Leonardo, You Gave Me Wisdom (Book 4)

For the Dancing and the Dreaming

When I first walked into the dojo, all I could see was the rat and the girls. Naomi was trying to hold down one of her kids as they tried to grab at the weapons wall across the room. I looked at the rat and ground my teeth as I came up to him.

He nodded his head and turned to Naomi, "Enough, Adrian!"

At the command, the young turtle stopped his struggling with his mother before bounding out of the dojo. When he left, a small blur of green tackled him away. A few seconds later, both of the twins were rolling into the main room where the red-masked turtle tried to gather them up.

"Sophia," the rat spoke again. I turned my attention back to him and he nodded, "I know you have been here for a day, and I know you have learned most names, but not all. I am Splinter." Finally I could call him something other than "rat" all the time. "You know Naomi, Julie, and Mikito."

"Mikito?" I repeated.

"Me," Cindy spoke up. "I adopted a different name here..."

"But everyone was calling you Cindy!" I said, a little shocked. Why did her adoptive name ring a bell? It seemed as if I knew it, but at the same time I didn't.

"To make sure you weren't confused, Soph," Julie said softly with a smile. Her tail behind her flicked, mostly near the tip, and she set her hands behind her back. "We knew if we called Mikito by her adoptive name, you would be confused and wouldn't believe us that we were your friends who you called sisters so many times before."

"I still don't," I snapped, finally admitting it. Mikito's eyes widened and looked at me a little hurt. Julie's jaw tightened up and looked down a little. Naomi's expression never changed. "My friends all disappeared... They never came to find me again.. They never returned to try and keep myself out of trouble like they used to!"

"Sophie..." Naomi muttered softly. "Please understand... This was an accident..."

"What was?" I growled. "Finding me?"

"No!" Mikito yipped, staring at me without wavering her gaze. "Just.... Us..."

"You'll learn more the longer you stay..." Julie sighed, looking back up at me finally. "We all had to."

Frowning, I started to turn around but then I bumped into a hard plastron and looked up to see the blue masked Turtle, Leo, standing there. He looked at me. At first, his eyes were different with brightness, but that was only for a split second before they turned back to their shadowed and clouded expression again.

I ground my teeth together as he looked up past me, "You needed me, Sensei?"

"Yes, Leonardo," Splinter nodded. "Train with Sophia."

Eyes wide, I turned to Splinter and stuttered, "A-Are you freaking k-kidding me!?"

"No," Splinter said without much emotion. One of his ears flicked as Leo stood on one side of the room.

"He knocked me out last time with one kick!" I tried to defend myself.

"And now you know what he is capable of... Now stand before him," Splinter said, moving out of the way. I tried for the exit instead, but the three girls stood in the way, watching me with concern. Splinter then stood beside them to help protect the door as he noticed I tried to step past them.

Knowing I was defeated in my attempts, I sighed and decided to back up and stand in front of Leo. He hadn't moved, nor had his expression changed. Again I sighed and put my hair up quickly in a messy ponytail, since I really didn't like buns all that much, with the loose hair tie on my wrist. Still, Leo's expression never changed. Was he honestly a zombie or something?