Teshi’s
Thoughts
Today is a very sad day for us six turtles, for our sensei and
father, has just passed on to the next life.
Leonardo and Venus are comforting Michaelangelo as well as each other, in
their own silent, yet mysterious way in which we all hope to learn
someday. Donatello and I are trying our
hardest to comfort Raphael, but he won’t cooperate properly. Poor Donni wants
so much to connect with his brother, but Raph has closed himself off from
everyone and everything.
“Just leave me ALONE!!” he screamed
when the other three joined us. The next moment the slamming of the door, made
us all jump. Would he be back? Tears began to tease my eyes, but I wouldn’t
allow them to fall, for I had to be strong for Donni, as well as the others. I
heard Venus sniffle from beside me, and I went to embrace her.
“Everything will be alright,” I
said, as I patted her shell. She looked
me in the face and nodded, as her bottom lip trembled. Tears shone bright in her dark green eyes,
which hid so well behind her baby blue mask.
Once again, the tears in my own eyes threatened to spill down my cheeks,
but I swallowed them down. This was going
to be harder than I thought. Venus
ran her hand across her nose to wipe away the tears that succeeded to fall, I
gave her another quick hug to reassure her, that things will be ok. After we separated from our embrace a thick
silence hung in the air, for none of us five wanted to think about what had to
come next. Splinter lay peacefully in
his bed, but he couldn’t stay there forever, and we knew that we had to prepare
a funeral for him. I had to say
something, break this awful silence of non-acceptance of what had occurred.
“So, what are we going to do about a
funeral?” Huh? That didn’t come from me. I looked to my left to see Leo biting back
his emotion. The leader to the end.
Mikey began to cry again at the question. Now it was final. Splinter was dead, and he wasn’t coming back.
Donnie placed a hand on Mike’s shoulder, waiting for someone else to answer
Leo’s question other than himself. Ok, I guess it’s my turn now. I take a
deep breath,
“Well, we all have accepted Christ
into our life, so why not get April’s pastor to come out here, and lay Splinter
to rest the proper way?” Leonardo looked down to the ground, and I notice a
tear hit his foot. This is so hard on him, and Raph isn’t making it any easier for him.
Running off like that! He should be ashamed of himself.
“Alright Teshi, you and Venus talk
with April when she gets back. Don,
Mike and I will tend to Splinter.” That
was that. Goodness, April is going to
be so upset when she returns. It is
my turn to sniffle as I nod to Leonardo.
Why had I volunteered to do this?
Why must I always be the strong one? “Come on Don, Mike let’s go.” I notice Mikey wipe away some more tears,
then follow Don and Leo to Master Splinter’s room. As I watch them go, I feel this tugging on my heart as well as my
mind. ‘Is Splinter’s death going to
pull us together and make us stronger, or is it going to shatter us
completely?’ I shudder, as Venus slips her hand into mine. She may be older than me, but at this moment
she has every right to be scared. I am
too.
“Guys, I’m home!” April’s soft voice
trails to where Venus and I are praying.
We both sigh in unison, and open our eyes. It was time to let her know
what happened. Getting up, we stretch
out our cramped legs, and prepare ourselves the best we can to face her. Death
was one of the enemies we ninjas hadn’t defeated yet.
“WHAT?!!” April shrieked as her
golden brown eyes crystallized with emotion.
I nodded my head slowly, and took her hands in my own. Venus hugged her shoulders. “I-I…….I,” she tried, “I-I knew he w-w-was
getting old, but I…..I didn’t know he was th-that bad off.”
“I know,” Venus said softly,
“Neither did we.” April drew in a long
breath and let it out slowly, calming herself.
She broke her hands from mine and brushed away her tears.
“Well, he’s in a better place now,”
she said more to herself than to us. I
gave her a weak smile,
“Yeah.”
“Leo, Donnie, and Mike are tending
to his body,” Venus informed our friend.
“We just finished,” Donatello said coming from our master’s old room. He looked so exhausted, but I know he hasn’t cried yet, just like me. We both think we have to be the strength for everyone else, until they can handle the problem on their own. I walk over to him, and give him a big hug. He’s shaking badly, like a tender leaf on a tree in the middle of a raging storm.
“Hey, it’s going to be just fine;
you’ll see.” He lets out a shuddering
breath and looks down to me, with such pain filled eyes, I think I’m going to
start crying. Nodding slowly, he hugs
me tighter and kisses the top of my head.
“Where’s Raphael?” Uh oh. The dreaded question. Who
will be the one to answer it?
Everyone looks to everyone else. Great,
looks like I’m the one to supply the answer again,
“He’s uh,” I pause to think of the
right words to say, when his voice behind me, nearly makes me jump through the
roof,
“Right behind you.” His voice was hoarse and cracked. All I can do is stare blankly at him, as
April goes to him. I didn’t expect him to
ever come back. Leonardo looks to his
returned brother, and narrows his eyes in anger.
