd asked me a question and I hadn't heard it! I really need to learn not to drift off like that.

Mikey gave a rather obnoxious chuckle at my expense. I frowned at him, feeling both embarrassed and annoyed.

"We were wondering Don, Usagi said he lost track of this demon and... uhm.. his son, while travelling through the portal tunnel. How or why would that happen? Do you have any ideas?" Leo patiently repeated for me.

I ignored Mikey to answer him, eager to help. Answering questions and finding answers was my way of doing what I can in these types of situations and I was eager to do something other than carry tea around.

"Well, Portals in themselves are a bit of a mystery to begin with. We're not even sure what they are to be honest. They could be worm-holes or even a type of black-hole or perhaps they're something else entirely. We don't know yet and there's not a lot of information on the subject. And because we don't know what they are exactly we don't really know how they work. It's possible they're just a straight "tunnel" from one point to another enabling us to travel between dimensions, or time periods or great distances, but there's the possibility that if you knew how you could open a kind of side-tunnel while in mid-warp to change your direction, but then whose to say that warps are just tunnels to begin with? Maybe they already have thousands of branching paths and when we warp we just tend to pass them. Or it could kinda work like a bus stop where, instead of getting off at the 'end of the line' you can get off at an earlier stop and end up somewhere different. The truth is there're endless possibilities. We may never know everything there is to know about portals and how they work."

I finished my little lecture and looked around at the faces in the room to see if they got all of that. I often had trouble putting my thoughts into words and can sometimes confuse my family with what I say. I didn't think they understood everything but they seemed to get the basics of it. However my little explanation seemed to have depressed them.

"Donatello-san" Usagi said next to me. I turned to look at him and found him staring right at me, his salmon-coloured eyes so intensely focused I almost felt like I was under scrutiny. I adjusted how I was sitting slightly, but I kept my eyes on his.

"Would you be able to determine for certain where this creature might have gone?" He asked me.

I couldn't stop myself from blinking, immediately giving away that regardless of what answer I gave the truth was I wasn't sure.

"It's possible to scan the city for any strange energy fluxes, but it'd take some time to cover everything. I could go to the place you warped to yourself and see if there's something like a kinetic energy trail we could follow or something," I said.

Usagi blinked before he sighed and broke his gaze, staring straight ahead of himself instead "But you have no concrete method of tracking them."

The statement made me flinch slightly, but he was right. There was really no easy way for me to find the kidnapper for him. I wish I could do something more than just give him useless theories. I was feeling pretty useless.

A noise caught my attention and I turned to see Master Splinter getting up out of the arm-chair. My brothers turned to look at him as well, but it seemed Usagi didn't notice.

"There is much that needs to be done, but before we do any of it we need to stand back and think our course of action through carefully. We should retire for the night and then once we are rested we must discuss what we will do from here. I am sure Miyamoto-san is in need of sleep as well."

Usagi looked up at Master Splinter but said nothing. Sensei gave him a kind smile and an encouraging nod. "You are welcome here Samurai. We will do whatever we can to help, but we must keep our wits sharp and our senses keen. Depriving yourself of sleep will not help the situation."

His face softened slightly and he placed a hand on our friend's shoulder.

"We will find your son Miyamoto-san. This I swear to you."

I saw something in my sensei's eyes flash in a way that almost frightened me. Master Splinter was careful not to fully reveal his emotions, but my brothers and I could usually figure out what he was keeping under the surface. Well, at least up to a point. And right now I could tell, Usagi's situation was hitting a nerve within Master Splinter. It was probably because of us. I'm sure Master Splinter was putting himself in Usagi's place and thinking how he would feel if one of us had been stolen from him when we were still small and helpless. Master Splinter goes ballistic if some-one captures one of us as teenagers! I could only imagine how angry he'd have been if it'd happened to us when we were little kids.

"You are welcome to treat our home as your own." Splinter carried on, stepping back again.

"I'm willing to let him use my room," Leo spoke up. "I can bunk on the couch till we find a better set-up."

Splinter gave a nod in agreement before turning back to Usagi.

"Would you be comfortable with that Miyamoto-san?"

Usagi actually managed a smile. "You offer me kindness as if it is shameful to do so. Truly I am forever in your debt Sensei."

I couldn't help smiling at this myself.

I got up off the couch, still holding the empty teacup. "I'm gonna get a jump on things and do some reading on the theory behind Worm-holes to see if I can find anything useful."

Leo nodded as he reached out a hand to his friend, helping the samurai to his feet. "Alright, but don't overdo it Don. We're gonna need your brain for this and we don't need you going days without sleep again."

I pulled a slight face at him, a little insulted despite knowing he was talking from experience.

"You need anythin' I'm right across the hall," Raph said to Usagi as he passed him to head for his room for the night. He gave him a toothy grin. "I warn ya I'm a heavy sleeper though so you might hafta knock more than once."

"Oh! Before we go to bed! I wanna ask you something!" Mikey said, clambering off the couch to stand next to Usagi.

The Samurai gave Mike a nod, exhausted yet still politely allowing Mikey to keep him up a little longer. "What is it Mikey-kun?"

Mikey was staring at Usagi with wide-eyes, I wasn't sure why but he seemed in awe of the samurai all of a sudden.

"What's your kid's name?"

Usagi stared at him blankly for a few moments, seemingly taken aback by the question. However after a brief moment he snapped out of it and answered softly and with a tone of voice that, for some-reason, threatened to tear my heart out.

"Jotaro."

Mikey frowned slightly and tilted his head at this, seemingly deep in thought. Eventually he nodded.

"Cool. I like it."

He then turned and trotted to his room.

Usagi was watching him go with a puzzled expression, but after a few moments he shook his head softly and merely smiled.

Xxxxx

Some-one mentioned that Leo is acting perhaps a little overboard as far as his concern for Usagi goes. Please let me know what you guys think so I know how to handle him in the next few chapters better.

BETA thanks goes to Arwing!