Note: Credit to Tyroth Darkstorm for his ideas regarding his characters Freya and Loki.
Chapter Four
Unearthing Memories
After nearly an hour had past and Kemeko had had her cake brought out and everyone sang happy birthday to her, everyone was now enjoying the party by dancing to some music or just having a conversation and drinks.
The kids were gathered by one of the pillars admiring Kemeko's weapons and comparing them to their own.
When the Geckolings had reached thirteen, they had been gifted with their weapons and had been going on topside patrol with Sonia.
In fact, as Sonia was an adult and fully fledged Knight, she was often tasked with looking after the Geckolings on their patrols dealing with low level crime back in Chicago.
Freya had been gifted with a spear which she used very much like how Donatello used his bo staff although unlike the gentle and more preferring defensive than offence turtle, she was more aggressive in her style of fighting.
Loki meanwhile had been gifted with a pair of Wakizashi which were like Leonardo's katanas, yet they were shorter.
Both Geckolings of course had their father's fire and magic, yet they had been taught to only use it if needed, although Loki had on a couple of occasions had coughed up a few flames in battle.
"I love this boomerang weapon!" Freya said as she stroked one of the blades.
Kemeko grinned.
"I know right?" she said, "And when I was shown it before, I can use it not just as a throwing weapon, but I can pull it apart!"
She demonstrated by pressing a button in the middle and it pulled apart into two curved hand blades.
"Sweet!" Loki breathed.
"Totally!" Pandora said, "I still prefer Mr Swinger though, and my claws and tail blade!"
"And I feel at one with my sword!" Sonia said.
"And I feel empowered with my spear!" Freya stated.
"And I feel like a master with my wakizashi!" Loki chimed in.
"We're the new generation of Knights and Ninjas!" Sonia smiled.
"Oh yeah! A complete set!" Pandora cheered then hugged Kemeko.
"Welcome to the team Kemeko!" The Geckolings said joyfully.
Meanwhile Leonardo stood with Splinter, Jack, Sharky and Donatello.
Yet as the rat, wolf, shark and purple masked turtle spoke, Leonardo was silent as he kept thinking about how he was going to raise the subject of Kemeko's parents, the reason for their death and the Shredder.
He looked at his bottle of beer and took a swing, despite enjoying the party and the success of presenting Kemeko with her weapons, that worry still niggled at him and refused to let him be.
Just then a shout rang throughout the lair.
"Heads up!"
A whooshing sound was heard, and everyone ducked as Kemeko's new boomerang weapon whizzed over their heads.
"What the shell?"
Raphael looked over and he saw Kemeko with her arm up as she caught the boomerang.
"Nice throw there!" Pandora cheered then looked at the shocked grown-ups still in crouched positions.
"Careful Kemeko!" Sonia scolded "You nearly took the grown-up's heads off!"
"Great reflexes they got!" Loki chimed in.
"Kids!" Tyroth scolded.
"Children!" Monalisa added "What have we told you about using your weapons outside of training?"
"Sorry Aunt Mona!" Kemeko called over "Pandora wanted to see how it worked."
"Why am I not surprised?" Raphael groaned.
Leonardo frowned.
"If Pandora asked you to jump off a bridge, would you do it?" he asked.
"Um, no?" Kemeko replied.
"Then don't do everything Pandora asks you to do!" Leonardo said as he stood up straight.
Splinter chuckled.
"Kids!" he said.
As the party went on, Leonardo excused himself to go to his room and he walked over to his chest of drawers.
He looked over his shoulder, the party was still going on in the main lair and he thought it was the best time to go and find what he was looking for.
Opening one of the drawers, he looked in and it was revealed to be full of photo albums and personal items that belonged to Karai.
It was a sacred drawer he kept locked and made sure no-one looked in it, except him.
He had never showed it to anyone, not even Master Splinter or Tyroth, but now and again he would open the drawer and look at the items when he wanted to remember Karai or if he felt he needed reassurance he was doing well in his role as a father to Kemeko.
