The Reluctant Student

Disclaimer: I deny any ownership of any adult or adolescent transformed shadow warrior chelonian and their ninja Master. I also deny ownership of the poems used in this story.

I do own Ramiela.

Rama: Yeah sure you do! I am NOT a dog to be owned ya know?

Rating: G

~*~

 Don sighed wondering silently to himself who would ever be insane enough to choose teaching as a profession. One could not force a student to learn or to give of themselves fully to the tasks at hand, the child had to want to learn and a single bad student could be the cause of numerous headaches.

Don was fully aware how headache inducing teaching could be, especially when dealing with one single troublesome student like his nine year old niece Ramiela. She was his only student and if she was a hint of things to come then he might do better to forget teaching all together.

Rama never seemed to tire of finding new ways to avoid lessons, she was a reluctant student at best but reluctant or not it was his duty to the clan to see that she did not remain blissfully ignorant of the basics. Though Don harboured the feeling that Ramiela would probably much prefer being ignorant to doing early schooling.

She would cause distractions, make numerous excuses for unfinished assignments, play dumb when it came to doing her school work and any thing else that she could think of to get out of paying attention.

If she would only put one eighth of that energy into her schoolwork they might actually get somewhere but Don found that when trying to teach Ramiela anything, you had to allow a lot of time and torture by the enemy would not be half as draining.

Don could never be quite sure when Ramiela was fooling him about not understanding a subject, and he was fully aware that children were suppose to grow and learn at different rates but everything he had read told him Ramiela ought to be fully capable of the tasks at hand. Until he was sure she did understand he could not push ahead for fear of getting fully out of her depth.

So with all the patience he could muster he would explain things over five or six times if necessary, because he could never be too sure how much she had paid attention when he told her the last four times or so, and Rama would give him that wide eyed innocent look as she claimed.

" I don't get it! I can't do it! I just don't know how."

Can't or won't, that was the question where she was concerned and one Don wasn't sure how to answer. Many times he felt that Rama was only playing him for a fool and laughing behind his back. Those times that he was absolutely sure Rama was only joking caused him to lay down the law firmly.

She had learned ninjitsu with ease, could read above her age level, had memorized numerous songs and jokes proving that she did have a quick mind.

Yet give her a simple multiplication problem and she could give you three different answers for the same question.

That was the current cause of this, most recent headache, he stared down at the math homework Ramiela had turned in and couldn't help but groan in frustration and weariness.

" Ramiela tell me something how can one times seven equal eight, six and zero," He asked holding his ire in check.

Ramiela looked up form where she sat at her desk " You mean it doesn't Uncle Donatello? I thought for sure it could. Ain't multiplying like adding?" Rama asked giving him a baffled look.

" Ramiela I have explained this before…"

" No you haven't. I wasn't here that day," Rama protested quickly.

" Ramiela trust me you were here in body if not in mind" Don scowled at her but she met his gaze with that serene calmness that said she didn't know what he was talking about.

" Adding you take only the numbers at hand and put them together. Multiplying you take two groups of numbers" Don explained in weariness. " You need to add seven ones to get the same amount as one times seven."

Rama scowled and sat back in her chair " See you're confusing me how can they both be the same when they are different numbers? I mean seven ones and one seven shouldn't be the same."

Obviously Ramiela was missing the point. Don was well aware that everyone had their weak points and he was starting to accept that Ramiela's weak point was math. Course if she didn't fool around as much as she did, that might change.

" Both adding of seven ones and multiplying one group of seven will give you the same number." Don answered.

Ramiela gave a wide cheeky grin " Then if I get the same number why do I need both adding and multiplying adding ought to be enough" she insisted petulantly.

Don got up from his desk and strode over to where his niece sat.

" Ramiela I know you are very smart and I wish you would apply some of that to your lessons instead of fooling around so much."

Rama stared up in to his gentle earnest face and gave an indifferent shrug in response to her uncle's kind plea.

Don kneeled by her chair " I know you feel this is a waste of your time and you would rather be doing things far more interesting then sitting in here learning math, science, history and languages but you do need an education."

