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The jump through hyperspace had been more than successful, at least this time. Now that Donnie had learnt to control such a bulky spaceship, jumping from one end of the galaxy to the other was safer and without any significant side effects. He didn't want to repeat the unfortunate experience when all four of them had been literally spacesick, with Mikey and Raph had been nauseous for hours.
Leo looked carefully through the porthole, wanting to make sure they were exactly where they were. The familiar silhouette of the beautiful moon with its greenish-white rings was right in front of his eyes, and in the distance he could see the purple gas giant around which the moon revolved.
After all this time, they were back where it all began. Leoradis, the starting point of their adventures in the Shellshock Galaxy. The leader of turtle team smiled softly, remembering the time when the four of them had still just been thrown here, how Reiithous had helped them get here, their run-in with the Leoradis Military Police, their separation by 'Star Front' organization...
The atmosphere of brotherhood has changed since then. Turtle brothers have become closer to each other, it's not to say that the usual clashes between them have stopped, but there are definitely fewer reticences. Brothers began to talk to each other more, sharing their worries and problems. Even the secretive and stubborn Raphael managed to overcome himself and tell Mikey about his worries.
However, in one aspect three younger brothers had not changed at all: they were still unwilling to recognise Leo as their leader, especially Raph, who had developed moderate leadership tendencies during his stay on Raphylos, and therefore he often quarrelled about it with Leo. Even Donnie and Mikey had shown latent leadership abilities during their lack of contact with their older brothers.
Leonardo, on the other hand, was used to being the leader of the team from childhood. This was to be blamed on the influence of Master Splinter, who saw special potential only in him. Therefore, Leonardo still sought to suppress his brothers potential simply because he didn't accept their unfolding abilities. Was it envy, the feeling of being an older brother, or the fear of being replaced so easily?
"Hey, hello again, Leoradis! 'Turtles of Justice' are back!", Mikey exclaimed as the ship entered Leoradis's atmosphere.
"'Turtles of Justice?' Mikey, really?! You're starting to resemble our Fearless!", Raph tapped the younger brother lightly on the head, but then gave him a squeeze and smirked. "We need a better name"
"Not your 'Brutal Cardinals', Raph. Save your names for your gangster friends from Raphylos," Leo replied, and got an angry look from his brother's emerald eyes in return.
"Do you want to get in trouble, Fearless? Don't even call the Red Cardinals bandits! They're not as sneaky as your Karai, though!"
"Don't even. Talk. About. Her. Like that!", Leo responded with the same look and angry lightning bolts began to emanate from both of them again while the brothers growled irritably.
"Okay, okay, defenders of viewpoints, before you get into a sword fight, Leo Ketsuo Tokame is on the line", Donnie abruptly managed to step in and prevent the conflict before it escalated into a no-hit brawl. As soon as the holographic image of Leoradis shogun popped up, Leonardo immediately shifted his gaze and bowed courteously to him.
"My greetings, Brother Ketsuo"
"My greetings as well to you, Brother Yoshi", Raphael's distinctly sarcastic snicker could be heard on that word. "And you, Brothers Raphael, Donatello and Michelangelo, I'm glad to see you all in good health. I take it you're on your way to see us?"
"As we are to you, and you've got it right. We wanted to stop by for a visit, after all we haven't been on Leoradis for a long time, we also wanted to see Rolan, Phoenix and Ethan", at the mention of his shark-mutant friend the team brains turtle covered his eyes and smiled quietly. He missed Ethan tremendously too and wanted to apologise to him for the anxiety he caused by his sudden disappearance.
"Masaashi and I just had an idea, we're inviting you to the hot springs of the Aogokusaiga volcano northwest of Kareome. Head there, my brother and I are already on our way."
Leo jumped with joy, as he had never had the opportunity to bathe in a real hot spring, Mikey was also wildly thrilled about it, Donnie calmly accepted the invitation and found the location of the volcano on the interactive map. Raph just folded his arms across his chest and grinned squeamishly, as he wasn't much of an ablutionist.
