Strange Silences Splinter was at a loss of words, which worried Leonardo because his sensei always knew exactly what to say. Finally clearing his throat, he glanced one more time at the piece of the paper that he held, he began to speak. “I have much to tell you all… Let me begin with the letter. After many years of curiosity and despair, I began this letter. I started it many times, each time throwing it away by the end of the second sentence. I was frustrated and exhausted with the entire situation. But one day, almost a month ago, I began a letter I actually finished, and to make sure that I did not lose the strength to send it, I immediately handed it over to Michaelangelo who then sent it out.” “But Sensei,” Michaelangelo’s face was lined with worry. “Who’s the letter to?” Splinter sighed, knowing that the question was unavoidable. “My Brother.” Tess left her apartment early. The city was still dark, well as dark as New York got during the night. She locked the door and walked off towards the local subway station. When she got there she reached into her purse to grab her wallet and get out her Metro Card. “Damn.” She had left it on her table. Muttering obscenities under her breath, she turned around to go back and retrieve it. I’m really going to be late, now! She climbed the stairs and just as she reached the outside she felt a tug and saw a young man running off with her purse. Not knowing what else to do she watched him and shuddered. “Your what?” It was extremely out of character for Leonardo to question his sensei. He did not even seem to recognize the rashness in his voice or face. “Leonardo, tell me what would you do if you were separated from your brothers and me for years, with no way you could possibility of contact because of your…state at the time?” Leonardo did not answer; he just stared at the floor. “So he wrote you back, huh?” It sounded cold, but Raph could not stand the uncomfortable level this conversation was reaching. “Yes, Raphael. He did.” “What did he say?” Donatello stopped biting his lower lip and asked, also agitated by the situation. “Sit down, all of you. First, I need to tell you the story of me before…before us. I have never told you great details, because I could not personally handle the anguish that resides with remembering the family I have left behind. In short I have not seen my family in a little over twenty years.” Eight eyes fell to the floor as the realization of the burden their sensei carried their entire lives began to sink in. “The house was small, located within two days walking distance from Nagoya. My grandfather came to live with us when I was about five years old. He was my mother’s father. My mother…” Splinter paused for a while. “ My mother worked all day at the house. We had an immense garden, as she needed to make sure we all had enough to eat throughout the year. If she was not doing that, it was one thing or another, mending clothes, cleaning, weaving crafts to sell. My father was a guard at a factory. He worked very hard often not sleeping for a long time. Because it was in Nagoya, he stayed at a cousin’s many nights. I remember the night that the man came delivering a letter. Saying someone tried to steal some items from the factory. I remember how my mother fell onto the floor and buried her face in her hands. I remember being too young to understand what was going on, how I clinged to my brother as my sister tried to calm my mother.” Splinter stopped again. There was a long period of silence. The Leonardo began quietly, his voice barely a whisper. “Why didn’t you ever…” his voice trailed out. “I never could bear to deal with it. And I never thought I would have too. Then… Let me continue. We moved into Tokyo so my mother could find work that could support us all. We found a little place to live on the outskirts of the town. My mother found a factory…Which as I remember scared me greatly because it reminded me of the one that had taken away my father… And it was close enough for her to walk to. There were many of us living in the small apartment. I was the third child. I had a brother of about eight and a sister a year younger then him. Hiroshi was the oldest, I remember him. Always serious when I was toddling around and he could not have been more than six. Always the worker. When we moved to Tokyo, even though he was just a child, he found some job or another so that he could help provide for the family. Shika was my sister. She took care of us when my mother was gone. And then there was me. Always listening to Grandfather, I was a child amazed by his wisdom. It annoyed Hiroshi that I would spend all my time doing that, because he considered it a great waste of time. When we moved to Tokyo the twins were about three. Mika, my younger sister and Kiyoshi my brother. They always caused trouble for Shika. We lived like that for about ten years, each of us growing up. My mother, still young, remarried when I was about twelve. We left the small apartment and lived with my stepfather who none of us particularly cared for. He had an important job at the factory, so the house and neighborhood was nicer. And I had one more sibling. Leiko came when I was fifteen. Grandfather was older, and Hiroshi was constantly yelling at me about