[A/N: lots of naugthy language ahead! just wanted to warn you!]
Old Friends.
Leo cursed. That's what you get for being stubborn. He should have just brought a dictionary. But no, he could speak Japanese. Too bad he was not so sure about the ever-so-complicated kanji
Blowing the hair from his face with an annoyed huff, he tried to find a familiar character on the map over the railroads. The paper in his hand was already damp from his sweat, the intense heat, and the bad air-conditioning. These, of course, did nothing to brighten Leo's mood. He had thought that train stations at home were crowded! Jeez, they couldn't even begin to hold a candle to the ones here in Tokyo! Even away from the thickest part of the crowd, people kept bumping into him as he started to believe that he would never find his way to his grandfather's house. He took a look at the big clock hanging over the mass of black-haired heads.
They were probably asleep by now. It was late back home. He just hoped they were having better dreams then he'd had for the last week.
A rather big guy, perhaps a couple of years older then himself, bumped into Leo so hard that he almost fell over. The big boy flashed him a grin with a muttered "Sumimasen," and kept walking on. Leo just shook his head in annoyance, turning back to the board. Just a second later, he heard an angry shout. He looked back over his shoulder to see a thinner boy say something angry to the big guy that had bumped into Leo, snatching something from his hand and stomping his way over to Leonardo.
"Gomennasai!"
The thinner boy gave a deep bow that made his high ponytail slide down over his shoulder. In his hand was Leo's wallet.
"Ah! What the..?"
Leonardo then realized how long ago it had been since he had slept. His senses were dull and slow, and it had given the big guy the opportunity to do some handy pick-pocketing.
He bowed back and took it, stuttering out an "Arigatou."
The other boy grinned, said something Leonardo didn't quite catch, probably another apology, and turned to where the bigger boy was waiting for him. Leo decided to swallow his pride. The guy with the ponytail seemed like a nice guy, and the shinai strapped to his back gave Leo a feeling that he would not turn his back on someone in need.
"Sumimasen."
Leo chased after the two, his heavy bags weighing him down. Luckily, they heard him and turned. He took a deep breath and politely addressed the thin boy that had helped him.
He could feel the roughness in his pronunciation. But the boy understood.
"Anata ga eigo o hanashimasuka?"
"Yes, a little bit. What may I help you with?"
The way he talked reminded Leo of Splinter. The same formality and slight hesitation over the words. He held out the paper.
"I'm sorry, but could you please just tell me what train I'm supposed to take? I can't find it."
The big one said something under his breath. Probably something very insulting.
"Gennosuke…"
The boy apparently named Gennosuke just shrugged and held up his hands. Leo started to wonder what their relationship was like. They didn't seem like they appreciated each others' company. He was drawn back from his thoughts as the thin boy made a surprised sound and handed the note back to him.
"I can take you all the way to the front gate."
"Really? But..?"
The boy smiled and motioned for Leo to follow.
"I live right next door, so it is no trouble. But we have to hurry a bit, the train is departing."
Part of his tired brain told him that running after a stranger to board a train that he did not really now where it was heading was a bad idea. However, something inside of him told Leonardo that he could trust the older boy. Told him that he was honorable. Not even the company of the guy that had picked his pocket could dampen the feeling. Down a flight of stairs and across a platform… The doors to the train closed just behind them, scraping against Leo's backpack.
The odd trio panted imperceptibly, looking around for available seats. Finding none, they remained by the doors, leaning against the big windows.
"I am Miyamoto Usagi. This is my friend Gennosuke. I'm terribly sorry about him. I have tried to make him stop doing things like that, but he refuses to listen to me."
Leo managed to smile and nod in return. Somehow he was reminded of April and Casey, of her fast determination to make the thuggish man behave against all odds. Though he doubted Usagi and his friend would ever end up as his friends had. He shook his head clear and introduced himself
"Hamato Leonardo. I don't really mind right now, mainly because I managed to bump into you. Without that I would have missed the train. Thank you"
Part of him wanted to cause a riot, scream, and beat the Gennosuke boy up, but Leonardo was tired and the other boy was pretty big and he looked strong.