"I don't see the point of us lounging in hot water when we just flew in for tea."
"Oh, come on, Raphie! When are we ever gonna get an opportunity like this?"
"Mikey, it's a fucking galaxy!", Raph snapped. "There are billions of planets with volcanoes and hot springs! If they wanted to make us feel good, they'd call us to some extreme planet!"
"Where the chance of surviving or at least being uninjured is 4.32 per cent?" Donnie managed to throw in his two cents' worth. "No thanks, I'll pass, I'd rather relax in hot water. Besides, in case you didn't know, hot springs consist of mineral water, which contains useful inorganic components. These, in turn..."
"ARGH!!! Fucking dork, shut the fuck up and steer the ship before I change my mind and take control!"
Three brothers laughed in their sleeves, unable to contain their laughter. One thing Raphael was still himself didn't change and that was his temper.
Soon enough, the Ninja Turtles landed on a special landing platform protruding from the cone of the Aogokusaiga volcano. Apparently, the hot springs of this volcano were well known throughout Leoradis and were often visited by the moon's inhabitants.
Ketsuo must have booked the hot springs in advance, because when the team entered the spacious, lit lobby and approached the reception desk, they were asked a single question, ‘Are you with the Shogun?’. The four brothers nodded and were shown the way to a booked room in the shape of a Japanese lodge a few minutes walk from the boarding platform, deep in the forest that covered volcano foundation. Without wasting a moment, the ninja turtles threw off their clothes and blindfolds and left them inside the house, slipped towels over their thighs, opened the sliding doors and stepped out into the fresh air.
It was incredibly bright, despite the fact that it was now a dark, impenetrable night. The light came from the golden crystal lamps that had been installed, emitting a soft, warm glow. Even from afar, one could feel the hot vapour emanating from the mineral water lake decorated with stones. The darkened, dense forest surrounding the whole space completed the whole picture. Leo even wept slightly, noting the incredible resemblance to the real Japanese onsens that Master Splinter had told him about.
"BOOYAKASHA!!!", The silence was broken by Mikey, who threw off his towel and jumped straight into the hot water, covering his brothers with a small tsunami. They obviously didn't expect such a sudden hot shower.
"MIKEY!"
"Stop right there, you little shit! I'm gonna beat the green out of you!", Raph climbed into the water to swim after his younger brother. Donnie and Leo were the last to strip naked and descend into the enveloping mineral warmth and together let out a blissful moan.
"I never thought I could relax like this...", Leo said with a soft smile.
"I understand that male and female hot springs are usually divided, but why the partition if those springs were booked for males only?", Donnie nodded his head and pointed at the high wooden wall separating the two mineral lakes.
"It seems to be separate for the Brother Ketsuo and Brother Masaashi".
Leo's last phrase pissed Raph off, and he walked briskly over to his older brother and pressed his shell against the rocks, then flashed his fierce emerald eyes.
"You always piss me off, Fearless. Your leadership, your nerdiness, your ideals, and now the fact that you consider those who are just like you in character to be your brothers! Shell, you even bow down to them! Do you know how hard it is for me not to kick you in the nuts for taking their name and becoming Leo Yoshi Tokame?! You call them your brothers again, you can go back to them and forget about us, and we'll find Tizon and happily make him our new leader! At least he's not a bore like you!"
The words spoken hurt as much as his own katana, but the leader couldn't deny that Raph was right. The owner of red bandana only landed in front of his brother in the hot water and threw back:
"Your only brothers are us! If you don't want us, get the shell out of there!".