how I did not work for the family as hard as I should have. One year later, Grandfather died and I, seeing no reason to live in my stepfather’s house, left. Hiroshi and I had an argument before I left, and he through his pocketful of yen at me, saying to stay away. And so I left, and you know the rest. I always kept in contact with my mother and my siblings even though Hiroshi would never respond. As soon as I decided to return to my stepfather’s house, the horrible events that Saki did to me occurred and I never had the opportunity to return to my family. And that is why I never spoke of it.” Splinter looked around, his tale had ended. No one knew what to say. Feelings of sadness mixed with the feelings of hurt and betrayal from never being told of this story before. Seeing that no one had anything to say, Splinter spoke again. “And so I wrote Hiroshi. Not expecting any response. I guessed that my stepfather’s house had been sold long ago. And I did not get a response immediately so I gave up hope. But then I received a letter in return. And its contents… startled me. I was lucky in that the letter made it to Hiroshi. The house has been owned by other people for many years, but luckily Shika still lives in the neighborhood.” Splinter paused for a second again. Having to discuss these things so openly still bothered him. “And also for some reason, Hiroshi was staying with Shika in Tokyo. Much has changed according to this letter. At first I could not believe it no matter how many times I read it. Leiko went to college and decided to seek higher level employment in the United States. About two months before he was supposed to leave, my Stepfather became greatly ill and died. And that left Hiroshi at the head of the household. Hiroshi had been trying to find me for some time. He kept hearing little bits and pieces about me leaving for the United States and had wanted to go. But he could not leave my family. With Shika married, Hiroshi was going to suggest that my mother live with her for a little while while he spent a little time over here looking for me. But my mother was extremely stubborn, and when she heard of my brother’s plans she insisted that she would come along. They left with Leiko, and stayed in….” It took Splinter a few deep breaths to compose himself enough to state the ironic truth. “Staying in New York…City. Leiko worked here for awhile in New York before the company he worked for offered him a better job in Cleveland. My mother and brother were going to leave then, deciding that if I was out there I definitely did not want to be found. But for some reason they followed Leiko out west to Ohio. Kiyoshi, having problems in Japan, joined them. With their allowance time almost up, they had to make a decision on whether to stay or whether to go. My mother still had hoped that if she stayed in the States that eventually she would find me. And so they stayed. Hiroshi had saved a great bit of money over the years, so he wrote his wife and—“ “Wait…Hiroshi has a wife?” “Mike Shh.” “Yes, I apologize. I have learned so much in this letter sometimes I forget to mention all of the things in it. As I was saying, he wrote his wife, and she, their children and their money left Japan and came to America. They decided to live about two hours away from Cleveland. The bought a little land and a house in the hills of Pennsylvania. And that is where they have all lived. Hiroshi decided to visit home at almost the same time my letter arrived. I was very fortunate." A few minutes ago, no one listening could think of a thing to say, now they each had about one thousand questions. Sensing their questions Splinter spoke some more. “ I tried to explain my reason for my disappearance without lying and without giving away the truth which deemed very difficult. I mentioned briefly that I stayed in New York. Hiroshi wrote me back claiming that he was no longer going to fly into Cleveland, but into John F. Kennedy, and we would talk. I regret that letter greatly.” “No…” Mike found his voice. “Don’t regret it There is some way Sensei…There has to be.” “Thank you, Michaelangelo,” Splinter returned quietly. “I am sorry to burden you all with this information but you needed to know the truth. I am going to rest now for awhile, this has left me very tired. Not knowing what to say, they all shuffled out quietly each consoling their sensei with a short smile and a ‘bye’, not knowing what else to do. As he turned to shut the door, Leonardo asked, “Do you need anything Sensei?” “No, I am fine Leonardo.” He managed a faint smile. Leonardo nodded and closed the door. And Splinter sat down, more confused about things than he had been in years. Once in the living room they didn’t know what to say. They just stared at each other. “Geez…” Mike couldn’t think of anything else to say. “I know.” Neither could Don. “What do we do?” Raph paced around the room “I know it’s not easy to say, but I don’t really think that that’s our decision Raph.” Raph looked at Leo. “Well, we have something to do with it Leo, I mean this guy’s flying into JFK and we…” Raph couldn’t think of anything else. “I think I’m going for a walk.” “Mike, right now I don’t think…” Don turned to him and then lowered his eyes. “We can’t do anything about