Book One In The Ahh-Ness Of Things Series: April & Donnie were once inseparable, but now almost six years have passed since she left NYC. What if April O'Neil could set the record straight, once & for all! The only girl down enough to chill with the...
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"Itadakimasu" we sang in unison. I was so hungry but my head felt like dead weight. I thought I might be running a fever from exhaustion. I looked down into the small bowl of rice Leo had placed in front of me. We both nodded to one another & he passed me the little black kettle. I poured a good amount of tea into the rice & smooshed the fish & herbs down with my chopsticks until tea pooled into the pocket I'd made. Leftovers from that night's dinner, for sure. I missed these quiet moments in the kitchen late at night, raiding the fridge with my brothers.
"Leo. Where is everyone?" I lifted the bowl to my face & shoveled bitefulls in.
"Raph & Mona are on patrol & the kids are all asleep." He looked up over the rim of his own bowl, wisps of steam rising before his face & he tried to make sense of my expression through his blurred vision.
"How many kids do they have?"I asked him.
"Two girls, Hana & Shida. Shida is almost six & Hana just turned three." He took a drink of tea. "You really didn't know 'oji' meant uncle"?
"No, I never actually learned Japanese, I just picked up on what you all were saying when you bickered. Or when Master Splinter was yelling at us." We both snuck in a laugh. "Wait",I blurted out when I suddenly remembered the meanings of the names. "Raph named his kids 'Flower' & 'Fern'?" Their names weren't really names at all, they were words. It made sense, the guys kind of always had their own grasp on their inherited language.
"Yeah! You know he's really a big softy, they're his doll babies."
"Wow" I drank the tea from my bowl & tried to imagine a snuggly Raphael with not one but two baby girls in his arms.
"Yeah Shida is a lot like Mona, but Hana, don't let her fool you, she's a pint sized Raphael."
"What? That squishy little ball of giggles?"
"Oh wait till she loses her patience. She's a 'you hug me only if I hug you first' kind of kid. That's why Shida's in my room with Yoshi. Hana kicked her out of the bed because apparently she was laying on her babies, or something. The girl has a million stuffed animals!" Leo spread his hands out in a wide semi circle to emphasize the amount.
"Who is Yoshi"?
Leonardo sat his rice down & smiled softly, raising his face to meet mine, said with the pride only a father can mold into words of such weight & gentleness all at once; "Yoshi is my son."
"You have a son!?" My heart jumped into my throat, I really didn't know what to think.
"April" he kindly scolded, "you've been gone a pretty long time. Yes I have a son, he's five." He stood, picking up the dishes, placing them in the sink. "Oh i forgot" he grabbed the freezer door & turned back towards me with a mischievous grin, " Do you want desert?"
