Chapter Text
“You need a haircut.”
“Seriously? I haven’t seen you in two years and the first thing you do is fuss over my hair?”
Shinigami rolls her eyes, dropping her bags, and pulls Karai into a one-armed hug. “I suppose I had better catch up with you, but tonight we’re fixing this… scruffiness.”
Her perfume’s different now: heavier, more like plum or rose than the lilac stuff she used to douse herself in. Underneath it, though, she still carries the scent of silk and metal, from the numerous weapons no doubt hidden in her dark purple jacket. Karai squeezes the witch back, firm but not lingering, then straightens to take a piece of luggage. “You’re lucky. I’m out of that awful hotel now.”
“What?!”
“ Oh . I haven’t- okay, I can explain.”
Shini had been dragged back out on an unexpected mission a day or two after she called, delaying her for a miserable two weeks while Karai witnessed the near-destruction of Earth, again. It’s really getting old.
Long story short, though, the Shredder hasn’t been seen in New York since the black hole. At the moment, Karai’s hoping he got sucked in (though she doubts it), but it’s left Foot headquarters largely abandoned save for some straggler recruits, and she’s taken up residence there once again.
(It’s not much more pleasant than the hotel, really. Empty of people and full of uncomfortable memories.)
It takes the entire taxi ride to the church and a fair amount of unpacking for the kunoichi to finish her recounting of her life in New York City. When she finishes, Shini mumbles a curse and stares at her for a long moment.
“I knew you had a bad year, but that’s… jeez.”
“Yeah.”
The witch makes a troubled hmm sound, and decides to wrap an arm around her. It’s stiff at first, unpracticed. They’ve never been very touchy with each other. Eventually, though, Karai lists to the side and presses her face into Shini’s shoulder. She likes this perfume better, she’s decided.
“Will you just let me bottle it up for a bit? Please?”
“I’ll give you a few days,” Her friend allows. She rubs at the nape of Karai’s neck for a minute, working out a knot right at the base of her skull.
“Oh, let’s get something to eat! I’m starved.”
They decide on Indian, somewhere Karai’s never been before because Shini drags her into the first restaurant they walk by, and they eat and talk for hours, and it’s the best she’s felt in forever.
She can’t escape the haircut her friend promised. Not that she wants to. She does trust the witch with her hair (as she trusts her with everything), and it feels good to finally look like herself again, her undercut trimmed and re-bleached and bangs out of her eyes thanks to some careful trimming.
“ Doumo, ” She sighs as she runs her hand through the shaved section. “ God, that’s better.”
“No problem,” Shini hums. She pulls her own hair out of its elaborate updo, rifling through her bags for a brush. “I don’t think I’ll be awake much longer, this jetlag is killer.”
The witch slips off to the bathroom to get ready eventually, emerging in a loose t-shirt and shorts, hair braided down to her shoulder blades, and once Karai’s taken her turn in the bathroom she flicks the lights off and finds Shini dead asleep on her bed, on top of the covers.
Unsurprisingly, the process of Karai dragging the blankets from under her and shoving a pillow beneath her head fails to wake her- she’s always slept like the dead.
“See how you’d fare if someone breaks in,” She mutters fondly. Tossing herself under the covers on the free side of the bed, she stares for a moment at her best friend, at the changes two years have had on the face she knows so well.
Shinigami’s hair is shorter now than when she left; it used to hang down to her hips, with purple streaks. Her face has lost what lingering baby fat it had when she was fifteen, showing the outline of her cheekbones, Still, with her makeup off she looks younger. Softer.
She’s a good three inches taller, and has a solid inch on Karai (in heels she practically towers over her). The kunoichi is going to have to get used to looking up at her, after so many years of meeting perfectly eye to eye.
She’s beautiful.
That’s not a totally new development- Karai’s always found her pretty, and known that most others would agree, but with these added years she seems to have grown out of any teenage awkwardness and even now, bare-faced with a few loose strands of hair drifting across her face, there’s a confidence to her.
Karai wonders briefly what she looks like to Shini now (because sometimes there’s something in her own face she doesn’t recognize), but casts the thought away for the moment. It’s easy to pretend they’re still fourteen and fifteen right now, having secret sleepovers after whispering for hours into the night.
She lets herself believe it until she drifts off to sleep, and doesn’t wake up until morning.
**********
“I’ve decided what I’m going to do.”
