Book 2: HomeFront

You Okay?

 She couldn't recall the last time she had a meal at Miwa's home. Sweet nostalgia filled the empty chairs of those of the past who would join them in their meals. Family, friends, and guests would come over and hold colorful conversations that would last all night. As a child, Venus could not remember the topics of any of them. The only thing she could truly remember was the taste on her tongue as it was reintroduced to Miwa's amazing cooking abilities. Back home, the boys had introduced her and her sister to the typical breakfast foods that a healthy family would consume: turkey bacon, egg whites, and breakfast steaks with oatmeal. Here, the female turtle felt a tinge of normalcy as she picked up a large soup spoon that contained the fragrant broth to her mouth. So long has it been that she had eaten wontons for breakfast. Back in America, it was a lunch or dinner type of dish, but here, she was able to enjoy it in the morning. The characteristic of it being leftovers was out of the question.

The table was small, but adequate to satisfy the four eating together.

"I made much more this morning for I do not know your eating habits." Miwa broke the quiet as she looked up from her small bowl. In her hands, hr marble chopsticks formed as X after serving her a deal of the large wontons. Her comment was towards Leonardo. Although the table was quiet, he was quiet in his eating habits. Everyone else consumed it as normal, but he had picked up a slower pace. On his right, the Ancient One had his bowl up to his face. His obnoxious slurps, disgusted the latter of the table, but it was something they had to ignore. When he had his fill, he lowered the china and wiped his mouth with him sleeve in exchange for the napkin beside him.

"If you are anything like Mei, there's probably five pounds of wontons in there." He chortled. Venus' cheeks turned into a shade of rouge. She knew she was a big eater, but what was a girl to do? She's abnormally tall, big, and athletic. Her metabolism was off the charts. On her right, she looked to see if another was possibly lightening up. Instead, her slight smile faded from the lack of his.

The bright turtle was abnormally downtrodden. As she remembered, he didn't take so many bites out of his food. Everyone in the house was a big eater, so what would make Leonardo not be able to make the wontons disappear. In the few tastes, he did not show any sign of remorse or disgust in the food. That and he liked wontons. Venus had a hunch as to why he was so down, but was too afraid to address it. He sat back in his chair (they had to turn the chairs to the side in respect to their shells touching the backs of them). His chopsticks were slowly rotated between his two fingers. In such a traditional setting, he refrained from letting his elbow lean on the table. Venus was not the only one noticing his droopy appearance. From the corner of her eye, Miwa silently watched his actions. She, too, could not help that he was acting awkwardly and unnaturally. As she watched him, it built up her assertions and to actually ask what was wrong.

"Are you content, Leonardo?" She tried to make it as collected as possible. She heard him sigh lightly. It probably would have been more prominent but he wouldn't want to come across as rude.

"Hai, sensei." He failed to look at her in the eye. From his tone, he was indeed troubled by something. Her sharp eyes looked back down into her bowl. Her pair of chopsticks gracefully caught a wonton.

"You do not convince me." She spoke as a mother who knew that her child was not telling the whole truth. Leonardo looked up to see her eat the wonton. Once in her mouth, she looked back up at him with a critical eye, agging him on to tell his story.

"I don't know." The male turtle spoke so low that his throat vibrated.

"You're really out of it." Venus chimed in honestly. Leonardo shrugged.

"I'm just exhausted." He confessed, swirling his warm soup around with his spoon.

"I wonder why." The Ancient One smirked slyly. He failed to ignore Miwa's disapproving looks towards his comment. The elderly man was such a smart Alec, but she couldn't help but respect the old man.