I own none of these characters or places. Please enjoy this story for free, but tell me what you think.

Usagi, Gennosuke, and the Daimyo decided to spend the night. Usagi was not surprised at Gen's decision. He knew there were leftovers April and their hosts had put away to be eaten for breakfast tomorrow. He was a bit more surprised at the Daimyo's decision. But at Splinter's request he remain, he said he would not mind spending more time in a home filled with such love and joy as his friend's.

Usagi listened as the Silver Sentry insisted to the Battle Nexus Champion he had to leave. He wanted to fly over the city to make certain there was trouble that prevented the law-abiding from having a peaceful night.

Having convinced the Daimyo, Splinter was now speaking with the professor and his two friends asking if they would spend the night. As Usagi and Leonardo listened to him do so, Don appeared at their side carrying several boxes one of which was brightly wrapped and all the rest of which smelled of food. "I want to talk to the professor some more either before he leaves or goes to sleep tonight, but I was also supposed to deliver these to Leatherhead."

Leonardo glanced over as the professor continued talking about the importance of not overstaying one's welcome and another theory he had. Then Usagi's friend in blue turned back to his brother. "Tell you what Don, I'll go ahead and take all these over to Leatherhead tonight. You can pick them up from and talk to Leatherhead tomorrow. That will give you the gift of talking to two fellow geniuses within two days.

Donnie grinned over his burdens. "Thank you, Leo …"

Leonardo nodded, took the burdens from his brother and turned toward an exit of his home before pausing to look down at Usagi. "I'll be back soon."

The corners of Usagi's eyes scrunched up slightly as the corners of his mouth turned down in concern. Perhaps I should go with you, Leonardo san. When a warrior has an armful like that, it is a prime opportunity for enemies to attack him, and …"

Usagi looked to where Splinter and now Donnatello were speaking to professor and his friends trying to get them to spend the night, Michelangelo was trying to talk the Silver Sentry into taking him on patrol and Raphael was … wrestling with Casey Jones for some reason. "It seems as if all the members of your family are busy …"

Leonardo grinned down at him, but a sudden wrinkling of his face also showed concern. "I'd be glad of the company, but I have to warn you. The paths around our home might be … stinkier than the ones you're used to."

"I am sure I have traveled through worse."

Usagi questioned that earlier assumption of his only minutes later. His eyes were stinging in this confined curved and metal walled space enclosing a slow brown river of filth! While his arms were free, the burdened Leonardo walking on the other side of the river on his own thin path than ran just beside and above it glanced over at him in concern in a little light seeping through a rectangular and latticed opening above them. Usagi turned in the same direction Leonardo did during their journey. Once he walked over a board bridging the smelly river to reach the branching off tunnel his friend indicated they had to go through. Finally, they came to another wide open space where the stench fell away a bit at which Usagi sighed in relief.

Despite the unpleasant journey, he was touched by the watery eyed gratitude of the large scaly, but soft spoken neighbor Leonardo had brought the gifts to. Along with the food in the other the brightly wrapped package they brought contained an inedible gift. Upon unwrapping the box and opening it, Leatherhead found a microscope. Usagi did not know what the device was for, but it seemed both important and expensive from Leatherhead's exclamations. He insisted Leonardo let Donatello know how much he appreciated as soon as he saw him, even if he was to visit himself the next day. Leonardo promised.

After an embrace the larger reptile gave the smaller and a handshake for him, since they had only just met, Usagi turned with his friend to begin their walk back to the latter's home. Usagi was much relieved at Leonardo's first words after they were out of Leatherhead's hearing range. "Now my arms are empty, we can take a more difficult and longer, but less uh … smelly … path back if you like Usagi."

After his rest in the "vehicle" and in Leonardo's home during the reading of the Christmas story, Usagi found himself less tired. The thought of his eyes not watering on the way back seemed well worth a little more effort. "While I will go with you on whatever path you decide to take tonight Leonardo, I must say the one you offer now sounds best."