it!” “I know. It’s just shouldn’t we be here if Splinter needs us?” “Splinter wants to be alone right now.” Leo said, studying his hand. “I’ll be back in a little bit.” Mike grabbed something to cover himself up with and left. “I’m going to try to find this Leiko on the Internet. If he works for a large corporation he must be listed somewhere.” “I think I’m going to try and finish breakfast.” Raph walked into the kitchen. “Hey, Don. I think I’m going to take a little walk too, OK? Let me know if you find anything. I’ll be back pretty quick.” Leo grabbed some clothes and walked out. Don walked over to his computer. He was still in shock from the whole story. And shouldn’t they be discussing this? Just give it a while, his sensible side said. But, replied the worried side, how are we going to get through this if we don’t do anything about it. He had been glad that April was gone. Not that he didn’t like April, no she was like the sister he never had, just that he was afraid he was going to get all mushy and he didn’t want to do that with her around right now. “What’s wrong?” Oyuki opened the door. He didn’t say anything; he just walked over to the couch and sat down. “Mike, what is it?” He finally spoke. “I don’t know where to begin…” “With what?” “I’ve had the strangest most weird idunno…” “You were just here a couple hours ago. Did you get into a fight with one of the guys or—“ “No… Remember that letter?” “The one for Splinter?” “Yeah, that one…well as it turns out—“ Mike told the entire tale, forgetting some of the names and such but for the most part getting it right. The whole time Oyuki just sat there, listening, until he was finished. “So, when is he getting here?” “I’m not sure, Splinter didn’t mention it.” “Oh.” Not knowing what else to say they just sat there. They eventually turned on the television and watched it, but the atmosphere was still very uncomfortable. Oyuki smiled slightly to break the ice and mentioned casually “So how do you feel about your Uncle flying in to see you after all these years?” Mike couldn’t help but laugh. In the back of his mind he knew he was going to show up here. He couldn’t think of anywhere else to go. Pulling out the key from his pocket he opened the back door. Tess stiffened up after hearing the door shut. Today had really bothered her. Not being able to think of anything else she called out. “Chu?” “Not quite.” “Oh, its… you.” “Yeah, its me.” He glanced around worried. “Is the truck coming in today?” “No, I’m just edgy.” “Oh, can I ask why? “This city’s beginning to get to me.” She left it at that. He nodded non-commititly. “So what are you doing here?” “Just went for a walk.” “Oh.” She went back to the oven set-up she was working on before. The conversation with the turtle was weirding her out, even though she promised herself it wouldn’t. “So how do you like it working here?” He asked. It wasn’t hard to tell something was bothering him and this weirded her out even more. “Fine.” She paused for a bit. “Why don’t you tell me what’s on your mind.” “Hmmn?” Tess had many brothers. Playing stupid wouldn’t work with her. “It’s obvious something’s bugging you.” “Is it?” His eyes dropped to the floor. “Do you want to talk about it?” “I shouldn’t, really.” “Sure?” “Well…” She hadn’t mentioned anything to anybody about him for this time they had been working together so maybe he could trust her. “What?” Leo proceeded to tell this highly edited version of the story to Tess. He needed to get it off his chest, even if only part so. “That’s a problem.” “I know.” Leo looked around then back at her. “Ok, I told you, now you tell me. What made you so jumpy today?” “Some guy snatched my purse. I mean, it didn’t have anything in it, but it made me feel so, like, vulnerable.” eonardo listened to her carefully. All of a sudden Tess whirled around. “Ok, this is a wack idea, even for me ummm… could I ask a favor of you?” “OK?” The confused expression matched his tone. “You know how to fight, I mean good right?” “Yeah…” She’s not serious… “So, like, maybe you could teach me some of those moves of yours?” “I don’t know.” “I just need to know how to take care of myself.” “Umm…” “Please?” “I guess that would be ok, I just have things I have to deal with myself, too.” Tess felt bad; she had forgotten all about that. “Sorry, I mean, I didn’t mean to put the spotlight on me or anything.” Leo smiled. “That’s fine. I don’t really like it on me anyway.” Tess smiled. “But you’re going to have to…… make me like some food or something.” He couldn’t think of anything else to say. Tess laughed. “Deal.” The man in the plane stared down through the window, glad he had received the window seat. He wished that he could see the moon reflect off of the ocean below, but they had flown above the cloud level almost a half- hour ago. He turned to the letter he held in his hand. “I am coming to find you brother.” Note: Ok I’ll admit some of the things I wrote went against Splinter’s stories told in the Archie series. But I couldn’t work it any other way. In the AS Splinter is 15 when the bomb’s drop on Hiroshima, and that just wouldn’t work…That would make splinter like 70!! Whoa!! So I made him about 20 years younger oops!
On to Chapter 5
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