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The late afternoon sunlight streamed in, dipping the hall in mellow orange. Pedestals and statues cast long shadows; their shine tarnished with the slow progression of age. And, standing before two statues, Leo saw the only living figure in the whole Pavilion.
Miyamoto Usagi glanced over his shoulder towards his friend as he approached. The rabbit offered a smile, but it was dipped in the same growing shadow as everything else was. Leo came to stand next to him, glancing down at his friend--then up at Hamato Yoshi and Hamato Splinter. Only a week before, he’d stood here himself, paying respects to his ancestors. And now…
“I had to make sure to see you, before you left, Usagi-san,” Leo said softly. He couldn’t glance at the rabbit next to him. “I’m glad you can go home, finally.”
“Yes,” Usagi replied, looking at each of the statues.
“I wonder where you’ll go, my friend,” Leo said, smiling. “If you’ll join Lady Tomoe as a clan retainer or continue your warrior’s journey.”
Usagi smiled to himself, but it did not seem to touch his eyes. He said nothing. Neither one looked at the other.
“And you can come visit, of course! Any time you want,” Leo grinned, still not looking over. His hand was trembling--before the rabbit could notice, he clenched a tight fist, willing himself to be still. “Not that New York has as much to offer as your world does!”
Usagi’s gaze turned to the turtle. “It doesn’t?”
The rabbit’s voice was so soft, Leo couldn’t make out if it was a question or not.
Leo’s breathing was increasing. He tried to keep himself from it--the “Horse of Panic,” Usagi called it. But it was becoming unchained in his chest, once again. He couldn’t look at his friend. It would be fine to keep looking forward.
“You’ll have to tell me all about the warrior’s journey, Usagi-san!” Leo grinned until his face hurt. “I admit, I’m rather envious.”
“Leonardo-san.”
Leo’s grin faded, and he turned to the rabbit. Usagi’s voice was gentle as ever--a command that could not be disobeyed. Usagi watched him with soft, almost tired eyes.
“What did you come find me to say, my friend?”
Leo gulped. He tried to look down, but couldn’t. His hand was trembling again. He inhaled sharply, gulped again, and spoke.
“I didn’t want to miss you, before you left. I wanted to thank you for your help over the past two years. Not just patching us up--your wisdom, too. Helping me figure out the herb garden so I’m not training every minute of every day. I’ll keep everything growing strong!”
Usagi searched his gaze, then nodded slowly as Leo stopped yapping on. Leo felt his voice start in his throat--felt the panic in his chest rise into some word--and promptly bowed instead. It hid his face; his wide, scared eyes.
“Thank you, Usagi-san! For helping our family.”
The rabbit bowed back slowly in kind. Leo straightened--Usagi did too, turning his face away from Leo and the statues. The shadows were lengthening.
The rabbit’s cheek twitched. He sniffed, and a humorless smile touched his features for a moment. To himself, he murmured something.
“Hm? I-- Sorry, Usagi-san, I didn’t hear--” Leo stopped. Stop talking. You’re making it worse.
“Ah--sorry, Leonardo-san. I’d remembered something I’d heard from an innkeep. ‘Farewell is only painful in memory.’ I did not know if the statement was true or not; it is not.”
Farewell. He’s leaving. Wait, he’s leaving, he can’t leave--
“Usagi!”
The rabbit started, glancing up at his friend. Leo could feel the desperation written in his face, and in a frantic moment contorted his brows into something jovial.
“You could stay. If you wanted.”
What the shell am I saying? Why would he want to?
Usagi blinked. “Leonardo-san?”
You live in a sewer why would he want to stay there with you instead of going back to his own world? Why--
“I-- I mean-- I mean, if you-- you could always stay in your room, when you visit! We can keep it the way it is for you!”
What is wrong with you, stop TALKING, LEO!
Usagi nodded slowly. “That… would be nice, Leonardo-san.”
The rabbit turned to go. Took a step--
Leo’s eyes widened. “Please--”
Usagi stopped again. Looked back.
Leo’s throat locked up.
I can’t speak, he’s leaving and I can’t speak, why can’t I speak, why can’t I say anything; he’s going to leave and that’s fine that’s fair so why can’t I just say goodbye like a normal person why can’t I say --
“Leonardo-san? Do you want me to stay?”
“Y-- Yes.”
Usagi, still half-turned away, searched his eyes. Cautious--scared? Is he scared, or is that my own heart pounding so hard I can’t think?