“I really hope you’re going to say ‘the dishes’, because your kitchen is in a terrible state right now.”
“I’m letting them soak,” Karai dismisses quickly, though a quick thought back to her kitchenette reminds her of the mess she’s been doing her best to ignore, and it’s… significant. It’s been trying getting any menial tasks done recently. They just feel so… in significant. In the grand scheme of things. “But I was going to say that I want to rebuild the Foot. And I want you to be here with me. In New York.”
Shini’s eyes widen, then pinch in concern, then squint in a contemplative way, until she finally decides, “All ri-”
“I know you’d be far away from your sisters, and if you’d like they’re welcome to join us here, but you’d be free to take leave and visit whenever you want.”
“Karai-”
“And I know there’s… history with all of this now, and that I’m not really the heir to the Foot, but I’m the closest thing there is to it and I don’t really know what else I’m meant to do if it’s not that, and everything just feels so- so meaningless sometimes now that I think I need to work on something bigger. Something that I’m really a part of, because everything I was a part of was a lie and-”
“ Karai!” Shini sighs through her nose when she finally stops her ramble, standing from her seat on the park bench. “ Tomete kudasai. I’d be honored. And I’ll stick with you no matter what you want to do.”
“...Thank you.”
“But are you sure this is what you need? I mean… have you even worked through everything? Your dad, and the mind control, and-”
“He is not my father.”
“ Yes, Karai. That’s my point . That’s a lot on its own, but on top of that…” The witch bites her lip, debating over her next words. “Don’t be offended; you look exhausted. And you’re skinny.”
Shini’s right, because she usually is. She’s messed up and tired and scarred all over in ways she doesn’t understand and the only thing she can think to do about it is throw herself into the next big thing. The mission.
Karai rests a hand on her best friend’s shoulder, trying to find someway to not lie and not admit just how accurate the witch’s worries are. “...I’ll deal with it. I swear to you. But I can’t yet, and I need someone here with me to get myself and the clan back on its feet.” She softens a bit, pleading. “I need you.”
Shinigami takes her hand firmly and pulls it up so that their arms are crossed in front of each other, giving a steady nod. “Then you have me for whatever you need. On the condition, ” She quirks one dark eyebrow. “That you start eating enough and take breaks. I won’t watch you work yourself to death.”
“For you, I’ll do my best.”
“Good enough for me, Senpai. Let’s get to work.”
**********
The following week is a whirlwind, to say the least. They assemble what Foot soldiers are still hanging around New York, contact any reserves available in Japan, and wrangle deserters for a meeting at the clan’s old headquarters. They clean the throne room, clearing away the dust and mouse droppings Karai’s been willfully ignoring for the past month. Shinigami buys a new hat (her previous one got crushed by a careless baggage handler on her flight over, much to the witch’s dismay).
As Karai stands at the end of the church’s great hall, she notes that her audience looks reluctant at best and murderous at worst (she’s not exactly on proper terms with the Foot, for those who know of her betrayal).
Shini is standing off of her right side, hat tilted over her eyes and back straight. Her cloak is off, showing the silver crescent of the kusarigama at her hip.
“I’m sure you’ve all heard of the Shredder’s unfortunate disappearance.” She pauses, taking in a general lack of surprise but also a lack of melancholy. “It’s unknown whether he lives or not. As his heir , I don’t intend to let this clan disintegrate.” Karai emphasizes her title, though it’s not really hers and it leaves a bad taste in her mouth, all too aware of the precarious position of leadership she holds.
A long pause brings no shouts of disagreement, so she presses on. “Anyone who wishes to follow me in re-strengthening the Foot’s presence is welcome. Anyone who doesn’t will not be forced. But I will not tolerate insurrection.”
This prompts some murmurings.
“I want to take our clan in a new direction, free of the vendettas and history that tied us-”
“What makes you think you have the right?”
Beside her, Shini’s head snaps up. Karai searches the crowd for the source of the voice, until a tall-ish man with a buzzcut shoves his way to the front.
“She betrayed the Shredder. But worse, I’ve heard she tried to kill him in cold blood!” A wave of mutters sweeps through the room, and the man glares up at Karai.
She recognizes him now: one of his highest in command, but still outside of his inner circle, tasked with managing their money laundering operations.
