The Shadow's Secret│TMNT

17 || Origins

"Where the hell did you go!?"

I jumped and choked back a scream. "Jesus Christ! Don't do that!" I cried. Raphael stood on the roof outside of my window, hidden in the darkness. He stepped towards me, fists clenched at his sides.

"I said, where did you go?" He repeated, his voice taking on a menacing tone. I inhaled and exhaled deeply, calming myself before I spoke.

"When?"

"When you left like three hours ago!"

"I went out for dinner with Olivia, chill."

"Who's Olivia?" He demanded through his teeth.

I raised my eyebrows. "She's my sister. So you can calm down now, Hulk."

He growled. "Let's get one thing straight here, Strawberry. I'm not gonna sit here and wait for you to run off and yell our existence to the whole god damn world," he towered over me, his face set in a scowl, "if you do anything to put my family in danger I will personally arrange your funeral."

I clasped my hands to my heart. "Oh, how sweet of you," I sang. He opened his mouth to fire back a retort when a low ring sounded from his transmitter. Raph growled and spoke into it.

"What?"

Leo's excited voice poured from the device, making me wish that it was him who was here to bring me to the lair and not his jerk brother. "Get Raiya over here now! Donnie may have found something!"

"Alright, we're on our way." He looked down at me with displeasure, "try to keep up Carrot top."

I barely registered the nickname as my mind reeled with questions. What did Donnie find? And what could they possibly need me for?

••• 影の秘密 •••

The second my feet touched the concrete floor of the lair, Leo was calling my name. I followed his voice to the monitors in the living room, where he and Mikey stood on either side of Donnie while he sat in front of the numerous computers and keyboards. Leo turned and smiled at me as I approached, then frowned as his eyes searched for something behind me.

"Where's Raph?"

I glanced around and found a three-fingered, green hand hanging off the edge of one of the beds in their room.

"Sleeping, what's up?" I asked, looking over Donnie's shoulder as he read something on one of the computer screens.

"Oh good, you're here," he said, switching to a different computer that displayed a picture of a woman's passport. Words died in my throat and my heart stopped for a moment, seizing painfully at the sight of the familiar face.

"H-how did you get that?" I asked, my voice quiet.

"I'd love to explain it all to you but it would take too long." He turned in his seat to look at me. "Is this your mother?" He asked softly. I nodded, feeling the unmistakable sting of potential tears behind my eyes. Leo reached an arm out and pulled me closer to him and I gratefully leaned against him, releasing a shaky breath.

"I can't find any record of her parents through her info, do you know their names?"

"I think they were Margaret and Ben."

"Last names?"

"My mom...her last name was Kaneko before marrying my father. But I'm not sure about my grandma's."

His eyes flashed in interest and he whirled around to type madly across a keyboard. I pressed myself closer to Leo's side, trying to keep the flood of painful memories at bay. Mikey watched in boredom, almost looking like he was going to fall asleep.

"What are you doing?" Leo asked. I looked up to see what he was referring to. Jumbled masses of letters, numbers and symbols covered the monitor.

"Hacking the database of Japanese passports," he replied nonchalantly.

"Is this a normal occurrence?" I asked in astonishment.

"Yeah. How do you think he found your mom's passport?" Mikey said with a yawn. "You look just like her by the way. Kinda like a clone." His eyes widened and he was about to say something else when his genius brother beat him to it,

"Raiya have you ever had your blood tested?"

"I think I'm B positive."

"Have you ever had it tested for your origin?"

"No, why?"

"When I read over your records the night Leo brought you here unconscious I noticed that your origin was unconfirmed but forgot about it right away. And this morning I remembered so I researched your father's origin and tried your mother's but I couldn't figure out who her parents are."

"Were," I corrected quietly, "why are you looking through Japanese passports? My family has always lived in America."

"Not if their surname is Kaneko. Okay, I'm in. Alright...Kaneko, Kaneko, Kaneko...here we go." Donnie scrolled through decades and decades of countless passports, the pictures of the men on each of them looking more and more Japanese as he went further down the timeline.

"My sons, what are you searching for?" I looked over to see Splinter, striding from his room and towards the monitors.

"Sensei, do you recognize the name Kaneko?" Leo asked.

"I recall reading it in a book once."

"Do you know its origin?"

"Not entirely. I know only that some families of the name are descendants of the ancient Japanese Mononobe Clan."

Donnie rolled his chair over to a different keyboard, sifting through more records. He tapped a key in triumph and spun around to face us, a huge grin on his face. "And some are descendants of the famed Samurai Kaneko Ietada. Who, "With his martial prowess, he has established his fame in this life. His loyalty will live throughout the ages, his name imprinted on future generations and his achievements bequeathed to his descendants." As written by Hogen Monogatari."

I recoiled in surprise. "Are you saying that I'm related to a samurai!?"

He nodded and leaned back in his chair, proud of his discovery. Mikey exploded with joy, scooping me up into a huge, unexpected hug. "That's so cool!" He set me down but still grasped my shoulders as he spoke excitedly, "I bet you have some super badass Samurai skills!"

I glanced at Leo, who just grinned at his brother's antics. The orange-masked turtle released me and looked over at Splinter.

"Sensei we have to train her!"

At that, Donnie and Leo whirled around, anticipating their Sensei's reply eagerly and I found myself doing the same.

"If Raiya wishes to study the art of Ninjutsu, I will teach her."

Their gazes moved to me and my throat suddenly went dry, as if all my previous excitement had evaporated from it. Become a ninja? Can I do that? What would Olivia think? What would my mother say?

Splinter noticed my silence and inner conflict. "It is your decision, you do not have to accept. It is years of training and commitment and you can stop whenever you'd like."

Why am I even hesitating? Who the hell wouldn't want to become a ninja?

A grin split my face. "Let's do it."

Mikey whooped and tackled me in another hug. "Girl, I can't wait to see you in a badass kunoichi outfit!"

AN: Yaassss Raiya's gonna be a badass ninjaaa I'm so exciteddd. Don't worry though, it's not gonna take nine years of training or anything bcuz I have something super cool that'll take care of that.

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