Reclaiming

by Venka Le Fay

Don't own TMNT, like many I wish I did. This fic is purely for entertainment purposes. This is a sequel to Hostage. If you haven't read Hostage yet, this is the time to go read it.

Karai watched silently from a nearby rooftop as Leonardo and Raphael raced away from the research facility. Leonardo had his taller younger brother draped over his shell as he ran, blood decorating his shell with every step. For a small moment Karai's hand gripped the hilt of her tanto. She could end the three of them right now, perhaps the scrawny one first or maybe Leonardo and Donatello would both end in a single strike. The violent one would blindly fall victim to his anger and grief and be easily defeated. Then it would only be a matter of time when the littlest turtle or possibly the girl came out of hiding to learn what had befallen their companions.

But she stayed her hand, as though part of this didn't seem right. Her father had told her repeatedly that Hamato Yoshi needed to be found because of the stain of dishonor that he had placed on their family. And yet where was the honor in beating someone to death, let alone someone who was unable to defend himself.

While Donatello didn't mean anything to her, Leonardo did have some meaning to her. Leonardo was the first person to pique her interest, particularly with the way that even though their families were mortal enemies he still kept a belief that there was something in her that was...she couldn't place it. He just insisted that there was something in her that was different from the rest of the foot. Even when he had brought her into their mobile command unit, they had listened to what she had had to say about defeating the Kraang ship that was attacking them. The turtles, while it was clear they had no trust for her given her allegiance to their sworn enemy. They were willing to hear what she had to say and consider her offer and let her leave without any fight. Ultimately they had betrayed her and attempted to killed her father, and that was something she would never forgive the turtles for. But if the roles had been reverse, would she have not done the same thing. Would she not have attacked the man they called their master? Would she not have betrayed them to the Foot clan and left their fate in her father's hands?

And yet the way Leonardo glared at her when she had given them Donatello's eye mask. It had unnerved her and for a moment she felt a pang of fear as the words Leonardo had said months ago echoed in her mind.

"Understand this…stay away from my brothers. If you come after them! I'll come after you!" While she specifically was not involved in Donatello's capture, she was the messenger. But at that moment, she was just as guilty as she would have been if she had captured and killed the purple masked terrapin herself.

Karai had watched Donatello undergo the prolonged beatings, the electrocutions, and the near drowning experience. And through it all no matter how much suffering he had endured, he still resolutely refused to reveal the location of his family. It was after the escape attempt that the Shredder lost all focus of having the boy as a hostage and more as a something he needed to force into submission or destroy as useless trash.

She couldn't understand how anyone could endure such pain and not break. Even when he did appear to break under her fathers will, it was still a lie, a sham to lead her father away from his families hide out. She had seen many people face her father's wrath before, many people who touted themselves as unbreakable became quivering masses of jelly after several moments of torture under fathers direction. Others swallowed their own tongues so the pain wouldn't continue. But this boy who was obviously no match for her father in skill, endured all the pain and suffering for a family that wouldn't come out of hiding for him until they discovered the bug that had been placed on their vehicle. A family he may as well have believed to have abandoned him an ordinary girl who for some unknown reason was at the center of all the things going on in this city. It made Karai wonder, who truly understood the meaning of honor.