Bad idea. save it for another time.
"Hamato? Are you a relative of The Ancient One then? There can't be many with that name."
Apparently, his name interested even Gen, as he turned and grunted out a question, to which Usagi only nodded.
"I'm his grandson, ano Mago."
Urgh…he needed this. His Japanese was rustier then he had thought.
Usagi actually let out a surprised laugh. He smiled brightly and griped Leo's shoulder.
"Then we have already met! You have three brothers right, all the same age as you? I attended your first birthday party!"
Leo just blinked at him. Part of him whined at the thought of his brothers, their disappointed faces from when he had said good bye haunting him. Mikey had cried. Raph had just glared at him and stomped up the stairs, slamming his door shut. Don had looked so lost.
"I can't say I remember it though, I was only three years old. But it is nice to met old friends again."
Leo brushed away the sad thoughts for a moment (God knows how hard THAT had been when he landed in a country where almost every girl had pagecut, black hair, and slim shoulders) and smiled at him.
"Yes. This is a pleasant surprise."
Usagi detected the pain in his eyes and the scent of tears in his voice. He understood that this grandson of Hamato's, this boy that he had only met briefly at the beginning of their lives, had been hurt, and was hurting still. He was shaken, broken, and in pain. At this point, Usagi knew he could do almost nothing. He did not know the cause of his pain nor his reason to come here, but he would be staying only a few feet away. In time, perhaps he would come to a point where he needed help. If that was so, Usagi felt he should provide it. His own father had always spoken warmly of the Hamatos. If Leonardo would need a friend in this country, he would not have to look far.
She had no idea what she was doing in front of her locker. She had not been to school since… last week. She sighed a bit and opened the thin metal door, flipping through its content to find what she needed for first period. Home had threatened to drive her crazy, the walls closing in on her and the pavement under her window looking way too appealing.
Just as she placed the last book on her arm, a fisted hand slammed the locker shut. Karai was not surprised. It had been hard to miss the flaming aura of anger headed towards her.
"What can I help you with miss Tetsu?"
"Don't you 'miss Tetsu' me! You're going to explain what the hell that shit last weekend was!"
"Mind your language, there is no need…."
The fist slammed into the metal again, making a hollow sound that made certain that the rest of the student body would skip first class to find out what was going on.
"DO YOU KNOW WHAT YOU DID TO HIM? DO YOU KNOW WHAT HE DID?"
Karai braced herself. Explaining something to Coral while she was angry was a bit like trying to break down a concrete wall with your bare hands. Also, it required knowledge of when to duck. Karai could do both.
"Did he jump off the Brooklyn bridge?"
Without even looking at her (ex)friend, Karai dropped her books. They hit Coral's foot just as it passed her knee, bringing her attempted kick off balance. Karai took a step backward and threw her arm out, hitting the shorter girl's cheek. They both retreated, Coral rubbing the corner of her mouth.
"He left, you moron! He's gone to Japan and he ain't comin' back any time soon!"
"Must be sad for you and the other little wannabe-ninjas. I fail to see why this would interest me."
Coral snapped and threw herself at Karai.
"BECAUSE HE'S YOUR FRIKEN BOYFRIEND, DUMBASS!"
Karai was growing tired of this name-calling. Could she at least come up with something original? Corals wrist was grabbed and a hard fist hit her square in the solar plexus. Yanking her closer, Karai shoved her knee into her stomach and then slammed her into the wall of lockers.
She watched the other girl pant, trying to keep herself up against the wall. Coral was no threat. What little fighting she knew, Karai had either seen or taught her. Then she remembered the first rule of battle.
"I'm taking you down today, BITCH!"
