Chapter Text
Kennenlernen
Takeshi, 31, mercenary and tiger.
When he was a child, he and his sister got mutated by the Kraang.
He is also very drunk right now.
Takeshi took one last pull on his cigarette and stared at the moon. Or rather the vague silhouette that still managed to pull through the thick clouds. His thick scarf (and fur) were useless against the strong hits the wind kept dealing out, but at least his cigarette managed to give him some kind of warmth.
At that moment the mercenary spotted from the lone bench he was sitting on a small ship going down the Hudson River. Despite its size there were quite a lot of people on its deck, twirling around to the cacophony the 2000s had given birth to.
Takeshi cursed the human race for the 22nd time to not have invented something useful like earplugs for cats (or big cats)…and for the 23rd time to have thought that throwing stuff against a wall and then recording it was music.
He picked up a small pebble and with one big swing aimed it at a man- whose jacket could have been of use in battle if you wanted to blind your enemies with its ugliness - standing with his back to the railing.
Succession rate: 100%.
Still giggling, Takeshi ducked when the foolish man startled and turned around in a flash.
Feeling the cold, wet grass on his butt, he supported his head with one paw…hand! With one hand, and kept giggling a while longer because it was so damn funny.
Then he stopped.
The thrumming inside his skull kept nagging about his foolishness to not only get intoxicated to such an extent, but also about the very fact that he had gone to such a place that was practically holding flashlights and signs pointing at his current vulnerability.
It was not even a nice day to be outside.
If Takeshi thought about it, it was a rather ugly…an ugly day!
That's right! It was an ugly day in an ugly city in which he had to kill some guy to get an ugly lot of money and an ugly child was staring at him right now.
Takeshi gave the child a sharp-toothed smile.
The boy tilted his head.
Takeshi frowned at the child…Due to his drunkenness it was the kind of thrown you would often see in those funny cat videos on YouTube.
At that, the child gave a small smile and stepped closer…
Takeshi was suddenly thrown back into the circus again. His sister was standing on his shoulders, waving at the people, her smile more strained and used up than the rope the athletes used and Takeshi had to take all the willpower he possessed to not scratch the curious child who wanted to pet the cute, orange tiger.
“P… Piss off!”, he snarled at his embarrassing past, but the off came out more like a mumbling, so all the child really perceived was a quiet piss .
“You…eh, need to piss?”
With a groan, the mercenary slapped his forehead and threw his head back.
“H-hey, you OK?”
The mercenary growled when the boy took two more careful steps to approach him, tiny arms stretched out.
Or rather, Takeshi assumed his arms were hidden in the sleeves of the big winter jacket that could have also been a dress based on its size while wearing a green, -too thin for this season- pair of pants underneath. The strange boy had his mouth covered with a purple scarf and the mercenary was sure his spotted, gray wool cap was once spotlessly white.
A child from the slums , the mercenary realized when he slowly sat himself on the cold bench again.
Without waiting for any invitation - or rejection - the boy dropped himself next to the strange man/mutant.
Takeshi growled again and showed some of his predator teeth to finally scare the child away.
He was not very successful.
“You are a tiger!”, the boy cheered.
“Very observant from you”, he grumbled.
Takeshi stared off across the river for a few seconds, turned his head to the left to see if the child had finally disappeared and when a warm smile greeted him in place of that, he turned his head back to the front, arms crossed, willing to stay in that position for the rest of the night.
They sat there in silence, the boy kicking his legs.
“Shouldn’t you be in bed at this hour?”, he sighed after a while, irritated from the humming noise next to him.
“I’ve got permission”, the boy mumbled as an explanation. Takeshi rolled his eyes.
“You are a tiger”, the boy tried again.
“Indeed”
“That’s cool”
“Hmmm”
“Where do you live?”
“In the jungle”
“Woah, like in Mogli !”
The mercenary could feel one eyebrow twitching.
“You’re right. And if you had really read the book, you would have known to never approach big, bad tigers who eat children for desert”, he snarled and narrowed his eyes at the young boy who didn’t even flinch.
“You don’t eat children”
“You wouldn’t know that”
"Intuition. How old are you?”
“31”
“You look older”
“Thank you”
“I’m nine”
“Great”
The mutant glanced down at the boy. This conversation was one big irritation and the only thing he could read from the child’s words was nothing but bald curiosity .
The mercenary scoffed at that thought. Children were such obnoxiously curious creatures and that’s why he didn’t have any.
…Not like there had been a selection of potential mates anyway.
A quiet chuckle dragged him back to the cold night. The boy rubbed his neck sheepishly.
“Oh…I…Well, what’s your name by the way?”,the boy asked, staring at him with big, baby eyes as if the mutant had had the secrets of the universe.
He gave him silence for an answer.
“I’m Leonardo”
“Hmmm.”
“You can call me Leo… if you want”
More silence.
The boy tapped with one finger at the bench.
“You can also tell me your name now”, he added.
The mercenary looked away so that the boy could not see him smirking.
“I will consider to do this some other day”
“Why- I mean, really?”
“No”, the mercenary declared and had to repress a chuckle seeing the boy named Leonardo visibly pouting at his response.
“Eh, please?”
“Seriously?”
Now Leonardo was staring off to the long darkness of the night to find a smart comeback to that.
“I have told you my name”, was the best he came up with.
“And I am endlessly grateful for your benevolence, but I simply cannot”
He furrowed his brow and Takeshi wasn’t sure whether it was because of his lack of compliance or the fact he didn’t know what benevolence meant.
“And could…Could you tell me why not?”
The mercenary thought about this for a second. Sighing, he leaned towards the boy, the latter mimicing his action.
Like telling a secret involving the Queen’s Crown Jewels, he held one paw up next to his whiskers and whispered:
“You really want to know?”
Leonardo nodded exuberantly.
“And you promise not to tell anyone?”
“I promise!”, he whispered loudly.
Takeshi waited a little just to build up suspense, and after what felt like two whole minutes for Leonardo, he gave the poor boy mercy:
“I am a ninja, that’s why”
Someone was screaming bloody murder on the street far behind them while they kept staring at each other.
Then the child’s body shuddered at first until he bursted out in a firework of laughters.
“You are not a ninja!”, Leonardo sniggered.
“I am! I swear on my honor as ninja!”, he insisted.
“No, I am pretty sure you’re not a ninja”, he claimed, having calmed down a little bit.
“And why is that?” Takeshi sneered, “Because I am no chubby human like you?”
Leonardo opened his mouth to say something, closed it, then opened it again:
“No, because a ninja would never throw pebbles at random people”
The mercenary had never seen a tiger blushing before, but if he were to look in a mirror right now, he would be sure that his fur was red as a tomato right now.
Killing humans for a living but letting a brat get the better of him.
He could see Alopex laughing at him right now.
Takeshi sighed and put his face into one paw.
It was foolish -especially for a skilled warrior like himself- not only having substances carry his mind away from reality, but also playing outside stupid pranks where everyone could see him.
Out of nowhere he felt a tiny hand patting his back.
When the mercenary practically jumped from the bench, Leonardo had to catch himself not to fall down on his head.
“Ninja or not, I have to take care of some business”, he stated and already set off to vanish forever.
“W-wait! We have just gotten to know each other!”
Takeshi continued walking.
“Will we see each other again?”
Only then he stopped.
Being a mutant was one thing.
But the child’s actions could be compared to someone who had just found long lost kinship again.
Why?
“I don’t think so”, he said and didn’t turn back.
His only regret was to have left his cigarettes on the bench.