“Leo, don’t,” I hear Mikey say
gently. They are the first words I
heard him speak since Splinter’s death.
“Yeah, I’m back!” Raph snarls to
Leo. “Sorry to spoil your party, but he
was my father too you know!” April
places her hand on the red masked turtle’s chest, to keep him from advancing
Leo. I feel a shiver run up my
spine. This isn’t good. Venus
takes her mate’s hand, and leads him to their bedroom, all the while I can hear
her whispering to him. I can’t make out
what she’s saying, but I know that it’s soothing words. Raphael seems to have calmed a bit, and
Donni has stopped shaking. Ok, this is a bit better. Don tugs my arm in the direction of our
bedroom. So, he needs to release his tears. That’s great, because so do I!
“Um, April? Would you excuse us, please?” I ask
quietly. She nods, as she leads Raph
and Mikey to the couch. “Thanks,” I say
and Donni and I quickly head to our room.
As soon as the door was closed, I
let my tears cascade down my green cheeks.
They soak my light purple mask and sting my black eyes, but does it feel
good to get them out. Don silently
heads to our bed. Still holding it in, better go talk to him. I push away from the door, on which I had
been leaning, and walk slowly over to him.
He sits on the bed, staring out the window. I sit down next to him, take his hand, and rest my chin on his
shoulder.
“You can let it out now. It’s just us,” I coax, as I rub his fingers
with my thumb. He closes his eyes, as
if to block out painful memories.
“WHY?!!!”
he half yelled, half croaked. His grip
tightened on my hand, and I have to press my lips together to keep from crying
out. A choking sound escapes his
throat, as he begins to weep like a child.
That’s right, just let it all out. I pull him to me, and let him cry into my
shoulder as I begin to cry harder myself.
This is going to be one sore spot
in all our lives for a long time.
Don and I stop sobbing after a
while, and just let ourselves stay in the protection of our embraces. His breath is hot on my neck, and somewhat
caressing at the same time. It lets me
know, that I have someone here who will protect me from all harm, just like I
am there to protect him. I tilt my head
back to look into his dark brown eyes.
They are still pain filled, but the old smile is back. Ohh
Donni, I love you so much! As if he
heard my thought, he cupped his hands around my face and gave me a light kiss.
I let out a small sigh and place my head on his plastron. He wraps his strong arms around me, and I
can’t help but grin. Everything will be fine now, won’t it?
The next couple of days passed
quickly, without a lot of words spoken.
Leo and Raph still weren’t speaking to each other, but it seemed Mikey
was doing a lot better. He actually tried
to pull on of his pranks on Donni and I.
He failed though, but we all got a good laugh out of it. It was now the day of the funeral. It took Bro. Collins, April’s pastor, a few
moments to get over the shock that we were 6 giant turtles, and that he would
be laying a mutant rat to rest. The
sermon was beautiful, and a real tear jerker as we each got up to say something
about our beloved sensei and father.
Even Casey, who had showed up, was crying. I had never realized how close he actually was to Master
Splinter. After the closing prayer, Leo
and Donni dug Splinter’s grave, and he was finally at rest. Goodbye daddy.
“You know what?! I have always hated
you! With your smug and superior attitude! Like, ‘Look at me! I’m a big bad
leader! I kiss Splinter’s feet, because I’m better than you!’ Well, let me tell
you something Leonardo! You aren’t better than anyone! In fact, I am the one
who should have been leader. Forgive me for saying this, but I don’t know what
Splinter saw in you!” Raphael and Leonardo
were really going at it this time. This is not good! Don tried to break them up, but all he got
was a slug in the jaw from Raph. As he hit the ground, Leo turned on Raph, and
sent him sprawling. I ran to Don, as Mikey, Venus, April and Casey all rushed
toward Leo and Raph.
“Man, get off me!” Raphael spat at
Mikey, who had pulled him off of Leo. Mike let go of his hostile brother, and
went to stand with Leo and the others.
I had pulled Donni up, and we all stared at the fiery turtle. He tossed out a line of curses, to us,
grabbed his things, and walked out of the door for the last time. Leo growled a ‘Good riddance,’ and headed to
the bathroom to get cleaned up. I
started shaking. Raphael wasn’t coming
back. He and Leo had actually become rivals,
enemies instead of brothers. I shrugged
off the thought that this was the end of the family as I knew it, and went to
get Don an ice pack for his jaw.
The End
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The Teenage Mutant
Ninja Turtles are the intellectual property of Kevin Eastman, Peter Laird and
Mirage Studios. Teshi is the intellectual property of Renee`. If you want to
use Teshi for something, ask Renee`.
Just so we're absolutely clear: I'm making no money off this. I have no
money. If I had money, I could probably
afford a string of rare black pearls and a lawyer, who could tell me what kind
of legalese to put in here. As it stands, I can only beg shamefully not to be
sued. Please don't sue me!!!!