The jade eyed girl just managed to dodge a foot that would surely have broken a rib or two had she not remembered never to underestimate an opponent.
"You have never beaten me before!"
"I've never wanted to HURT you before!"
There was another kick. it missed Karai's cheek by a fingerbreadth and hit the corner of the locker. The thin metal bent, broke, and tore open like a piece of paper. For a second Karai realized there was something different about her oldest friend. Perhaps actually wanting to cause pain was the motivation Coral needed. The second it took for her to ponder over this earned Karai a fist in the gut, though not as well placed as her own. She grabbed at Corals shirt to throw her, but apparently something had stuck into the thick head of the other girl, because the next second Karai herself tossed over Coral's hip.
Close, but Coral had a green belt, Karai had been way beyond black at the tender age of ten.
Karai landed on her toes, not her back as Coral had intended. Saki's heir then twisted around and smashed her fist into the leg she had just been tossed over, hitting the unprotected hamstring. The other girl let out a yelp and crashed down to the floor, her arm pinned to her back by the girl she had always thought of as her comrade.
"Are you quite done yet, miss Tetsu?"
There was a roar, the body twisted, and Karai had to take back her thought about Coral not being original in her name calling when faced with the rant that came out of her now. She twisted the arm a bit and the flow of words came to a halt when the floored girl bit her lip so as not to scream.
"Now then, you asked for an explanation about last weekends events. Though I hate having to repeat myself, I will take it again for you, slowly."
She took the grunt as a "Thank you."
"I used you."
She heard the breath come to a halt in the body under her.
"All of you. At first, I had planned to use you as a cover, a decoy, a part of my charade. You were just the right person, too. Far too bubble brained and naive to ever suspect that I was merely taking advantage of you. Who would think me a bad girl with cheerful little Tetsu Sango as my best friend?"
Corals free hand almost crushed its own fingers. If it was the lie Karai told her or the use of her hated first name, Karai didn't know. Now, of all times, she began to wonder just why Coral hated her Japanese name so much. Now she would never know.
"Do you understand? This was a game. I never liked you, Sango."
Her captive's knuckles cracked. But a thin voice made it's way out.
"Why Leo?"
The name stabbed her like a dagger. Inhale, lie, exhale. That was the plan.
"Because he was the perfect choice. Skilled in the art of ninpo, presented with loyal backup and of course…"
She took the time to flip her ebon hair away from her face and bend down a bit to whisper.
"Head over heels for the forever-out-of-reach school princess. He would never suspect an ulterior motive."
She felt Corals body relax, as if all her strength had simply run out like water over a hillside. One last comment should do it.
"It was almost too easy."
The muscles under her snapped back into fighting mode. Coral turned her head slightly, her cheek pressed to the floor.
"I've got a piece of advice for you, Karai…"
Karai met her eyes. Hate. That was a look of pure hate. Good.
She hates me and she gets to keep on living. That is good enough. It must be good enough.
"Die young, 'cause there will be NO ONE to care for you when you grow old!"
Karai had now succeeded in making the two people who concerned themselves the most about her eudemonia hate her. Still, Coral was a thicker breed then Leonardo. Her hate only lasted as long as her bruises. Time to make one last point, one that would be hard to forget.
"Noted."
With that, Karai pulled Corals' arm up into the air and brought her other hand down as hard as she could on the twisted shoulder.
Breaking anything in the upper half of the body is harder than it looks, but dislocating the arm clear off the shoulder is a bit easier. It is also in the top ten most painful injuries, right up there by having a rodent gnaw its way out your ass and getting shot in the kneecap. It would also take Coral six months before she would be using that arm properly again.
Karai saw the girls eyes widen until they almost fell out their sockets, then heard the glass-breaking shriek as the arm thudded to the floor, held in place only by skin and muscles. Her body cramped in pain and little bubbles of foam was starting to form in the corners of her mouth. Karai stood and stepped aside.