He used to laugh when she sat in on meetings. Like she was a novelty in rooms of older men with scars and sunglasses hiding their faces, young and face bare until she adopted her signature eyeliner. “You’re no more his heir than any of us now . Threw away your birthright, and for what? I bet you’re the reason he’s gone, you entitled little bi-”
In a split second, Shinigami’s darted off the podium and has him grabbed by his collar, forcing him to bend at the waist as she presses a kunai to his throat. Her hat is still covering most of her face, but Karai can see just a sliver of her left eye, narrowed and dangerous.
“My friend was speaking, nezuki. It’s rude to interrupt.”
The man- Kobayashi Takibi, she remembers- fumes for a second, but Shini’s grip at the back of his neck is unyielding. She straightens and nods to Karai. Continue.
“You have a point, Kobayashi,” She allows, lip quirking up when he blinks at her, dumbfounded. “You shouldn’t all have to take me at my word that I can lead the Foot. We need proof, hmm?”
He scoffs nervously. “...Well. I only meant that-”
“No, no. Why do I think I have the right? It’s only fair someone else gets their chance at wearing the kabuto, if all I have is my birthright.” She nods to Shini and the witch shoves Kobayashi forward, turning back to the gathered crowd.
“You can fight me for it.”
The man’s eyes widen, though he’s clearly trying to hide his surprise. His fear.
“Go on. What right do I have to that helmet?” She gestures sharply to the kabuto where it sits on the throne, polished to a mirror-like finish. “Take it.”
The older man straightens his shirt, still rumpled from Shini’s fist, and nods. He can’t back down now, and they both know it. Just like they know that she’s better than he is.
She’s way better.
He takes the steps up to the throne far too fast, balance tilting forwards with every step so that when he reaches her it’s child’s play to hook his leg and flip him onto his back. He rolls away from her downwards kick just in time and stumbles back onto his feet, eyes wild. It takes only a second for her to land another hit, a punch right to his diaphragm, and while he’s hunched over gasping she circles once before kicking at the back of his knee and forcing him to a kneel. Her arm cinches around his neck, just tight enough that he can’t catch his breath.
They’re facing the kabuto . Kobayashi’s gasping breaths are fogging up the metal a bit, his reflection distorted and wild-eyed in the chrome finish.
“You still want it?” Karai hisses the words so that only he can hear. “You still think I don’t deserve it? That you do?”
“No- ngh- no, I don’t- I”
“Don’t you ever disrespect me like that again. I earned my place here in blood and sweat before I turned twelve.” She squeezes at his neck, just once, so that he makes a strangled gasping sound. “And I’d have beaten you then, too.”
“Yes, I- ghhk- hh- I’m sorry-”
She releases him all at once, leaving the room in dead silence until he’s dragged himself up and scurried back down the stairs, hand clutching at his throat. She’ll have left a bruise.
“Anyone else?”
“...”
“Good. Leave your names if you’re joining me. If you’re not, just leave.”
“Is it true?”
Karai can’t tell who asks the question this time. It comes, disembodied, from the crowd, echoing around the vaulted ceilings of the church like it’s ringing inside her own head. Maybe it is.
“Is it true that you tried to kill the Shredder?”
“...No.”
Shinigami’s hat tilts up. Her eyes meet Karai’s, and Karai looks away, out at the sea of masked and bare faces in front of her.
“No. Just a rumor.”
**********
As promised, Shini doesn’t prod about her feelings or experiences from the past year. She gives looks of pointed concern when Karai flinches too hard around needles or hisses when startled, but they’re silent.
Some nights she jolts awake with a scream caught in her throat, drenched in a cold sweat, and sits in the doorframe of the guest room, staring at the rhythmic rising and falling of her friend’s shoulders until the room stabilizes.
The witch doesn’t wake up. Karai doesn’t disturb her. She knows that if she did, Shini would bundle her up in a blanket and make her tea without a second thought, but she also knows it would break the precarious vow of silence the older girl had taken in regards to her mental state.
For now it’s better to let this simmer, unspoken.
There’s a slew of long days and even longer nights organizing the Foot that have decided to follow her: she revamps the uniforms to scarlet red, restocks their weaponry, and organizes training and recruitment. Shini stays at her side with sharp words and even sharper weapons, when necessary.
She hasn’t seen the turtles around for a while.
It’s weird, because normally Karai can’t avoid them even when she’s trying, and she thinks she may be approaching being ready to speak to them.
