Path of Forgiveness

Humans are creatures of habit. Even the most unorganized person has routines. It is usually small things; like in what order you put the cheese, tomatoes and ham on your sandwich; or in what way you go about cleaning your room. Everyone has routines.

This is because the human brain likes patterns. Patterns are easy to follow and they put less strain on the already overloaded brain. So, when you don't know what to do for a long period of time, you fall into a routine. The brain simply repeats a pattern that is familiar.

A week might not be a long time, but it was enough for the Hamato house to go back to the way it had been before. It brought a small smile to Karai's face to see her old friend sitting outside the open garage on the street, tools and bolts all over the sidewalk and an unpainted motorbike on its stands beside her. Apparently, she and Raphael where trying to fix something with the breaks. Judging from Coral's scraped knees, they had already tested it.

Part of her wanted to go home again, but the skyscraper was closed down, an army of policemen at every door. She had been staying at a place usually used for people seeking witness protection, but today she was free from interviews and hearings, and she HAD to talk to them. There was no getting out of it. There was still a big ball of guilt in her gut. Looking at them now, she wasn't sure if they wanted her to invade their lives again.

Only one way to find out.

"Hello."

Coral almost jumped and looked up at her. Raphael didn't bat an eyelash; he had probably sensed her coming. Not a complete failure as a ninja after all.

"Geez… Took ya long enough!"

Coral stood and patted her hands against the rough fabric of her pants. Not that it did any good, for they remained just as dirty as before. It didn't stop the short girl from setting her arms akimbo and glaring at Karai like a mother who had caught her child with a hand in the cookie-jar.

For a long time, they stood like that. Karai didn't look the other girl straight in the eye, but focused on the little metal objects on the ground. They twinkled slightly in the soft afternoon light.

"Don't you have something to say?"

Finally, Karai dared look up. Meeting Coral's eyes, she found that there was humor in the other girl's gaze, but also hurt and anger. She would have one last chance. Coral would hold out a friendly hand just once more. It was more than Karai figured she deserved.

"I… I wanted to apologize. I know it is not enough, but I cannot do anythi…!"

"Oh, such! You know I can't stand it when you talk all stiff like that! You're sorry and that's okay! I forgive ya! Now stop looking so damn wimpy or I'll throw ya down again!"

Karai blinked at her. Coral was an easy person, but that was TOO easy!

"You would forgive me? Just like that?"

"Yeah! Of course! We're friends, right? Don't get me wrong, I'm gonna rub it in you're face whenever I feel like it, and you have a lot of sucking up to do, but we're still friends and everything is okay! I know why you did all of this, and I read the article they printed with your interview. You just lost everything, and I'm not about to just abandon you."

Karai smiled. Such a simpleton. Coral's friend was alone in the world, so she would let go of all past grudges and support her instead of trying to kill her. It would be nice to spend time with people who did things out of the goodness of their hearts again.

"Besides…"

"Hm? What…?"

Coral scraped the toe of her sneaker on the pavement and looked away with a faint blush.

"I missed you. You civilized me so damn much I can hardly stand to talk to people with the same IQ as myself… It's no challenge."

That deserved a hug.

When the thuggish girl finally grew embarrassed enough, she gently shoved her tall friend away, sitting up on the thick rail on the side of the stair.

"Hey… I ain't the only one you came here to apologize to, am I?"

Karai took a deep breath and turned to the boy who had been awfully quiet during the past few moments. He didn't look back. He just kept poking at something on the other side of the bike.

"No, you are not…"

"Save yer breath, toots. I don' wanna hear it."

"I doubt that you are forgiving me as easily as she is."

Raph sighed and sat up, leaning back a bit and locked eyes with her.

"No, I ain't forgivin' ya that easily. To be honest, I have a good mind to get up and paint the sidewalk with yer insides… But I won't, so never mind."

He looked down again, silently cursing the fact that lately he had to talk so much about what he truly felt about things. It pissed him off. Though, not a much as the fact that it didn't really take much persuasion for him to start gushing about his emotions. Must be Mikey's fault, or probably Leo's.

"So you will not claim any vengeance for the hurt I have caused you?"

"Never said that!"

He looked up again. Eh, what the heck. He was angry enough as it was, no need to make things complicated. He had promised to take it easy, after all. He grinned.

"So if you ever feel like a sparring match, give me a call. I promise I won't go easy on yer ass!"

She smiled and nodded. There would always be tension there, and he would never trust her, but he would not rise against her if she stayed in line. She could read that much in the look he gave her.

One slip, and I will crush you like an ant.

Part of her wanted to take it as a challenge and dare him to try, but most of her felt relief. She would never get the chance to become her father, for Raphael would make sure she was over and done with before she even got started.