The crowd gasped and drew back simultaneously. There was screaming and pushing, nobody willing to leave but all a bit afraid of the still standing fighter.
For a second Karai met the eyes of a person in the crowd. It was Susie. Her face was pale and her eyes almost as wide as Corals', her hands pressed over her mouth in horror. One more friend to cross off the list.
Some of the teenagers where shoved out of the way as another familiar figure entered the ring.
"Jesus Christ, CORAL!"
Raphael's eyes flew over Karai before he slid down on the floor by the shaking girl, worry written all over his face. A small sob escaped the trembling body and a twitching hand grabbed the black fabric of his pants. His eyes dodged back to Karai, this time flaming in rage.
"You insufferable piece of shit… Your ass is mine, girl or not!"
Karai had no doubt he would have thrown himself at her in the same manner that Coral had, but he didn't even get his knees off the ground. The shaking hand was still holding on to him tightly, something similar to his name making its was out between the injured girl's lips. His resolve seemed to weaken a bit, and Karai took the opportunity to turn her back on them and walk away, the students parting for her like the red sea for Moses. There was no point in fighting any more. She had done what she needed to do here.
That, and she had figured out which brother it was.
Coral had always had a thing for bad boys. All those action movies should have been hint enough. Too bad Karai had no more need for such information. She let the school doors swing close behind her.
"And then?"
Leo gulped. Splinter had never spoken much of their grandfather, so the old man's last comment about the even older man; "Just bear with him, he is cold in the beginning" had made him a bit worried. True enough, the ancient one did not really act like a grandfather. He did not seem happy to see his grandson for the first time in fourteen years and he refused to call Leo anything but "Kumquat".
"And then the police arrived. We were taken to the hospital, Mikey was operated on, and they stitched up my wound. They let us go home in the afternoon."
The old man grunted, almost like he disapproved. Leo could feel himself getting more and more irritated.
"To let yourself be fooled by a woman. Kumquat ! You be worse ninja then even Splinter-san!"
"DON'T TALK ABOUT HIM LIKE THAT!"
The Ancient one just blew air out his nose and waved him off. The whole conversation had been like that. The old man would plant a hint of an insult against Splinter in his words and finally Leo just couldn't sit quiet any more. No matter how much he tried to explain or how loud he yelled, the Ancient One wouldn't react much, only continue his questioning.
"If that is all the reason you have to come crawling back here, I pity you for your training. Go clean out the dojo! We start your real training at dawn!"
The old man left and Leo had to take a deep breath to keep himself from hitting something. He let out an annoyed huff and stood, hoping the dojo was not unspeakably messy. It was already late.
Pondering over how his day just kept getting better and better, he emptied the bucket of water over a small bush by the porch. At first glance, the dojo had looked just fine. But that was only until he realized that everything was covered in a thick layer of dust. This place had not seen a cleaning day in years. It was way past midnight now, but at least you could walk around in there without sweeping up clouds and clouds of dust.
The teenager sat himself down with a heavy sigh. He just had to dust of the little shrine at the shomen and he was done. Apparently, the Ancient One hadn't used the place at all for a long time. He obviously hadn't even bothered to have it cleaned. Then a thought struck him.
What if he was the first to enter this place from fourteen years?
Leonardo stood again, the floorboards crying silently under him. He walked inside and looked at the dark wood, worn and way older then he could even imagine. He sat down in front of the small and simple shrine, taking a deep breath and closing his eyes.
This was where his father had trained Splinter. This was the origin of everything he knew and loved.
Somehow, he felt like crying. He was so far away from home but yet, he could almost remember being here before. He didn't know what he was supposed to feel anymore.
After a while, he took up the rag and swept off every inch of the little shrine before he stood again, walked back into the house where he had been assigned a room, and fell asleep. He didn't even notice the crib in the corner of the room, even if it was a rather big one.
[A/N: Nothing as sweet as comments in my inbox! Makes me want to write all night long!]