He picked up a small white photo album and opened it revealing the photos of Karai and Chaplin at their wedding in Japan.
He then found other items in the drawer including the ultrasound picture of Kemeko, Karai's red headband she wore in battle, as well as a lock of her hair which Leonardo had cut off when she died.
There were so many items in the drawer and as he looked at them, Leonardo could remember every minor detail of when Karai was living in the lair with them, when he first brought her back to the lair when she had fled to April and Casey's apartment, up until she gave birth to Kemeko at the farmhouse.
Also in the drawer were the DVDs that Karai had made for the Hamato Clan in the event of her death by the Shredder.
Leonardo sighed.
He never imagined that Karai would know of her own death, and that he had prepared herself for the worst.
He wondered if deep down she had always known that she could never escape the Shredder and she had made sure that she knew her daughter would be in safe hands when she died.
"She must have known for a long time." He thought "She predicted her death, and her prediction came true, yet I'm sure she hoped it would never be the case."
Leonardo looked behind him and decided to try and meditate for a moment.
He reached for the silver framed photo of Karai and Chaplin on the top of his chest of drawers then quietly slipped out of his room to go to the meditation room believing that would be the best place to go.
As he was creeping over to the quiet room, Raphael noticed him.
"Hey Leo!" he said walking over and Leonardo quickly stood up straight.
"You okay bro?" he asked.
"Yeah, I'm fine Raph." Leonardo replied.
Raphael looked at his older brother.
"You've been really distracted today, Leo." He said, "But I understand why."
Like everyone else, Raphael knew how worried Leonardo was about telling Kemeko the truth.
"I know." Leonardo said "And I'm sorry, but yes, it's the monkey on my back, and despite all the time I've had since Kemeko was just a baby, I still don't know what to do or say, I just need time to think."
"Take all the time you need big brother." Raphael comforted and he looked behind him "Kemeko's having a wonderful day."
As he spoke, he could see the young Asian girl laughing as she talked with Sarah, Devina and Amber.
Pandora had decided to play with the helium balloons with Percy, Michelangelo, and Jake and all three of them were talking in squeaky voices and laughing hard.
Raphael rolled his eyes as he watched his daughter.
"Damn." He thought "I hope she's not going to get addicted to Helium!"
Leonardo looked at his daughter and his eyes shone.
"I swear she looks more like Karai every day." He said, "I just wish both her parents were here to see her."
Raphael smiled softly.
"Wherever they are, I'm sure they are!" he reassured his brother.
"Listen bro, I'll make sure no-one goes into the Meditation Room, you take all the time you need."
"Thanks Raph!" Leonardo said gratefully patting his brother's shoulder then walked into the meditation room.
Raphael watched him go then sighed.
"I can't imagine what Fearless is going through." He thought then looked at Kemeko who was laughing at Pandora talking in a squeaky voice.
"Poor kid." He thought "I don't know how she's going to take it, but I hope she doesn't hate Leo for telling the truth."
"Is Leo alright hon?"
Raphael looked over to see his mate walking over with Sephie.
"Oh, hey Mona, Sephie, yeah, he's okay, he just said he needed some time to think." He looked to the Meditation room "Though because everyone's having such a good time, I don't think he needs to worry about being disturbed."
Monalisa and Sephie looked at each other knowingly.
"Poor Leo." Sephie said "I know Tyroth's been trying to help him prepare, but in the end, Leonardo's got to do this, otherwise, how else will Kemeko learn the truth?"
"If she found out the hard way by the Shredder or the V5 or any of the Foot by mistake?" Monalisa said "Oh I dread to think!"
Raphael nodded in agreement.
"I hope he finds a way, for Kemeko's sake." He said then he walked back to join the party with the lizard girls.
So Kemeko's having a good day, yet Leonardo despite trying to enjoy himself is still very worried, he's made a good decison to go and meditate for a a bit.