TMNT: Karai Short Stories

Stop with the full names | No need to be formal

"You look awful, Donatello," Was the only thing she could think of to say after a few long minutes of awkward silence. He really did though. There are bruises and large cuts all over his body, a cast on his right leg and left arm, even a bondage was wrapped around his head. 

"Oh, I'm sorry, but in case you forgot, I got blown up in an explosion," He shots back sarcastically with a roll of his eyes. A pain of guilt hits Karai's face but she plays it off and smiles, "I was not talking about your injuries." He looks at her confused as she smirks. "I was talking about your face. I'm not used to seeing you without your mask. It's weird. Did you know that your head is shaped like a peanut?" He rolls his eyes, "Gee, thanks," but there was a hint of amusement on his features. "So, what brings you here? Besides, insulting me." 

Karai hesitates to answer. She has been avoiding this for a week now, but she could not get Donatello off her mind. She did not apologize to him properly the first time because everyone else was in the room and...she could sense that April did not want her anywhere near Donatello after what she did, not that she blames her really. But now they were alone. Still, she felt insecure. She was never great at apologies. Apologies are for the weak. Never forgive. Never regret. Never apologize. That was what she was taught. Words were meaningless in the Foot. What's done was done, apologies and feeling regret would not change it. The best you could do was find some way to atone. That is why she made that promise to stop going after petty targets of Shredder and vowed to only go after him, thinking that it would be enough but...it wasn't. 

After she returned to her lair that night, she could not stop thinking about how she almost killed Donatello...again. She could not stop thinking about how he got hurt because she had been so focused on her revenge. She tries to convince herself that she is better than Shredder, that she would not hurt others just so she could have her revenge but...she just proved herself wrong. She still is unsure if vengeance is right or wrong, but she is beginning to think that her father may have been right about vengeance. 

Still, she could not let Shredder live. Her father told her that he had paralyzed him but judging by the look on his face, he knew just as well as she did that Shredder would find a way to recover and take his revenge. He will never stop until they or he falls, and she was determined to make sure it was the latter. 

"Karai?" Donatello calls and Karai curses silently to herself for getting off track again. She knows she is stalling, so with a sigh, she comes closer to his bed and just blurts it out, "I'm sorry." Donatello blinks at her surprise as she continues, "Not just for blowing you up but...everything before that. Everything that I did to you in the past. Constantly attacking you, poisoning you, taking you as prisoner and almost frying your brain..." 

When he has yet to say anything, she then says, "I know you probably will never forgive me for all that and that's fine, but I just wanted you to know that I'm very, very sorry and if I could take it all back, I would. But I swear to you, that I will do my best to make sure you and everyone else don't get into danger again because of me."  

Donatello just continues to stare, a blank look on his face, completely unreadable then finally, "Karai...I forgave you a long time ago." Karai looks at him taken aback. "What?" He smiles. "Yeah. I forgave you when you saved us from Tigerclaw that day. Besides, it wouldn't make sense to be mad at you for things that weren't your fault. You thought we were the enemy, you thought our father was the one who killed your mother, and you were just following Shredder's orders, I get that. As for the recent events, well, you couldn't have known I would be in there when you planted the bombs and again, I get it. The thought of getting payback on Shredder has crossed my mind more times than I can count, I just never acted on it."