the curse - 1 - [rottmnt Donnie - COMPLETED]

#43

"Okay, what did you find?" Donnie asked when the image of the dome had been viewed enough and had disappeared back into Shiro's gauntlet, which was now a harmless-looking, metallic-purple bangle again.

The first slices of pizza have just been eaten.

"Lots of stories about ancient…" Raph began with a grin, chewing.

"Yes, yes, I know. I meant something relevant to this whole situation."

"The most books mention the conflict between the Kuraiko and Hamato clans, but often only in passing, without detailing the circumstances." said April, opening a new box.

"And in the books where the story is more concretely described, the stories are contradictory." said Shiro and bit off a much too large piece of her slice

“Contradictory in what ways?” Donnie asked and looked at Shiro with an amused look as she tried to answer him with wide eyes and an overflowing mouth. 

She chuckled and exchanged a glance with Mikey, who laughed.

Raph came to her aid and replied with a smile, "The story is told from either Hamato's or Kuraiko’s point of view. And each blames the other side. Either the Hamato samurai was a vengeful, choleric guy who cursed the poor Kuraiko - or she was a calculating, sneaky bitch who had betrayed him."

"Then… we don't know exactly which story is true?" Mikey asked

“The writings that flesh out the story are written very subjectively. I think the authors sympathized to the clan they described as victims." guessed April.

Donnie nodded, considering the others' words.

"So the truth lies somewhere in between…" said Leo, reclining on one of the sofas and eating two slides stacked on top of each other at the same time.

All heads turned to him. Leo looked uncertain.

"Or…?"

“No, exactly, Leo. You kind of hit the nail on the head." said Donnie.

Leo grinned contentedly.

"But we still don't know exactly how the story unfolded…" April mused.

"Dad seemed to be trying to be as neutral as possible in bringing together the tales he could remember and the stories from the books.” said Leo.

"Is that so important for us to know the full story?" Mikey asked

"My sweet ‘Angelo, It's always important to have as many facts as possible in order to make an accurate assessment of the…" Donnie began when Mikey said with a regretful tone, ignoring his older brother.

"It's such a pity all the drawings aren't in color…"

Donnie looked over at Mikey with an indignant glance because of the interruption of his explanation, but Shiro got up and hobbled over to the orange one, who was looking at a slightly larger picture in one of the books.

Shiro felt her heckles raise as she looked down at the picture. It showed a young woman in traditional Japanese festival dress, sitting, with a straight back and looking past the drawing person with a smile reminiscent of Mona Lisa.

"That's her…" she whispered

And everyone got up and went over to look over her and Mikey's shoulders. It was a drawing in traditional style, and also the black and white print made it difficult to identify the young woman's individual characteristics.

But in her tightly tied black hair, which was lost in the headdress, a wide, white strand could be made out. Silence fell over the group.

—