Raphael rubbed his nose and pointed lazily at the door with his thumb.

"He said not to bother him, so my guess is that he's meditatin' or sumethin'… Is open so just walk right in…"

"Thank you."

Coral gave her hand a squeeze before Karai started walking up the stairs to the front door. She gave it a slight knock and opened it, slowly moving into the darkness of the unlit hallway.

She heard noise from the top of the stairs and two more teenagers suddenly came tumbling down. Mikey stopped dead in his tracks on the last step when he saw the pale figure that had just removed her shoes. Behind him, Susie abruptly stopped giggling and stared at her with wide eyes.

For a few seconds, Mikey looked like he didn't know what to do about the sudden guest, but then he decided he should just do what he always did.

"Hey! You're here to see Leo, right? He's out in the dojo!"

Just like a year ago, Karai found that it was hard not to smile back when the youngest Hamato lit up his face like that. She bowed slightly and replied in a low tone.

"Yes, but I also hoped to talk to the rest of you. I have not had the chance to thank you yet."

The skater boy jumped down the last step, kicking the pile of shoes to find his own.

"No need! It was the right thing to do. Besides, I save damsels in distress all the time!"

The red-haired girl finally looked away from Karai and snickered.

"You do? How come I never heard of it?"

Mike pulled on his sneakers and beamed at her.

"Cause I'm a superhero, of course! You just don't know it's me when you hear about it!"

"Aha! Okay, Mr. Superhero. We where supposed to get eggs, remember?"

"Oh, yeah!"

He looked over at Karai as Susie sat down and pulled on her sandals.

"You… Em… You know the way right? I mean it's just out back and you've been here before."

The jade-eyed head nodded, and the other two disappeared out the door, Susie giving Karai a tiny smile before closing the door behind them. Perhaps this would not be as hard as Karai had feared. Then again, there was one opinion she cared about more than the others. If she did not receive his forgiveness, she hardly thought she would care much about the rest.

As she passed the kitchen, she found yet another couple, both covered in flour and arguing loudly.

"Yes, it will work! I eat it all the time!"

"But the recipe says…!"

"Don, the world won't collapse just because we use a bit less sugar than the recipe says!"

Just as he was about to answer, Don glanced to the door, noticing that they were not alone. Karai almost smiled as she recognized the same move she had noticed in his brothers when they where faced with her.

They all drew back their shoulders, just a little bit. It was a defensive move, preparing to duck and raise the arms. It was probably something they didn't even think about, it was a reflex when faced with a threat.

She was here to try and convince them she was not someone to be feared anymore.

She looked down and bowed slightly.

"I'm sorry for the intrusion."

She could hear Sidney placing the bowl she had been holding on the counter and, after a few seconds, Donatello gulping and clearing his throat.

"It's… I mean it's not… I mean…"

Not knowing how to place his words, he covered his mouth with a flour-stained hand and sighed. Luckily, Sidney was there to help him out.

"Are you staying for dinner, Karai?"

The friendly and somehow familiar question took the Asian girl aback, and she found herself unable to look the others in the eye. So, she looked at the door leading out to the garden.

"I… Do not know if…"

Don seemed to have recuperated.

"We're having pancakes. Without sugar."

Sidney bumped him gently and stuck out her tongue, making him smile a little smile that he managed to hold as he looked at the dark-haired girl that had hurt his family.

"Splinter is in the garden. He's checking if the strawberries are ripe yet. Why don't you ask him?"

Karai forced herself to meet his gaze, if nothing else than to be polite, and found the same look there as she had in Raphael's eyes.

One slip, and we put you down.

She nodded, both to his words and to his warning. He nodded back and turned to the counter and picked up a paper bag.

"What if we use half the amount? We can't make pancakes without it…!"

Karai found her heart grow a bit lighter as she stepped out on the small, wooden porch on the back of the house. Unlike the one surrounding the dojo, this one was littered with half broken furniture, buckets, empty and filled flowerpots, gardening tools, boxes, and all sorts of other, random things that came with having a big house with five people in it.

By the south fence, there was a gardening section filled with different vegetables and berries, all in neat little lines in the soil. Crouching down in front of it was a familiar figure. She steeled herself and walked over. As she came within a few feet of the old man, a small woven basket was held up to her.

"Will you hold this for me, dear?"

A bit confused, she took it and sat down in the grass as Splinter changed position and continued to look through the green lines for spots of red. His hands moved quickly and precisely, cutting the small fruits off with his thumb nail and gently placing them in the almost-filled basket in her hands.

She sat quielyt, looking at the patchwork of band-aids and compressors that covered the left side of his face. The scratch over his eyebrow had almost healed, leaving a red line that peeked out from under the white bandages. She looked away.

