Puppeteer (TMNT AU)

Chapter 1: Yume

A.N. :thanks to anyone who read the prologue! Here's the first chapter, title means 'dream', hope you enjoy!

Leo got up from his meditation. The astral plane had proven to be less calming than he'd hoped. No one was here yet. He looked at the clock. 'Wait, it's been two hours already?' He frowned, wondering if he'd meditated through training, a logical explanation as to why he would be the only one here, but an unlikely one. He got up and paced, trying to figure out why his siblings still weren't here.

A crashing noise from outside startled him. Wondering if there was trouble or if his brothers had begun a fight before coming in, he carefully made his way to the shoji. He swung the door open, expecting to see Mikey and Jennika fighting again, but what he found sent him tumbling to the floor. He turned around onto his shell, and felt something by his feet.

He looked up, eyes wide, at the figure before him. It was...a kitsune? He looked at its face, but the kitsune didn't move, and he took the opportunity to look behind it, hoping to find a way to escape. There was nothing but a huge void, and his siblings hung from a place so high he could not see, well, almost all. Karai wasn't there.

He gulped, and tried to move back, he couldn't. His body refused to move. He started shivering as the kitsune came closer, passing a cold air over him. It kneeled before his face, and looked him over. 'Beautiful creature you are' the voice said in his head.

'No! Get away from me! Get away!' He tried moving back but failed yet again. A voice other than the kitsune penetrated through the thick fog surrounding him, but he couldn't make out the words., even though they just kept repeating themselves.

'Do not be afraid, young one. You have much potential, but you need to grow up. A 14 year-old is of little use to me.' The kitsune's voice came again. 'Stop it! Get out of my mind! Leave me alone!' But the kitsune didn't leave. He looked past it again, to his already dead siblings. He would die looking at them, if it came to that.

But out of the corner of his eye, he saw something on Venus that none of the others had. A mouth. It scared him, but calmed him, then it moved. "Okiro Leonardo-San, okiro!" (Okiro=Wake up) Venus said. He closed his eyes. He felt through the endless void. It felt like hours, perhaps years that he searched for the faint glow of life, but he found it nonetheless.

He gripped onto it, and pulled himself towards it. He didn't know why it was so much harder this time, but he was just relieved to have found it. He tugged a bit more, and found himself back in the dojo.

"Leo!" He was hit full force by a hug. "Thank goodness, you were starting to worry me, we were trying really hard to reach you, but nothing was working. I thought you would never wake up!" Venus said. Ling-Ping, a teacher of martial arts, meditation, and Japanese, sat nearby.

"Leonardo-San, anata wa nani o mita no?" (Leonardo, what did you see?) He asked him, worry sounding clear in his voice. "Kitsunedatta to omou" (I think it was a kitsune) he replied, hoping that it wasn't. Ling looked pensive. "A kitsune?" Venus asked, taking her hands off Leo so she could look him in the face. He nodded, and Venus made a face like he had just fallen into a full dumpster. "Hey, I can't help it!" He crossed his arms defensively.

"Motto ki o tsukerubekidesu"(you should be more careful) Ling stated, pulling Venus and Leo out of their conversation. "Hai." Leo said, hoping for this dispute to end soon. Venus had apparently decided that she was going to be his savior. "Well, anyway, let's get ready, it's Karai's birthday! We have a test tonight!" Venus reminded him, it was true, but her voice also pointed out that this was an excuse so that Leo could leave.

"You're right, let's go." Leo said, a silent 'thanks' in his eyes, and followed Venus out of the dojo. Before he left, he heard Ling's warning. "Kitsune wa anata no tamashī o teniireru made tomaranai" (the kitsune will not stop until it has your soul).

A.N.: hope you liked it! Any comments are welcome. All the art is made by me, you're welcome to use it, so long as you say that it doesn't belong to you.