Next chapter is here! And guess what? I time skipped again.
Four years, guess how old Leo is now?
(BTW, this is the oldest Heather has yet to be, so it's a little different for me.)
The patient ninja listens to his quiet surroundings. There's the faint scent of sweat in the air which mixes with the aroma of grass. The wind graces his body, whipping his gi pants around his ankles. There is a ever so slight after taste of his last meal.
A songbird in the distance, a couple dozen footsteps coming his way, the grass attacking each other in his shadow. He goes back to the second sound. The footsteps get louder and he draws his weapons again in a motion the naked eye could miss.
Then, he opens his eyes. He standing in the middle of a field. Not two dozen, but three dozen ninjas stand around him in the dusk. 'I counted wrong,' he notes, his mouth in a grim line. The ninjas surrounding him take stance, various weapons in their possession. He twirls his dual katanas and waits for them to make a move.
One charges, a katana in hand. The ninja dispatches him easily. He looks down and sees, to his expectation, the ninja in black is still breathing. He looks up and another ninja had left the circle. He deflects blows from his opponent with the bo staff. He joins his comrade in the grass. After another lone attacker, they shift their pattern and two attack at once.
He battles the first two, a pair kama wielders, getting a nick on his arm. It doesn't even faze him and he knocks them both to the ground. Then one with a naginata charges in front of him. He senses another attacker at his back and flips up and over him landing as they collide with one another and falling to the ground.
The next group is a group of three. He spins one katana in a circle, deflecting the throwing stars one aims at him. The other katana is holding off both a pair of sai and another kama. He thrusts them away and faces them one on one. When those three are down, due to one star being redirected to its thrower, then he stands in the center of the circle and waits.
"Hya!" Four ninjas walk forward. They appear to not be holding anything. But then they stop. A pair of nunchucks comes out from behind each back
'You have got to be kidding me..' They swing them around and don't give their enemy time to prepare himself. He can only deflect one pair per sword. So the others get hits on his legs and behind him. He also lands cuts on them. After a two minutes of this, the four nunchaku ninjas are on the ground, holding their sliced up arms. He looks up, feeling the bruises already forming, but doesn't let it hold him back. He waits for more.
Then all the other ninjas, twenty-two in total, draw their weapons and stand ready. The figure in the center reaches into his belt and draws out a smoke bomb. When his enemy charges, he throws it on the ground and disappears, forcing them to see their mistake in rushing him. They all collide. He observes from a few paces away, then reaches up and takes off his sim-g's.
Leo sighs and looks at his arms and legs. The bruises aren't there, but he can still feel them. He taps his jaw, where the butt of a sai had clocked him. He can still taste the sour tang of copper in his mouth. He sets the glasses on their display and smiles. 'Good workout.' He turns to the entrance of the barn and sees Heather waiting. She is smiling.
He smiles back. "How did it go?" She asks, handing him a water bottle.
"I miss counted. Off by a full dozen," he answers before taking a gulp of the cool liquid. "But good, really good."
"Did Jarvis record it?" Heather asks. Leo shrugs. He never knows if he is being 'watched' by Jarvis, it helps him concentrate.
Heather goes to the sim. computer in the corner as Leo stretches his sore muscles. His bare plastron is slick from the sweat he had produced in the exercise. After stretching, he tells Heather he's going to meditate.
"Wait." She walks over to him. Without even hesitating, she wraps her arms around his sticky form. "Happy M-day, Leonardo," she says. He hugs her back.
"Thank you." They break away and Heather stares at him a little.
"You're fifteen," she says, chuckling briefly. He rubs the back of his head, blushing. "I'm so proud of you." The twenty-four year old kisses his cheek and goes to find something to do in the barn. He smiles at his guardian and walks back to the A-house.
He doesn't know what Heather is to him. She isn't his mother, nor his aunt. She isn't his sister.. He chuckles at the absurd idea that he's in love with her. She's.. his guardian. And yet.. 'She doesn't need to protect me.' Leo shakes his head. Heather is the person that he can't live without, like his brothers. The only thing he can call her is, family. She's family, not a specific title inside that. 'She has a title unique to anyone else, un-nameable.'
He walks into the house and climbs the stairs. Before going to his room, he walks to the bathroom at the end of the hall. Closing the door, he starts the shower and undresses.
He had ditched the gi top and had switched the color of remains from the white with a blue stripe to pure black. His mask, which he fondly wears wherever he goes, had been changed. The top part had been cut away, so it is only around his eyes and ties in the back. The tails are longer, going over his shoulder most of the time.
He now where's his katana strap, belt, and sheaths all the time, taking them off in his room when he goes to sleep or shower. He added elbow pads and wrappings on his hands for better grip. Leo takes a quick, cool shower to relax his muscles more and remove the grime.
He steps out and puts on different comfortable trousers. He puts his leather belt and such back on and goes to his room. It was formerly Captain America's room. All the bedrooms in the A-house, minus Heather's room, are now guests rooms. If Steve visits, he uses one of them. Leo had moved out of Heather's room two years ago. He adjusted rather well, compared to the last time he changed sleeping arrangements.