There was silence for five minutes, broken only by the chattering sounds of the forest. Even Mikey wasn't fooling or splashing the water around as usual, his face a sad and worried grimace. Even without his supernatural ability, he could see that Leo had been deeply hurt by Raph's words, and he wondered how Leo had kept himself from bursting into tears. When he thought about it, the brothers had literally contributed to the older brother's nervous breakdown. Their disobedience, pampering, rejection, altercations, insults, and the recent nightmare they had shared, it was no wonder Leonardo had taken a three-month break to get away from them. As Master Splinter explained earlier, as a leader, he carries an incredibly heavy burden that he is unable to shake off. But no one is strong, eventually there will come a moment when this boulder of worries, anxieties and tensions will be impossible to carry.
And Leo's moment has come.
"If we weren't his brothers and he didn't need us, he wouldn't have come back for us personally...", the youngest turtle finally broke the silence, drawing the others' attention to himself. "Raph, if you had used my copied ability on Leo a long time ago, you could at least superficially feel how hard it is for him! He's sick of your constant reproaches, sarcasm and remarks! The constant arguments with you hurt him and make it hard for him to understand what he's doing wrong! Do I need to remind you that it was you he was trying to protect from a possible fate on Raphylos?!"
Three turtles listened to the younger brother with their mouths hanging open in surprise. It was the first time Mikey had ever shamed Raph, and in such a confident and serious tone, as if he was an older brother. The knucklehead kept his head down and turned his head to the side, though he could have given Mikey a caustic answer. Mikey continued, his sight turned to Leo and his tone changed to more soft:
"Anyway... Leo, I'm sorry, you're right, I'm acting like a child and pestering you with my teasing and pranks, but I'll try to behave responsibly on our future missions and not ruin everything, honest!"
Leonardo's eyes became glistening with tears as he looked into those pure and bright eyes of Michelangelo. Remembering how much he had been through, the older turtle brother never ceased to be amazed at his ability to be cheerful and optimistic in the most difficult moments. He was touched by the apology, but it was also a shame not to apologise to him in return for everything. For being overly commanding, for the insults, for the tension and pressure, for risking his beloved little brother every day.
"I'm sorry too, Leo,", Donnie suddenly said. "I was jealous of Ketsuo and Masaashi... And I'm jealous now because I'm afraid you'll leave us... And I'm sorry I didn't let you close to me like a little brother... I promise I'll spend more time with you...", he continued.
The sobs were heard, Donnie and Mikey saw the tears running down their older brother's cheeks. Without asking, they swam over to him and wrapped him in a tight embrace, letting him cry, only holding him close with quiet smiles.
Seeing this made Raph feel incredibly ashamed and sick to his stomach. Mikey's words had hurt his soul, and it was unpleasant to realise that he had hurt his brother to the point of tears. More painful was the memory of that fateful hellish night in New York that was engulfed in flames thanks to Shredder, when Leo had not abandoned him, disabled and broken, but had defended him from the Foot soldiers with all his efforts and helped to drag him.
What kind of little brother was he then, if he drove his big brother so hard, that he tried so hard to protect him and put up with his antics every day? For a second I thought that if Tizon was a leader instead, he wouldn't have tolerated such treatment, despite his calm nature.
"And I'm so sorry... I put so much pressure on you, demanding too much of you, to be honest, I didn't even want you to develop as leaders..." Leo sobbed, clutching his younger brothers tightly to him and speaking to them. "I really wanted for you to remain as you are... My beloved little brothers... When I saw you all after a long separation... So independent, grown up, making your own decisions... I was afraid that you wouldn't need me... both as a leader and as a older brother... I'm even jealous of you and especially Tizon, because he's calmer and more supportive than I am... Forgive me, I'm really being selfish... And Raph..."
The green-eyed turtle didn't turn his head. It was too painful for him to look at his brother. It was too embarrassing to show his usual pride now.
"I'm sorry too... I understand what you fear... You fear that Ketsuo and Masaashi will replace you for me because they are different in character... But they are not... They are my clan brothers, whom I want to protect from adversity in order to preserve Tokame's legacy... And you, Donnie and Mikey... you are my own brothers, whom I want to protect with all my might from any enemies... And I cannot bear it if one of you is killed..."
