Chapter Nineteen
Regret
In in her room, Kemeko threw herself onto her bed and sobbed, she couldn't believe what she had done.
She couldn't believe she had injured her father; she had thrown the kunai knife but in her blind rage she hadn't realised he had been in the line of fire!
Every time she and her family practised, they always dodged or deflected with their respected weapons, but this time, Leonardo had been unprepared, and she had hurt him!
"I didn't mean to!" she wept "It was an accident; I didn't mean for it to happen!" she hugged her stuffed panda close, her tears making its soft fur wet.
"I didn't mean it Po!" she wept "I didn't mean it!"
In Donatello's medical room, Donatello had Leonardo laying on the bed as he analysed the wound.
The knife had embedded rather deep in the blue masked turtle's shoulder and Donatello knew he had to be careful when he removed it, both to stop any bleeding and causing more damage.
"Jesus Leo!" Donatello muttered "She did get you good!"
Leonardo said nothing as he looked at the ceiling, still both heartbroken as well as in shock at what had happened and he wondered how Kemeko was coping after what happened, he could only imagine her shock at what she had done, only knowing too well what he accidently did to Splinter that time he snapped, and also to Raphael.
"How could she?" Michelangelo asked as he handed Donatello a syringe filled with anaesthetic.
"I got no idea!" Raphael said as he stood by Leonardo's bedside wiping his brother's brow "But I did feel a sense of déjà vu!" he touched his face near his eye.
"I did as well my son." Splinter agreed as he touched his forehead and Leonardo looked uncomfortable as he remembered both incidents.
Even though it had been years it was still fresh in his mind.
"It was an accident." He murmured "I know she didn't mean to do it."
He grunted as he felt Donatello's inject him with the syringe and he felt rather calm and almost sleepy.
"Sorry Leo." Donatello apologised before he put a mask over Leonardo's face "I need to start the operation to get this knife out."
Leonardo nodded understanding before he started to drift off.
Michelangelo and Splinter left the room, yet Raphael stayed to help Donatello.
When the orange masked turtle and the rat got outside, Monalisa and Pandora were waiting anxiously.
"How is he?" Monalisa asked.
"Donatello has Leonardo under anaesthetic." Splinter reported "The knife did go in deep!"
Monalisa winced and Pandora's eyes widened.
"Shit…" she breathed.
Michelangelo shook his head.
"Have you girls seen Kemeko?" he asked.
Monalisa shook her head.
"No." Pandora said, "she's been in her room since the accident."
Splinter looked up at the Asian girl's room.
"We best let her stay there for a bit." He said, "She's not going to wish to speak to us, let alone face us for a while."
Monalisa nodded then looked at Pandora.
"That includes you." She said, "Give your cousin some space, and don't tell Sonia, or the twins about this event, okay?"
Pandora nodded fervently.
"Your father, grandfather and uncles and I will discuss whether to tell Tyroth and the Knights about what happened." The lizard lady continued as she looked at Splinter and Michelangelo who nodded.
"We'll let Donatello work on Leonardo and give him time to recover, then we shall discuss what to do next." Splinter decided "But for now, we best wait."
A few hours went by, and within that time, Donatello, and Raphael emerged from the medical room.
To the other's relief, Donatello reported that Leonardo was going to be alright, but that he needed to rest to let the anaesthetic wear off.
"I'll stay with him." Splinter had volunteered as he stood up and walked into the medical room, "The rest of you best get ready for bed."
Monalisa had looked at the clock and it was going to be dawn topside soon and they needed to settle down.
Whilst Leonardo had been in surgery, the Lizard Lady had taken on herself to get dinner together which mostly consisted of different filled sandwiches, she had left some outside Kemeko's bedroom door as well as slipped a note underneath, then she, Pandora, Michelangelo, and Splinter had sat in the TV area in silence until Donatello had come out.
Now that they had been given confirmation that Leonardo was alright, they could all relax.
Pandora as much as she was relieved about her uncle, looked to Kemeko's bedroom door, and looked at her mother.
"Should we let Kemeko know?" she asked.
"Leave that to me Geisha." Monalisa said "You go and get ready for bed alright?"
"Alright mum." Pandora sighed then after giving her mother, father, Uncle Michelangelo and her grandfather a hug and a kiss goodnight made her way to her bedroom, yet as she did, she glanced at Kemeko's room sadly, she wanted to go and talk to her cousin or at least let her know that Leonardo was alright and that no-one was angry, but she knew she had to leave that to Monalisa, so she reluctantly made her way to bed.
Before she left, she saw that the sandwiches her mother had left by the door had gone, and she wondered if her cousin had heard anything outside when she had received them.