" What for?" Rama demanded sulking slightly.

" To help you be a better kunoichi for one thing. I know you can do much better then what you are giving me Ramiela and I'd like to see you working to your full potential." Don gave her a look that said clearly he meant business.

Rama sighed and looked away, she didn't want to try harder. Don recognized that hard stubborn look on her face and knew that she wasn't listening to him. He gave a rueful shake of his head.

" Fine maybe you would rather not learn but then your friend Jessie might end up knowing a lot more then you do."

" I know just as much as Jessie maybe more cause I know ninjitsu," Rama boasted quickly taking the bait Don had cast so casually out.

" Sure you do right now but as he continues school and you refuse to learn he is going get way ahead of you." Don countered maybe a little competition between friends might be the incentive to get Rama learning.

As Don headed back to his desk he mused that pulling teeth was probably much easier and less painful in the long run then trying to teach such a reluctant student.

~*~

The last subject of the day was literature, this was usually one of the few subjects that Karena would teach Rama and Don knew for a fact that it happened to be one of Rama's favoured subjects.

However for the next few days Don was stuck as a substitute as Karena and Leo had gone away for a few days together. Ramiela was not amused that her Uncle Donatello was trying to take Karena's place and went probably harder on him then she did on other subjects where he was normally her teacher.

Rama pretended to sleep, or go through large fake yawns and stretches or accidental pen droppings until Don felt that he was quite literally nearing the end of his rope.

" Before I let you go Ramiela I will be talking to your dad about your behaviour today." Don warned her sharply.

Rama crossed her arms over her plastron glowering at her uncle " Snitch!" she grumped in a low whispered voice " Always making me look bad."

Don shot her a truly venomous glare as he heard her words " You make yourself look bad" he countered.

" Can I go now?" Ramiela demanded not bothering to hide her irritation.

" After I give you your literature assignment." Don promised, " I would like you to memorize and recite a poem of your choice for tomorrow's lesson."

" You expect me to learn an entire poem overnight?" Ramiela gave her Uncle a truly flabbergasted stare as if he had just told her he wanted her to memorize all of war and peace instead of a poem.

" Any poem you want Ramiela. Long or short I don't care. If you can recall the words for well over fifty different songs I think you can memorize a single poem of your choice" Don returned a touch testily. " Now you are dismissed."

Rama bolted from the school room as fast as she could wanting to get away from her uncles many demands and most of all from the school room itself.

Don watched her leave vanishing as quickly as if her very life depended on it.

Hopefully Rama would pick something of her creativeness or show him some of that potential that he knew lay dormant in his niece. She liked literature and might accept the challenge of this assignment when she had the chance to pick the poem instead of merely being told what was to be learned and recited for the following lesson.

Don wanted so much to see something that would give him hope that teaching this stubborn willful child could actually be done.

~*~

The next day Ramiela was strangely sullen and quiet in class bending to her task with none of her usual antics and games. This was to be expected whenever Mike heard of Rama's disobedience and disrespect towards Don he would crack down hard on his daughter and she would be grudgingly silent and obedient for a few days afterwards before returning to her usual boisterous antics and shenanigans.

" All right Ramiela let us go into literature and you can start by reciting your poem" Don suggested.

He was grateful for this brief interlude of learning but he knew it wouldn't last.

Ramiela stood up by her desk and with a very pleased smirk on her face recited Humpty Dumpty.

Don groaned in exasperation. He knew he couldn't really fault her. It rhymed, and could be considered a child's poem and he had allowed her to choose her poem.

He sank his head into his hands, his elbows propped up on his desk. He was ready to call it quits. Why was he even bothering trying to teach this attention deficit child who didn't want to learn in the first place?

It was clear she didn't want to be bothered and felt that he was going waste her time she would waste his. He felt like a dog that was endlessly chasing his tail never catching it but continuing to chase it.

He had to face the facts you could indeed lead a horse to water but you couldn't make it drink and there was no possible way to get a reluctant stubborn student to learn if they had no intent or desire to do so.