The younger turtles darted their gazes from one older brother to the other, a stifling silence reigning again. They looked at each other and nodded, realising that there was no other way to get the temperamental Raphael to answer. Donnie and Mikey both abruptly climbed out of the water.
"Where are you going?", Leo asked with worry, wiping tears with his fist.
"We want to see if Ketsuo and Masaashi have arrived and have a chat with them."
Although it was a ruse to leave Raph and Leo alone, no one knew that the Leoradis's shogun and his younger brother had arrived before the turtles arrived at the volcano. As expected, the second hot mineral lake was exactly for them.
Donnie and Mikey peeked behind the partition and discovered the empty lake, then decided to simply bide their time by exploring the cabins near the hot springs. Once they were out of sight, then Ketsuo and Masaashi emerged from the hot water. It's really hard to imagine how long they held their breath under the water.
"Fuck, Ketsuo, did we have to hide from Donnie and Mikey?", The blue-eyed turtle hissed as quietly as possible at his older brother, who had climbed out of the water and walked over to the wooden wall. Ketsuo hissed, putting a finger to his lips.
"Shhhh, that's the way to do it! If they came down to us, Leo and Raph would realise they were being eavesdropped on, and then they'd just be quiet as fish until they got out! And we need to create as much privacy as possible, plus there's a sake bar in the huts. Now blow your ass over here and put me on your shoulders!"
Masaashi rolled his eyes and shook his head, but he obeyed and climbed out of the spring, bending down to feel the weight of his older brother.
"You're so heavy, how much mochi do you eat?!"
"Don't be snide, you're perfectly capable of carrying me in training!"
"And why am I doing this?", The younger Leo Tokame shook his head and stood up to his full height, giving a great view of the lake where Leo and Raph were sitting silently. Ketsuo began to watch interestedly.
For several minutes the turtles sat silently, not making a single sound. And only when Leo stood up and was about to climb out, Raph immediately swam up to his brother and sharply made him sit back down, then sat on his lap, resting his hands on his plastron. Emerald green eyes drilled into cobalt blue eyes, plastrons heaving with overwhelming excitement. Their cheeks flushed slightly with embarrassment.
"Raph...?"
And then the unexpected happened. Hothead abruptly fell to the leader's lips, sinking a deep kiss into them. Leonardo's eyes widened with shock, but he did not push his younger brother away. On the contrary, when he tried to penetrate his mouth with his tongue, Raph allowed it. His hands instinctively moved to his shell, hugging his impulsive brother and not letting go. But Raph wasn't going anywhere, and he didn't even contemplate letting his brother out himself. Tongues laced together insistently, lips lashing back and forth. There was no passion or harshness, the kiss was too affectionate.
It was a kind of apologies from Raph that could be understood without words.
And Leo accepted them gladly, apologising in return.
Ketsuo, who was sitting on Masaashi's shoulders, barely restrained himself from shrieking with overwhelming emotion. He held out his palm to his brother, and he clapped it, sharing the shogun's joy. Their plan had worked to perfection.
"HOLY CHALUPA!!!", But neither the kissing turtles nor those watching them had expected Mikey to show up suddenly, and already very drunk. Each of them opened their eyes in surprise.
Raph pulled away from Leo, plunging his arse into the water, ending the idyll. Masaashi lost his balance and dropped his brother, only to fall over the wall and land right in the water in front of the dumbfounded elder Hamatos.
"KETSUO?!", they both shouted in unison, and as soon as the shogun's nervously giggling brother came out to them, the shock was repeated. "MASAASHI?!"
"Oh... Eek! I interrupted something, hee-hee, didn't I? Eek!"
With his drunken eyes Michelangelo could see the furious stares of the four turtles, and his gut told him it was time to leave. Donatello, lying on the floor and drunk, who had only had a short time to drink sake with Mikey, only heard a loud and threatening voice:
"MIKEY!!!!!"