“Why, my friend?”
Why? Why would he stay; there’s nothing in New York for him; you can’t ask him to stay Leo that’s not fair to him you’re not being rational you can’t ask him to give up an entire world to stay with us so just let him go and he’ll visit in a few years maybe with his wife Tomoe and you can catch up with him then and move on, so just let him go shut up and let him walk away into the shadows and let him GO--
(Please let me speak oh God please if I don’t speak right now I’m going to scream please let me say something say something say something say--)
“Because I love you,” Leonardo finally gasped out.
Oh shell what have I done
Usagi’s eyes slowly widened. Leo could feel his heart stop in his chest. The jackhammering ceased all at once; a wave of cold rushed up from his ankles and consumed him.
What did you just say? Look at how he’s looking at you; what did you just DO, LEO?!
Leo bowed so fast he almost threw himself onto the ground.
“I-- Usagi-san; I’m sorry; I-- I didn’t--
The samurai walked towards him again. “Leonardo-san--”
“I’m an idiot, my friend; please forgive me-- I’ll leave; please go back home and--”
“Leo.”
Leonardo stopped. The surprise of hearing Usagi call him that--his nickname; no honorific, no formality, meant for such a closely bonded friend--made him straighten again. The rabbit stood in front of him, looking up into his gaze. He seemed somehow--relaxed.
Usagi reached out, placing a warm, soft hand gently on Leo’s plastron, right above his heart. Leo’s mind went blank.
“Forgive me, my friend, for the miscommunication.” The rabbit spoke in that smooth, gentle tea-like voice, and Leo couldn’t have turned away even if he were in mortal peril. “I thought your goodbye meant you wished me to go. But I was not trying to find reasons to stay; I was trying to find reasons to leave.”
Leo blinked. Somewhere beyond himself, he heard his voice say, “Oh,” as Usagi’s words floated through his brain. Then he heard his voice continue with the only thing it could muster: “But why are you here in the Pavilion?”
For the first time, Usagi’s white fur started to color in a blush. Leo knew that somewhere around them, there was a room with statues of champions; seeing that blush, he couldn’t see anything else.
“I came to ask your ancestors if I was allowed to hold you as dearly in my heart as I want to, Leo.”
Usagi’s other warm hand met Leo’s hip. All at once, Leo could feel his face turn to fire. He must be blushing so deep he would look like Michelangelo. The rabbit’s fur was wonderfully soft.
“What did they say?” Leo murmured.
Usagi started to smile, warm and amused. “You arrived as the answer.”
“Oh,” Leo said a second time. Dimly, he realized the rabbit could probably feel how heavy his heart was beating in his chest. And, he realized he didn’t mind anymore.
“Leo?”
“Yes, Usagi?”
“Have you ever kissed someone?”
It’s not a dream. He’s moving closer. It’s not a dream.
“No,” Leo mumbled.
The rabbit’s chest was almost touching the turtle’s. Usagi looked up into Leonardo’s eyes with a sweet thrum of love.
“Would you like to learn how to?”
Leo’s voice deserted him, but his head bobbed up and down in its stead. He could feel the heat coming from Usagi’s chest--
Usagi’s eyes were closing. His face was so close Leo tasted his breath. Leo shut his eyes, and in the sweet afternoon darkness, his hands found Usagi’s waist and pulled him closer.
Their lips met, light and fragile, a whisper from one heart to another. Time stood still in the sunlit air, capturing a single moment into an echo of forever.
Chirrrrp!
Leo broke back, eyes wide, slapping his hands over his mouth. Somehow, he blushed deeper--what the shell was that noise?! It’d been involuntary; he’d--
Usagi blinked in surprise, then grinned, then laughed, blushing in kind. “I will take that as a compliment.”
As the laughter faded, Usagi moved to him again. Leo’s hands slowly dropped, though the blush remained. Neither spoke; neither needed to. In another moment, Leo wrapped Usagi up in a hug, holding him tightly close, face buried against the rabbit’s ears. Usagi’s arms moved up underneath the turtle’s, pressing his face to Leo’s neck. They shut their eyes and breathed.
I don’t know where the future will take us. I don’t know if everything will be all right, when we get home; I don’t know if things will be fine even when we leave the Pavilion. But right here, right now, with him, for the first time in my life, everything is okay.
Everything is really okay.