"Master Splinter… I am so sorry…"

The words stopped as a gentle hand stroked her cheek. It was a hand used to comforting, cool fingers and a warm palm. But even so, the guilt remained, and, after a second, she let it show on her face. She would not hide from these people. They would not approve.

"I prefer losing half an ear to letting you get your throat cut. This wound will heal. Compared to what I have done to you, this is nothing."

She looked up, confused, as he turned back to the strawberries.

"You saved me."

"No, I killed your father, and I am sorry for that."

She looked down on the pile in the basket. Of course, he was Leonardo's father after all. He had done to her what her father had done to his own family. The guilt must be eating at him. Karai was certain that if there had been a way, Splinter would have preferred Saki alive, if nothing else than for her sake. The thought of having orphaned a young girl was probably weighing him down more than anything else.

"You saved me, Splinter-san. I know that you would have preferred to do it another way, but I do not. He hurt all the people I care about, and he would have kept doing so for as long as he could have. Please, I am much happier this way. Do not regret what happened."

He looked at her, a hint of doubt in his eyes, but then he smiled and pointed to the second floor of the house.

"Do you see the window with the white curtain?"

She looked up, wondering where he was going with this, and nodded.

"That is the room next to Leonardo's. We use it as a guestroom. I prefer sleeping in the little room next to the kitchen."

She raised an eyebrow. Maybe the hit to his head had not worn off.

"You may stay there anytime you feel like it. Think of it as your home."

With that, he stood and took the little basket from her hands. She met his eyes and saw steel there as well as warmth. He had taken her family from her, so he would offer her a home in return. To Karai it almost felt too good to be true. She allowed a faint smile. Getting back to showing emotion was easier than learning how to hide them, but it still took practice.

"He is in the dojo. I will assume you are staying for dinner. It should be ready soon."

She nodded as the old man made his way back to the house, then she stood and steped up on the porch. She took a deep breath and stepped in through the already open door at the end. This was the test of fire.

He was sitting if front of the little shrine in the other end. The sun shone in through the half-opened doors, making thick lines of light on the otherwise dark floor. Her heart fluttered a bit when she realized that he wasn't wearing a shirt. Then, she pushed down the lovestruck teenager in her and walked over on soft feet.

His breathing was calm and slow, his legs in full lotus and his hands placed on his knees. She knew that he knew she was there, but she didn't feel like disturbing him. So, she stood there, six feet from him, a block of light between them and her eyes fixed at the pale scar over his left shoulder blade. All the events from the past year came running back to her. He had come to save her. At least he didn't hate her. Right?

After what seemed like forever and a day, Leonardo took a deep breath and folded his hands in his lap. Karai stepped closer and sat down behind him, legs tucked in under her body in a neat, practiced seiza, eyes still on the long, white triangle where his skin had been cut open and sewn back.

"You talked to the others?"

"Yes."

"What did they say?"

He probably knew, he had probably talked about it in the past week, but she answered anyway.

"Coral forgave me, for the sake of our old friendship."

"Yeah, I figured."

She shuddered a bit at the warmth in his voice. She wanted him to turn around, to hold her and never let her go again. She bit her lip and kept going.

"Your brothers seem to be leaving it up to you. They made it clear, though, that they will be keeping an eye on me. I'm glad that they will give me that much of a chance."

"Mh."

He noded and fell silent, his back to her still. He must have been training before meditating, for his back was covered with sweat. Karai forced down her emotions along with her blush.

"And you, Leonardo? Have you forgiven me?"

Those were the hardest words she had ever uttered. In the seconds afterward, when he took a deep breath and lowered his head before answering, she couldn't breathe. Her heart almost stopped.

"No. It still hurts to much."

It felt like a physical jab to the gut, like someone had plunged an ice cold blade though her heart. Breath came in small gasps. Karai couldn't keep herself upright, leaning her forehead against his back. Tears welled up in her eyes. Instinctively, she forced them back before letting go again. Oh, what was the point? Like she cared what people would think now. She let them fall, silently, like an early spring morning rain.

"But…"

Her eyes flew open. Was there still just a shard of hope?

"…I love you, so one day, I probably will."

All the emotional turmoil in her settled down in that second. The raging storm that had been her soul for the past twelve months stilled in a heartbeat.

He would forgive her. That was all she would ever ask for. It was more than she would ever hope.

She rested her cheek against the warm skin on his back and gently put her had on his shoulder. After a few seconds, another hand brushed against hers, lacing their fingers together. And even though she could not see his face, she knew he was smiling just as broadly as she was.

[A/N: Still not over! Stay tuned for the last chapter; "The Spring Dance"!]