He chuckles again from a thought, 'When I was little, I didn't mind sharing a bed with Heather for the rest of my life. Now it sounds, ridiculous!' He sits on a bamboo mat he had received and sits in a lotus position to meditate.
'He's growing up,' Heather says, using the punching bag. The four years had again gone way to fast for her liking. He had excelled in school and gone farther in training. He is like a sponge for Japanese tradition and culture.
She sighs and walks back to the house. She gets something to eat and showers herself. As she dries her hair outside in the hall, she sees Leo on the mat he got one Christmas. His room isn't furnished much. He has his bed, his mat, a desk, and a lamp. But that is how he wanted it.
The place that is personalized the greatest is the wall across from where he sleeps. It is full of pictures he had drawn. Heather looks at them. She notes the one of his brothers; the first. 'He misses them.' As much as it pains her to think, this fantasy can't last forever. The Ranch is great and all, but the reason why Leo came here still stands. He wanted to get over his fear of Splinter.
"So, Leo-" Heather starts. They are sitting around the table, eating the m-day lunch, "Want to call your brothers?" Leo looks up and smiles. Mutation Day is now a real treat, since they all are too busy most of the year.
When they finish eating Jarvis calls the Hamatos with the tv. Leo sits on the couch. The first face he sees is Mikey, sporting an orange bandana.
His ten year old brother's face is covered in a rainbow of paint. Leo stifles a chuckle at the goofy grin paired with it. "Hey bro!" Mikey yells.
"Mikey, what have you been up to?" Heather asks before Leo. Mikey stifles a laugh and stares at them a moment, unable to speak.
"Don't tell him if you see him, but I painted Donnie's toolbox so it is really pretty," Mikey whispers.
"How did you get the paint?"
"Sensei gave it to me for M-Day." Mikey takes a deep breath, "Happy Mutation Day Leo!" He yells at the screen. Leo flinches at the volume he brother produced.
"Happy M-day to you too. You're ten now, right?"
Mikey nods like a bobble head. "Yep. Double digits! Yes!" Donnie walks in being Mikey, going to his desk. "Hey Don! Leo called!" Donnie whips his purple clad head around to see the computer.
"Hey Leo. You doing good?" His eleven year old brother asks. Leo nods. Even after all these years, Donnie still frets about him a little. "Raph is in his room."
"I'll take you too him!" Mikey offers, picking up the computer. They see Mikey's plastron for a few moments.
Then as he leaves the lab, they hear a definite, "MIKEY!" And the orange clad turtle speeds up, making the other side of the conversation see a mess of colors with the computer not being stable in his hands. Mikey slows down and knocks on someone's door.
"Raph! Leo wants to talk to you!" The door opens suddenly.
"Whe- Oh, right." Raph takes the computer and slams his door. The light in the room is dark, but Heather can make out the bed, a closet, and the edge of a drum set the computer is set on. Posters cover the walls. "Hey Leo," Raph says, sitting in view of the computer.
Raph is the one Leo doesn't see a lot. Or, ever. So it surprises Heather to see Raph after all these years. He's grown, his muscles rip along his arms. They can't see past his waist, but she has a feeling they are the same on his legs too. The color of Raph's bandana is a bright scarlet.
"I see you found a use for that blanket," he says, when no one says anything.
"Yeah, I guess. So, have you gotten your weapons yet?" Leo asks.
"I've had 'em for a year," Raph answers. He reaches behind him and takes out a pair of twin sais. "Sweet aren't they?" He asks.
"Hey Raph, you don't go to the surface, do you?" Heather asks. Raph stops talking. "Raph?"
"...What makes ya think I do?" Raph asks, crossing his arms in defense.
"You have an accent. Stronger than Steve's. Brooklyn?" Heather explains.
Raph sighs, "Don' tell sensei. He's been telling us over and over again to never go to the surface unless he says. I think it is stupid with these-" he holds up his sais, "-who would mess with me."
"He's just trying to protect you, Raph," Heather assures. 'And doesn't want someone else taking you away.'
"Yeah, well I think he should lay off.. I'm already working my butt off in the dojo." The two turtles stay quiet for a moment, then Raph brings back old memories, "How's country life?"
"Good, we're thinking about coming back to the city soon," Leo answers. Raph looks up at him and then goes back to his half scowl, blocking out his feelings.
"Really?"
"Don't tell the others, I want it to be a surprise."
"You aren't coming to visit, are ya?"
Leo tenses at that question. Visiting means being in the sewers. Being in the sewer means going to the Lair. Going to the Lair means.. being near Splinter. Leo sweats. "Uhh.. sure.. We might do that.." he answers slowly.
"Well, Raph, it was nice seeing you," Heather says. After a few more goodbyes, the computer and tv are shut off.
"Do you think I can do it, Heather?" Leo asks, "Do you think I'm ready to face him?"
"Leo, that is something you have to decide for yourself," Heather advises, "You'll be ready when the time comes."
I LOVE THIS CHAPTER! (And that is all I have to say)