It’s a little childish, and cowardly, but she sends Shini out to find them. She gives the witch the task of bringing back one of their weapons, because firstly she knows her friend is capable of it, but also chances are someone will come looking to get the weapon back.
“These are the brothers I told you about. The turtles? Don’t hurt them, but don’t hold back. They can handle themselves. April O’Neil will probably be with them- she’s a redhead, human, and she doesn’t have all of their training. So… you know. Don’t behead her on accident?”
“No promises,” Shini coos, though her tone conveys the joke. “ Jaa mata ne , Kiki.” She snatches her hat from its spot on the throne’s arm, sauntering down the steps in the church’s great hall. She stops just before the door, though, squinting back at Karai. “Are you sure you’re- you’re sure you want me to do it like this?”
“Yes.” This is the only way Karai knows how to do it. Violence is an easy language for her, blows and stolen weapons. Words are far more dangerous, and far more complicated. She’ll avoid those until she can’t anymore.
“All right, then. Four turtles and a redhead, coming up.”
Shini is gone in a swoosh of black silk.
Karai swallows.
**********
In just a few hours, Shinigami comes scampering back through the door of the church, arriving in front of Karai with a dragon tanto- she hasn’t seen this one before.
“So,” She murmurs, balancing the blade on one hand. It’s… nice. Well-weighted, fine steel. “Splinter finally got around to making April a kunoichi? Took long enou-”
“HAH!” With a conspicuous thump, the redhead in question lands in the center of the church, clad in a new black and yellow-striped jumpsuit.
Beats the neon yellow t-shirt and Uggs.
“This kunoichi would like her tanto back, Karai.” April takes in the kabuto on her head, her seat on the throne, and Shini’s perch on the armrest. “...What are you doing, anyway? I thought you-”
“ We’d like to know what’s going on here too!”
Ah.
As promised.
The turtles burst through the entrance, weapons drawn, and in an almost amusingly coordinated movement their fighting stances falter when they see Karai.
She can see the slurry of confusion, relief, hurt, and apprehension that flit across all their faces, seeping into the air of the room until she feels she may choke on it. Noone speaks for a long moment.
“...Is that really you?” It’s Donnie that’s spoken first. Beside him, Mikey’s chewing at his lip fit to make it bleed. “No, uh- no mind control? Brain worms?”
Karai nods.
Raph crosses his arms, sais still clenched in his fists. “Well, ignoring your little stunt of, you know, being dead, why’d your crazy friend attack us?!”
“It was only a test! To see her skills.” Shini closes the distance between them and leans an elbow on Karai’s shoulder, surveying the group below them. She bumps her hip against Karai’s. “Shinigami’s an old friend from Japan, she was never going to hurt you.”
The witch makes a little mh sound, picking an invisible thread off her friend’s shoulder. “At least, not permanently.”
“She’s telling the truth,” April offers, though noone responds. She raises a hand to the crystal around her neck, then, and Karai gets that familiar prickle down her spine. “They’re not after us. They’re after… Shredder?” Karai gives her a little nod, then turns her attention to Leo.
The oldest turtle’s remained deadly silent; his eyes are fixed on the kabuto, with a sort of distant, pinched look across his face. He hasn’t lowered his swords.
Raph glances over at his brother, seeming to notice the tension too, and wheels back on Karai. “So what’s with the headgear, princess? Daddy issues? ”
Yes. She’d barely been able to put the helmet on the first time. It still smells like him, for god’s sake. “The kabuto’s under new ownership now, as is the Foot. I’m going to destroy Oroku Saki. And his empire.” She looks back to Leo, desperate for some sort of response. “...Nothing to say?”
The leader in blue sheaths his swords and says nothing. His face is unreadable, if smoothed a bit now that she’s removed her helmet.
They face off for what feels like an eternity. Wordless, but not without things to say.
The other turtles are silent, too, waiting to see which of the eldests will break the silence. Donnie’s wide-eyed, leaning forward on his staff. Raph’s stiff, but clearly invested. Mikey’s eyes are darting lightning-fast between his siblings, hands wringing in front of his plastron.
