The Shadow's Secret│TMNT

18 || Bonding Over MK

AN: 2:10-4:18 shows the turtles' lair

"Can I ask you something?" I asked hesitantly. Raphael muttered something under his breath.

"You can ask me whatever the hell you want, Annie."

I swear to god I'm going to karate chop that scowl off his face once I learn how to.

"What does kunoichi mean?"

"A girl ninja, why?"

"Oh I forgot, you were asleep. Well, Donnie found out that I'm a descendant of this famous Samurai dude. Cool, right?"

"Super," he grumbled. I noted his disinterest but continued just to get back at him for being an ass earlier.

"So anyways, Splinter agreed to teach me ninjutsu and Mikey said he couldn't wait to see me in a 'badass kunoichi outfit.'"

"Oh great. Knowing Mikey he'll probably get you to dress up like Jade."

"Jade?" I asked, sidestepping a puddle of something nasty in the sewer tunnel. "Like from Mortal Kombat?"

He glanced over at me in surprise. "Yeah, how'd you know?"

"My sister and I play it all the time," I grinned, "you guys play it too?"

"Yeah, when we're all bored."

"Oh cool, we should have a tournament tomorrow night."

I swear I saw a ghost of a smile flicker across his face.

"Only if you want to get your ass kicked."

"Oh, is that a challenge, Hulk?"

"You bet your ass it is."

It wasn't until after I'd burrowed under my bedcovers later that night that I realized I'd had a conversation with Raph without him exploding with anger and that I actually sort of enjoyed it.

I glanced through my window. Maybe he really is a softie, I thought hopefully.

••• 影の秘密 •••

"Reach deeper," Splinter's voice resonated through the darkness behind my eyelids. "Deeper."

"What am I looking for again?" I asked.

"Anything: a feeling, a smell, a noise, a memory; something ancient and untouched...alien." I focused and strained my mind further. When nothing happened again, I sighed in frustration.

How the hell can accessing ancestral memories even be possible? Has Splinter done this before? Does he even know what he's doing? I scrunched my face up tight for a few seconds, releasing all the tension built up in it. I attempted Splinter's method of retrieving the buried memories once more before giving up again.

It just doesn't feel right. This time, instead of focusing and trying to pull them forth, I relaxed everything, both body and mind, hoping that instead, I would just fall into them.

Or fall asleep, I thought as I felt the familiar sensation of slipping further from my body and curling up inside my brain, the blackness becoming more black.

I can't fall asleep during my first training session! In an attempt to bring myself back to reality, I flexed my fingers. But instead of feeling them clasp together, I felt a firm leather grip beneath them. I gasped, immediately jolting out of the mirage, eyes snapping open.