He sat there in silence feeling totally defeated knowing Ramiela had so much potential but also coming to accept in his heart that perhaps he wasn't the one to unlock it. Perhaps he ought to give up this whole teaching bit and go back to working on his own stuff, which was far less of a hassle and more enjoyable.

Rama felt quite content that she had got her own back. She had purposely picked one of the easiest things she could think of. Proof that she did not have to give in to her Uncles many demands of her.

She was rather proud of her cunning on this one but she began to doubt her accomplishment as Uncle Donatello continued to sit slumped at his desk. She was starting to wonder, silently to herself, if maybe what she had done wasn't so great after all.

As the minutes dragged on in mind numbing silence she waited feeling a little more uncertain. Then Uncle Donatello raised his head and there was something in his face that made her feel very bad and repentant for her rotten behaviour.

" Ramiela…" even his voice sounded different, Sort of strained and hollow.

Rama stood up by her desk " Can I say another poem Uncle Donatello?" She asked meekly.

Don glared at her wondering what she was planning to recite now? Twinkle little star. Or baa baa black sheep perhaps? He wouldn't put it past her. Rama would be the type to do that.

There was something about her stance an almost regretful uncertain look on her face that made Don wonder though.

" All right one more" he relented though he was sure she was only going rub his beak in it by repeating some worthless drivel but somehow he had to satisfy his own curiosity. Maybe to know for certain that giving up was the right choice after all.

At this point in the game could it really make a difference to either of them? Highly unlikely.

Rama took a deep breath and gave a tiny smile as she began her next recitation.

" Twas brillig and the slithy toves

Did gyre and gimble in the wabe

All mimsy were the borogroves

And the mome raths outgrabe."

Don looked at his niece in stunned silence. He recognized this poem all right, but the words alone in it were not easy to recall or say for that matter and thus Jabberwocky was probably one of the most difficult poems anyone could ever memorize.

" Beware the Jabberwock my son

The jaws that bite the claws that catch

Beware the jubjub bird and shun the frumious Bandersnatch" Rama sang out in a singsong way a gleam in her bright eyes.

" He took his vorpal sword in hand.

Long time the maxome foe he sought

So rested he by the tumtum tree and stood a while in thought."

Don smiled he knew she was about halfway through the poem and hadn't flubbed a line yet. Here was a glimmer of what he always believed lay hid in his student and he had all ready decided that even if she couldn't manage the rest he would credit her well for the try alone.

" And as in uffish thought he stood

The Jabberwock with eyes of flame

Came whiffling through the tulgey woods

And burbled as it came." Rama was giving her all to this using her tone of voice to help carry the mood of the piece she was saying.

" One two! One two! And through and through

His vorpal blade went snicker-snack

He left it dead and with its head

He went galumping back.

' And has thou slain the Jabberwock

Come to my arms my beamish boy

O frabjous day Calloh! Callay' he chortled in his joy."

Don leaned back in his chair a contented look on his face.

" Twas brillig and the slithy toves

Did gyre and gimble in the wabe

All mimsy were the borogroves

And the mome raths outgrabe" Rama finished it with a flourish.

" I am suitable impressed Ramiela a better recitation of Lewis Carroll's Jabberwocky I have never heard." Don admitted charitable.

Rama sat back down in her chair feeling a little better about herself now. Okay so she had given her Uncle a trifling little gift, what of it? It didn't mean she was going start really applying herself to these useless pathetic lessons.

Don sighed maybe it was too soon to give up. Yes she had a great deal of potential now if he could only manage to find a way to tap into it.

He had to admit he hadn't been expecting that and Ramiela had pleasantly surprised him, but then again didn't Master Splinter say that Ramiela knew far more then she ever let on?

For her sake he would keep trying he knew the war wasn't over by a long shot, he had many a long hard battle ahead of him yet, he wasn't fool enough to think otherwise, but he was going hold on to this day and that ray of hope that Ramiela had allowed to come shining through.

Don was ready to face the challenges of instructing this reluctant student, and he now was able to do so with renewed determination.

The End