Leonardo was not kidding about the path being less safe and smooth. At one point they climbed a ladder. At another, they stepped lightly on the rungs of another laid down to span the width of what appeared to be a giant well that opened up right in the middle of their path.

Soon after this Leonardo spoke and Usagi could hear the smile in his voice even in the complete darkness they now walked through. "From now on, though this tunnel curves around a bit making you walk further, it's far less smelly and pretty smooth and stable underfoot."

Usagi sighed. "I must say Leonardo. I thought walking through ninja-infested forests frightening, but I'm a bit unnerved by all this stillness, silence, and complete darkness of this place. It is little wonder you and your family are so brave calling this place "home."

Leonardo shrugged. "It doesn't seem so scary to us. We grew up here. At least my brothers and I did. Master Splinter came from elsewhere. Actually, last year, when we went to Casey's grandmother's home, I got a bit afraid of all the "space" and wide openness of the countryside. It felt like anyone could see us."

Despite not being able to see him, Usagi looked toward where his friend's voice had come from with wide eyes. "You were 'discomforted' by nature?"

Leonardo shrugged again. "I grew to like it. When we returned to Casey's grandma's place in summer I actually enjoyed myself."

"What prevented you from enjoying it before then?"

"Our enemy had just chased us from our home. He almost succeeded in killing us all including April and Casey. The only reason we got away was he thought he had."

Usagi's face fell along with his voice long before Leonardo paused and he could reply. "I see."

"It really put a damper on that Christmas."

Usagi straightened and turned his eyes and ears in the direction of his friend again. "Did you enjoy it all?"

"Not at first, not until Casey and April tried reading the Christmas story to my family and I."

"I am sorry to say Leonardo, I found it a bit confusing. Perhaps it is only because I am new to your world."

He could hear the amusement in Leonardo's response. "Naw, it was new to and confusing for us to last year."

Usagi let the surprise his friend could not see sound in his voice. "You did?"

"We didn't have the book Casey and April read it from and we hadn't really ventured beyond our own home much where we'd hear other people read it."

"But you enjoyed it when you heard it?"

"It was interesting … I guess you could say it brought me … hope."

"How so?"

"April and Casey stopped reading before the story was really finished. In a later part, wise men from the east visit the baby Jesus and bring him some really expensive gifts. They even worship him. They know who he is somehow. But they make a fatal mistake. Before finding him, they make a stop in a nearby big city ruled by an evil king. They ask there where the new baby born to become the "new king" has been born, and the evil king hears about it. He gets some more wise men to tell him where the baby must "really" have been born. Then he sends the wise men looking for him there and tells them when they find him to come back and tell him where he is so "he" can worship him too."

"But it is a ruse."

"Yeah. After the wise men give him their presents and worship him, they go home another way, to avoid the evil king and not tell him anymore, but it was almost too late. Eventually, the evil realizes what they did and tries to kill every baby in the area the one he really wanted to kill was supposed to be born in, but the baby Jesus' parents got a warning and take him away to a far off place in time …"

"But … innocent babies in that place they had fled …"

"Were killed, yeah, that's the part Casey and April didn't want to read tonight."

Usagi's eyes were wide in horror. "And that gave you … hope?"

"I know it sounds weird, bad even. But … it kinda reminded me of the position my family and I were in at the time. We'd been chased away by a powerful evil ruler, and we were in a home not our own hiding from him, but eventually the evil king died and the special baby gets to go home with his parents, or to his parents' old home anyway. I thought at the beginning of the story there was no way the people in it could know what it was like to be us. Calling a smelly place "Home" even for a short time, having someone try to kill them, needing to escape to a place unlike any they'd ever known. After hearing the story, I realized that wasn't true. The story that started Mikey's favorite holiday was a lot more relatable than I thought it'd be, and more hopeful, cause the baby and his parents survived. The evil king died first … and they got to go home. Yeah, it gave me hope …"

What do you think now?

God bless

ScribeofHeroes