Having no answered to her many questions, the hybrid went into her room and closed the door.
Back in her bedroom, Kemeko sat on the bed staring at the wall with her half-eaten sandwiches next to her.
She was grateful for the food as she had gotten hungry but was so scared to go outside her room as she didn't want to face anyone.
But she had listened through a crack in her door to find out her father's condition and she was relieved that he was going to be okay, but she still didn't want to go outside and talk to anyone so every time she heard footsteps outside, she would go and hide behind her bed.
Looking at the 'My Neighbour Totoro' themed clock on her bedroom wall, she knew that everyone would be getting ready for bed now, which made her feel relieved, and she wondered if after everyone had had a sleep that things would be calmer or clearer, or worst-case scenario would be discussing a serious punishment for her for what she did.
Never had one of the family seriously hurt another, not even in training, at least she hadn't been told of anything like that happening.
The more she thought about it, the more scared Kemeko began to feel, and she started think of solutions to her problem.
"I can't face them." She thought "I can't face dad! I can't stay here in the lair, not after what I did, I don't even deserve to be here!"
She buried her face in her hands and cried more.
"I don't deserve to be here…I don't deserve to live here anymore!"
A few hours later, the whole lair was silent.
It was now 1pm in the afternoon and Kemeko crept out of her bedroom.
The whole lair was in darkness apart from a few nightlights against the walls to guide anyone who woke up in the daytime hours if they needed the bathroom or to go to the kitchen for a drink, or in Michelangelo's case, midnight snacks.
Kemeko looked around, holding her breath to listen out for noise, yet she heard nothing apart from snores from those asleep or the odd muttering in their sleep which often came from Michelangelo.
Kemeko had gotten dressed in her purple and blue split side dress, black fingerless gloves, and black leggings yet she was bare foot and carried her black shoes in one hand and a rucksack of clothes and possessions in the other.
As stealthily as she could, she crept down the ladder from the top floor and over to Donatello's medical room.
Kemeko peeked in and she saw her father laying asleep in the medical bed attached to a drip, with his shoulder heavily bandaged and she also saw Splinter asleep in the chair next to him.
Kemeko felt the tears form in her eyes as she looked at him.
She wanted to go over and kiss him goodbye, but she was worried about waking Splinter and if she knew her grandfather, he could detect movement near him, even in his sleep so, she kissed her fingers and blew her father a kiss as the tears fell and she turned away.
"I love you daddy." She whispered "I love you so much! I'm so sorry I hurt you!"
Kemeko soon made it to the entrance of the lair, yet she turned and looked back at the place, as to give it one last look before she left.
"Goodbye…" she wept softly "I'm so sorry… You'll be pleased to see me go, after what I did to dad!"
She then turned on her heel, screwing her eyes shut as she ran into the sewers looking for the rungs that would lead to the surface.
With the sun being up, she knew the Foot Ninja nor the Venomous Five would be around so she decided it would be safe to move about and being human she was able to blend in.
She wasn't sure what to do or where she would go, but she couldn't stay in the lair.
But unknown to Kemeko, Pandora had just come out of her bedroom and had seen her go towards the medical room.
The hybrid had woken up yet had been unable to go back to sleep because of all the drama and worry the previous night.
She had decided to go into the kitchen to get a glass of milk and a cookie but as she did so, she saw Kemeko moving in the lair and going to the medical room before stopping outside the door.
After watching her cousin, Pandora soon realised that Kemeko was dressed in her day clothes as well as carrying a rucksack and the hybrid started to fear the worst.
"Oh no way!" she thought, and as quickly as she could, she slipped back into her bedroom and pulled on her black, red, and orange stripped trousers, her red crop top and black biker vest as well as grabbed her boots and weapons.
As she exited her room, she saw Kemeko leaving the lair to go into the sewers, and she frowned.
"Oh, hell no!" she thought "Kemeko what are you thinking!?"
She almost wondered whether to rouse her parents and uncles, but she decided against it, thinking it would be best if she tried to talk Kemeko round and bring her back before the sun set.
"I've got to stop her before she gets into trouble!" she thought as she followed her cousin from a distance as well as keeping quiet so as not to alert the young ninja.
"It might be daylight on the surface, but it's still dangerous! The city is full of Shredder's daytime spies! If they see her, they'll be on her like wolves!"
Luckily Leonardo's going to be alright, but it was a nasty accident, at least he knows it was, and he's deeply worried about his daughter.
And Kemeko's decided to run away in shame, Not a good idea! Especially with how dangerous it is topside, day or night! But Pandora's luckily spotted her and is following her!
What will happen from here? Well tune in to find out!