After a few more days of silence, it seems the youngest can’t contain himself any longer: “AGHHH! Okay, I can’t DO this anymore! IknewshewasaliveandIwantedtotellyouguysbutSHE-” He gestures wildly to Karai-“Mademepromisenottosayanythingbecauseshewasguiltlyn’scared whichisFINEbutIdon’tthinkfamilyshouldavoideachotherjustbecausetheyfeelbadbecausewe’ve done thatandit sucks and-”
The youngest turtle is cut off by Raph slapping him firmly on the shell. “Take a breath , man. You’re gonna pass out.”
As Mikey blinks, gasping suddenly, Leo finally speaks: “You could’ve come to find us.”
“This is dangerous, Leo. I didn’t want to get you into more trouble for m-”
“So you had to let us think you were dead?! Why do you think we’d rather mourn you than have to deal with a few extra battles?!” He hisses angrily, blinking at the floor for a moment, and opens his mouth as if to continue.
Donnie glances at her quickly and puts his hand on Leo’s shoulder before he can. “I’m sure it’s not that simple. Let her explain.”
“It’s not!” She hurries, “I didn’t want to avoid you guys, but I didn’t- I didn’t know how to come back. Nothing in my life made sense anymore, so I just thought that- I don’t know…”
“That maybe you should stay dead?” Raph blurts suddenly. He winces after the words, just a bit.
“...Yes.”
“That’s stupid,” Leo mutters. He sounds so childish for a moment, glaring petulantly up at her, that she can’t help but giggle. “Don’t laugh! It’s not funny! I’m so sick of you shutting us out for stupid reasons!”
“ They’re not-” She pauses, trying to find the words that will get Leo out of his gripe with her. He doesn’t quite understand why he’s angrier about this than he was about her selling his family out to the Shredder, but that’s probably her issue more than his. “...I’m sorry that I hid from you guys. I wanted to find you, honestly, but I- I was scared.”
At that, Leo looks up,
She thinks again, now that she’s caught his attention. “You know I don’t have a good track record with family reunions . I mean, Shredder nearly made me kill you all. And I couldn’t stand to see you again if it just meant that the only family I had left would get hurt. So… I kept to myself.”
“Did you have… anyone? After everything that happened?” The oldest turtle’s anger has melted into a sort of frustrated worry now, which she counts as a win.
“Shini. She’s been with me in New York for over a month. And-” Karai glances at April, who gives her a shrug. Go ahead. “O’Neil helped me get back on my feet. Right after I broke free from Shredder.”
“You knew too?!” Mikey wails, wheeling on April. “And you let me suffer in silence? I thought my head was gonna explode!”
“Well…” Leo shifts in place, crossing his arms again. “I guess I can forgive you going undercover. You had good intentions, and you’ve certainly been keeping busy-” He eyes the freshly-hung Foot emblems surrounding the great hall. “But promise me you won’t pull something like this again.”
“...”
“ Karai.” Surprisingly, it’s Raph who addresses her now- quietly. He gives her a pointed look, one that tells of things she doesn’t know and hasn’t seen, but the message is clear: Not again.
“All right.”
Leo nods, satisfied. Shini tilts back off of her shoulder, hopping back up on the arm of the throne and twirling April’s tanto between her fingers. The redhead flushes at the motion, eyes darting warningly between the witch and Karai.
Before anything can boil over, Mikey rejoins the conversation: “Why don’t you come back to the lair, sis? Master Splinter would love to see you!” He looks awfully hopeful.
“Maybe, Mikey. Soon,” She allows. “But I need to find my own path for myself. Not one he makes for me.”
Mikey gives a dejected thumbs-up. Raph shrugs, Donnie nods against his staff, and Leo stares off into the corner before meeting her eyes again: “Then I’ll see you soon, aneki. I’m… glad you’re okay.” He gives a little smile, and the turtles turn to leave.
She doesn’t pay much attention as April demands her tanto back, halting their exit, watching halfheartedly as Shini (frankly) mops the floor with her. She does call the fight off once the human is well and truly down, but only then. It takes unexpectedly long.
April’s stronger than she gave her credit for.
She’ll have to keep that in mind: O’Neil is a worthy ally. And an interesting acquaintance, to say the least.
April leaves with her weapon, and the turtles leave with an efficient good-bye. Shinigami leans back over her shoulder as the church’s door swings shut, drumming her fingers across Karai’s scapula.
“Quite the family, senpai .”
“Yeah,” Karai murmurs, drifting back to the throne and flicking at the
kabuto
where it sits, discarded. “Hereditary charm, I guess.”