Chapter 13: In the lap of the gods

The turtles and the humans Tora, Adam, Faraji and Joy, were standing near the bow of the ship. As the heavy fog that shrouded their way began to clear, mountains came into view, and a large dock appeared.

"Woah!" everyone gasped.

"Is that... Japan?" Donnie asked in amazement.

"I think it is" Joy said.

Raph saw that Leo didn't seem excited, which he found odd considering Leo had always talked about wanting to go to Japan, Raph supposed this was about the tribunal's comment about Kira.

"Hey... Is he okay?" Faraji asked Raph as he came to stand beside him.

"Yeah, he's okay, it's just... the girl that the tribunal mentioned, she died a while ago, and Leo doesn't like to think about it".

*Flashback*

Kira was reading a book when Leo came in through the window, she smiled and looked up at him.

"You have blue eyes" he said. She furrowed her brows at him.

"Yes I do, so do you" she said, giving him a weird look.

"I-no I didn't mean- like... I thought you were very Japanese is all"

"Well I'm sorry I culturally disappoint you"

"Oh no! Kira I'm sorry, I-" he was stopped by her laughter.

"It's fine Leo I was just playing with you. My mom was German, she must've had blue eyes" she told him, still smiling widely.

"Do you know much about your mother?" Leo asked.

"Not much really, good ol' dad doesn't talk to me much, let alone about the one night stand that created me. Though when I was in Japan a while back, an old friend of my dad told me that he had been really surprised when I was left at his doorstep because he couldn't remember being with anyone for quite some time" Kira shrugged, "He probably was flying to America, had a layover in Germany, got uber drunk and batta boom batta bing, baby!"

That memory was brought up to his head as he watched the bright blue sea swell around the ship, it was nearly the same colour as Kira's eyes had been before. Leo was shocked out of his thoughts by Donnie who patted him had on the back and told him that it was time to get off the boat.

The tribunal came up to the deck of the ship, "Acolytes, we have arrived at the lap of the gods, ascend the mountain, and do so with haste, for your burdens are heavy."

Heavy burdens? Donnie thought it was some sort of cryptic message, that was until there were large backpacks dumped at their feet. They started their journey up the stairs, once they were about half way up they saw that the boat they had arrived on was now flying upwards and passing them.

"Typical" Raph muttered as they continued their slow ascent of the mountain. Eventually, just as the sun began to fall, they reached the top of the mountain, and were met with a mystical little village. It was really quite beautiful, but it was strange, there were no people. They spotted a large monastery near the centre of the small village and began to make their way to the building, assuming that that was where they would meet the tribunal.

As they entered a deep voice resounded throughout the room, "Welcome, acolytes, to the lap of the gods."

"Sit, time is short, an ancient evil is rising that the world has not seen for a thousand years" the woman spoke.

"This enemy will fight you on mystical, spiritual and physical planes, you must be prepared to fight back. I am Kon-shisho, ninjitsu master of spirit." he paused, "This is Juto-shisho ninjitsu master of weapons, Chikara-shisho, ninjitsu master of strength, and this is Hisomi-shisho, ninjitsu master of stealth."

"Your training begins now." Chikara spoke as large doors to an even larger library opened to them.

"Leonardo-san, we would like to speak to you, wait here" Kon spoke after, Raph looked concerned, but Leo motioned for him to go, so he did, grudgingly. Once the others had left, the doors closed, leaving Leo alone with the tribunal.

"What you have said troubles us, what do you mean we were too late?" Chikara asked, referring to Kira.

"She's dead, has been for over a year now" Leo told them.

"You must be mistaken young one, we would have felt it" Juto spoke with surprise.

"No, I watched her die. She is gone, and as much as I hope to be wrong, I know I'm not." Leo said sadly, "Wait, what do you mean you would have felt it?"

The members of the tribunal looked at each other before collectively nodding.

"There are things you did not know about her, things she did not even know of herself. Long ago...

*Flashback*

A girl ran through the crowded market in an ancient Japanese city, she was picking peoples pockets, she did it nearly completely unnoticed, her stealth and agility were remarkable for someone of her age with no training. A silent figure watched her from afar as she was caught by some older boys, they cornered her in a small alcove of the market where there wasn't anyone to witness what they would do to her.

"What should we do with this thief?" the leader asked the other two.

"I dunno, maybe we should hurt her hands, and see how she does her thieving with two broken hands." The leader grinned.

"I like that plan Daiki, but look, she has strange eyes, I've never seen anyone with blue eyes, my parents say that they are demons."

"What if we cut out her eyes, maybe it would heal her? We would really be doing her a favor." The previously silent one spoke.

"There! We'll cut out her eyes!" the leader said gleefully.

"You will do no such thing" a man's voice said from behind the boys, he had startled them.

"But sir, she's a thief." the leader argued.

"Be gone! Now!" he raised his voice, and the boys ran off. The man turned his attention to the girl, she looked up to him not with fear but with apprehension. "Do you have a home to go to?" the girl shook her head no. "What about parents?", again no. He ran a hand through his hair and looked at her in contemplation. "Come with me." It wasn't a question. She followed him through the markets until they reached their destination, the place of residence of the 'Five Dragons'. She gasped when she saw where he had lead her.

"Come child." the man said as he held open the door for her to enter, and she did. Once inside she marveled at the grandeur of the décor, there were ancient relics and weapons covering the walls.

"Who is this Saki?" a woman's voice asked from behind them.

"What is your name child?" the man, Saki, asked.

"Akirihai."

*Flashback over*

Leo opened his eyes in shock at what he had just seen, "That was- but she-I"

"You see Leonardo when Oroku Saki turned to the side of darkness, Kira was 16, we all had trained her. Scribes called her the child of dragons, for she was our child, we had raised her and taught her everything we knew, by then she was nearly as skilled as the rest of us. But she always thought of Saki as her father, more than any of the rest of us. For a long time after we did not realize why she had done what she did." Kon spoke.

"What did she do?" Leo asked.

"She sided with him, we had believed that he had corrupted her. When we finally attacked his stronghold, we were still not strong enough to defeat him. He had nearly defeated us when she manifested into the fifth dragon, she saved us, she nearly killed him, but her strength ran out and she fell back into her human form in the middle of the battle, she was killed, but we managed to create a spell of sorts that would reincarnate her when she was most needed again. Her revival was the first indicator that something was wrong." Chikara told him.

Leo's face twisted from confusion to anger. "So you were keeping an eye on her, but you didn't stop the Shredder from torturing her? From killing her?! If she was so important why didn't you protect her?!"

"We could not interfere, it would have changed things in a way that you cannot understand." Juto spoke.

"We are sorry Leonardo, for what happened, for how it happened. She was our family too, and we too had to watch her die." Kon said sadly.

"You have learned much today, rest and reflect. You and the others have training beginning tomorrow" Chikara told him as the doors to the library reopened so he could join the other acolytes.

Authors Note: Okay, I am so sorry I have not updated in such a long time, I've been very busy with sports and school and music, but now I've gotten into a routine and I should have some more regular updates. Thanks for sticking with me this far! Comments/Reviews are very welcome!