Chapter Text
Blades clash together as a battle commences in the burned fields of the small village. Ninjas fall left and right on both sides as the Hamato clan faces off against the Foot.
“We cannot hold them back much longer Karai-sensei!” A large kappa yokai with a dark blue mask shouts as his swords meet in a clash with another enemy.
Grunting he drives his sword upward and into the enemies throat before slicing through the thick muscle. He kicks the body to the side before turning back to face his master. “You have to use your Ninpo and seal him it’s the only way!”
Karai grunts as she to cuts through warrior after warrior. “While I agree Leonardo-san we do not have an opening-“
“-I shall make one for you then!” The shout comes from the rabbit yokai to their right.
“Usagi!” Leonardo shouts helplessly as Usagi launches himself forward into the crowd of enemies.
Blades slash and white fur goes flying as the blood coats the ground. The samurai cuts effortlessly through a line of ninja that had panned to descend upon his comrades. His blades glisten in the light of the setting sun as he makes a path straight to the shredder himself.
Despite the danger an opening has been made and the blue masked ninja grips his swords till his knuckles turn white. Turning to Karai he speaks trying to keep the venom out of his voice. “Stop him Karai…you’re our only hope”
The serious look in his eyes drives Karai to run forward, leaping through the gap Usagi made and towards the Shredder. Leonardo runs straight behind her, keeping any remaining ninjas back as best he can. He needs to buy Karai enough time to seal him with her ninpo.
A gut wrenching scream almost makes him double over as he whips his head around trying to spot the source. “USAGI!” The shredder held the rabbit yokai by his ears before impaling him through the chest his steel claws.
Time feels like it stops in that moment for Leonardo. Watching the love of his life being thrown limply to the ground like he was nothing more than a common pest.
A scream tears its way out from Leonardo’s core as he throws his katana across the battle field. Carving through the air it catches the shredder by surprise as it pins his arm to a nearby tree. Giving Karai just the opportunity to perform the seal. Her sword stabs into his body as she repeats a chant over and over in her native tongue. Green light bursts from her chest and encompasses them until in a blinding flash of light they both vanish.
Blinking away the tears Leonardo tries to get his sight back. The stench of death hits his nostrils for the first time as the adrenaline finally starts to leave his body. It was over, they won but at what cost.
“Usagi…” He cries out as he stumbles through the trail of bodies, searching for a blue kimono and white fur. He runs forward towards where Karai and the shredder had been just moments before until he finds him.
“Leonardo-San” labored breathing with a cracked wheeze follows his voice, blood staining his fur and kimono crimson.
Leonardo’s already on his knees and brings a hand to Usagi’s back, lifting the rabbit into his arms and against his plastron. The shredder has been defeated and whatever remains of the Foot clan have retreated. Still their defeat came to late, Usagi’s injuries would take him to the other side in mere moments.
“Usagi I’m…I’m so sorry”
“Do not be sorry…my shadow….” Usagi whispers with a shakey smile. “We have won…the world and all yokai and humankind are saved”
Leonardo wanted to believe that, more than anything but after all their years training for this very day he very much doubted this was truly over. They sealed the shredder away but evil like that rarely stays gone long.
“This wasn’t your fight-“ Leonardo starts to say as tears soak his mask, making it appear an even darker shade of blue. “-It was not yours either Leonardo-San…we yokai do not need to help the humans but you did….you inspired me…to be like you” A painful wheeze emanated from Usagi, his once vibrant pink eyes now dull.
Normally such a blatant compliment would have shaken him to his core and made his cheeks turn a dark muddy green. This time however with Usagi’s breaths becoming more of a pained gurgle of blood as he neared the end he couldn’t care less if he inspired him. Infact he wished he hadn’t so the samurai would be safe back in Edo and not dying on the battlefield.
He didn’t want this to be the end, there was still so much he wanted to say. So much the two of them hadn’t had time to say. He knew with the burdens they each carried it couldn’t have happened, they could never have happened but he had hoped when this war ended they could go home and grow old together. No more hiding in the shadows, simply find a home big enough for two.
Leonardo would happily abide by the samurai’s code if it meant waking up every morning greeted by warm fur and a kiss. That of course had been to wishful, Usagi was dying and there was nothing he could do about it. His head fell forward till his forehead rested against his dear samurai’s as his breathing became more labored.
“Let the gods bring us together again in another life Usagi…I’ll follow you to the other side I swear it”
And he did… 500 Years have passed since that dreadful battle but Leonardo and Usagi’s story is far from over
“Yo Leo pass me the ball!” Raph shouts as he stands at the top of their skate ramp. The Hamato brothers were currently playing a game of “skate ball”. A new game they’d invented where one person tries to catch the ball while another skates up and down the ramp.
“This is a terrible idea” Donnie comments from where him and Mikey are watching from the sidelines. The turtle in orange was currently cheering his brothers on while the tech genius had his phone out furiously typing away to no one in particular.
“Don’t knock it till you try it oh dear brother of mine..now Raph catch!” Leo shouts back as he throws the football as hard as he can. Raph jumps into action and flies down the ramp at top speed.
He nearly catches the ball when suddenly Mikey’s cat excitedly runs across the skate ramp. The orange cat obvious to the chaos happening around him.
”KLUNK!” Mikey shouts as Raph panics and bails, diving to the right and straight into someone. Rolling across the floor until the pile of limbs crashes straight into one of the lairs many pillars sending the skateboard flying across the room.
Klunk hisses at the oldest turtle before rocketing to Mikey and jumping into his waiting arms. “My poor baby!”
“And just like I said..a terrible idea” Donnie says as he finally put his phone away if only to pick on his brothers.
“What did I hit?” Raph mutters as he pushes himself up from the ground.
“Your boyfriend apparently” Mikey offers as he scratches Klunk behind his ears.
“WHAT!?” The biggest turtle screams almost immediately as he looks down at the human turned pancake.
Sam gives a shakey thumbs up as he pushes himself up from the ground. Trying to brush the bits of concrete and dirt out of his hair. “Killer moves there, red” he mutters in a daze.
“ARE YOU OK!?!” Raph shouts in mostly worry as he shakes his boyfriend by his shoulders before setting him back down on the ground.
“I’m fine but..” Sam lifts up the now mostly crushed pizza box and offers it to Raph. “..I hope you like your pizza extra flat.”
The red banded turtles mouth slowly quirks up into a smile even as he tries to resist before he busts out laughing. Mikey shortly follows along while Donnie just rolls his eyes at the group and quickly snags the best looking slice of pizza.
Leo watches from afar as his brothers practically swarm the pizza Sam brought like vultures. He can’t help the way his smile falters as he watches Raph brush brown locks behind the humans ear. That loving gaze in their eyes like they were the only two people in the world right now. He was the face man, the pretty one, the jokester but all of that kind of fell apart when it came to love. The red slider had never been able to understand how out of all his brothers he was the only one yet to find ‘his person’.
At least that’s how all the romance movies he’d watched described it. They made it seem like this all-encompassing thing, finding the one and falling in love seemed so simple when it happened over the course of an hour and a half. Yet still he remained single, no one ever caught his eye and so he was forced to watch his brothers gush over their respective partners from the sidelines.
“Ugh if you’re gonna make out at least get a room” Leo says with a smirk before quickly dodging to the side to avoid being hit by Sam’s converse. The shoe only managing to hit the hilt of his odachi. He could admit Sam didn’t have entirely crap aim for being a normal teenage boy…normalish he did hangout with them after all.
“We wouldn’t do that Leo!” Raph quips back as his face is almost as red as his mask. The red slider's smile only grows wider in amusement. If he couldn’t have ‘true love’ or whatever the hell you call mushy teen romances he’d at least get a rise out of the others for theirs.
Joining his family around the flat pizza he grabbed a slice and continued to make one liners about his brother's relationship. All fun and games until Raph looked like he wanted to melt into the ground and Sam threw his remaining shoe at Leo’s head.
Yeah who needs true love when you have a family like this right?
Closing the doors to the dojo the yokai moves around the messy training room like clockwork. The latest class of samurai wannabes were less than impressive. Only two of them had managed to land a hit on him and one of them by using dirty tactics that made the blood in his veins boil.
How could one be so dishonorable and yet claim they followed the code of bushido? It didn’t matter, none of them passed his test so none of them would be receiving the knowledge passed down to him by Katsuichi-sensei.
Sighing he looks around the dojo, it was a wreck and he really needed to do some cleaning. Starting with the bokken scattered around, he puts each and every one back on the rack.
“Usagi.” A stern voice called out making the rabbit stop in middle of picking up the last bokken. “You were far too harsh on those students today.”
Usagi bites back a comment about how those ‘students’ weren’t worthy of training when they didn’t even know the first thing about bushido. Instead he turns and bows to his sensei. “Hai sensei…but you must understand none of them even know the first thing about being a samurai-“
“-Enough” Katsuichi sighs as he rubs his forehead. “You did not know the first thing about being a samurai when you came to my doorstep as a child either.”
The lion walks forward and puts his hands on Usagi’s shoulders, making him stand up straight. “A true bushido warrior has sympathy for others…just because someone has lost their way doesn’t mean they are lost forever.”
His sensei may have been referring to the students he was supposed to be taking on but the words went right through as he closed his eyes. Hitting him right in his heart as he stood there in the empty dojo.
“..sensei what am I doing”
As he opened his eyes he found himself alone once more. Turning to face the butsudan he kept on the far wall of the room. His eyes gazing at the picture of his master. Silently Usagi resumed cleaning up the mess he had made and resolving to make sure he took on at least one student this year. He could not let the knowledge Katsuichi had passed onto him die with the Edo hidden city.