The bell over the entrance door jingled when the customer came in.
'This early? Ah, I know who that must be,' thought Ukyo Kuonji as she cleaned a little spot of spilt sauce on the floor behind her restaurant's counter. She stood up and saw the humanoid, female newt that entered. At the ponytail, she recognized Kasumi.
"Welcome to Ucchan's!" she smiled. "I knew it had to be you or one of your sisters, Kasumi. No one else would come at this early hour... and I actually only open at this time so you and your family can buy something without being seen by anyone."
"Hello, Ukyo!" Kasumi smiled back. "Is our weekly bag of supplies ready?"
"Yup, just behind the corner, just waiting for you," the young chef nodded. She had noticed that someone else had entered the restaurant behind Kasumi. She was a bit surprised that Kasumi would be willing to show herself in the presence of a stranger. Luckily, this man didn't seem to get upset with Kasumi the human-sized newt in front of him. "Um... a new friend of yours?" she hesitantly asked.
"Oh, this is Donatello," Kasumi introduced her bodyguard. "He helped me find the way through the sewers. He truly is a reliable guide..."
'A sewer guide, huh? Well, I've seen weirder...' Ukyo thought. She walked up to the man in the wide trenchcoat and the hat and extended her hand. "Nice to meet you. I'm sorry to ask, but you don't seem especially fazed by Kasumi's appearance... why is that?"
Donatello extended a green hand and pushed the brim of his hat a bit upwards, so Ukyo could see his face. "Well, maybe it's because I'm not what most would consider normal either."
Ukyo would have certainly be shocked at his appearance... had she met him a couple of weeks ago. But knowing that three of her friends were now anthropomorphic amphibians themselves, seeing a male, turtle version wasn't that surprising anymore.
"But that's great!" she grinned after having shaken hands with the turtle. "Kasumi, that means you finally found the other cursed victims you've been searching for."
"Um, I hate to say this, but I'm not cursed in any way," Donatello chuckled. "This is a mutation, nothing else..."
"But..." Ukyo looked back and forth between Kasumi and Don. Except for the differences in species and gender, they looked remarkably similar to each other. Ukyo wasn't an expert in magical curses or mutations, but to her, it looked like too much of a coincidence that Donatello's body proportions were so similar to Kasumi's.
She sighed and shook her head. "Well... never mind. Here, your provisions, Kasumi!" And she handed the newt girl a bag of food.
"Thank you!" the oldest Tendo sister beamed. "How much?"
Ukyo waved her hands. "Aw, you know I would never demand money from you. You're friends, you need it, and I would never charge you for it."
"But... all your other customers have to pay for their food as well," Kasumi pointed out. "It's just not right..."
Donatello smirked and pulled some money out of his coat. "Say, my brothers and I haven't had breakfast yet... how about you make me some of your specialties, and I'll pay for it, just like a regular customer?"
"Sounds good to me," Ukyo smirked. "What will you have?"
The turtle with the purple bandana looked at the menu hanging from the wall. 'Hmmm, this is a Japanese restaurant, so they don't serve any pizza, of course...' He then saw something that caught his eye.
"What is that called?" he asked and pointed at the picture.
Early in the morning, Don was back home in the secret 'lair' of the turtles. He had guided Kasumi back through the sewers until they were at the manhole that was the closest to the apartment of her family.
Everything was as always. Raphael and Michelangelo were locked in a busy session of arm-wrestling, while Leonardo and Splinter were sitting in front of the TV, watching the news on Channel Six. The news reporter was - of course - April O'Neil. Right now, she was talking about how a small firm that bought and sold computer software was taken over by the huge and well-known company called Xanatos Enterprises.
"Hey, everyone!" Donatello smiled cheerfully. "I brought breakfast!"
"You did?" Michelangelo asked while he was still struggling to push Raphael's arm down onto the table. "Great, I'm starving! Let's eat!"
Splinter chuckled. "Not even the greatest ninja can eat and arm-wrestle at the same time, my son."
"They don't? Oh well, looks like we have to finish this early, Raph..." And with a sudden move, he slammed his brothers arm down on the wooden surface of the table.
"Hey!" Raphael complained. "I was about to beat you! How did you...?"
Leonardo chuckled as he stood up to take a few food containers out of Donatello's hands. "You should know by now that Mikey is always full of energy when he gets the chance to have a pizza... and I can't really blame him."
"Well, a hard-working turtle needs to eat, right?" Michelangelo smirked. He then tried to peer into the boxes Leo and Don were putting on the table. "What topping did you get? Mushrooms and onions? Peperoni and salami? Wait, I know: Nougat and pickles, right?"
"Neither, Mike," Don chuckled as he opened the box. "Voilą!"
Michelangelo scratched his head. "Don, the pizza dude must have made a mistake! That's no pizza!"
"I know," Donatello smiled. "I wasn't at the pizzeria today. I decided to try a new Japanese restaurant downtown."
"What is it, Don?" Leonardo asked as he looked down at the dish that looked so similar and was yet so different from the Italian delicacy the four turtle brothers were so fond of.
Splinter came to take a look, even though he rarely joined his 'sons' during their meals. "Ah, Okonomiyaki," he said. "It's been some time since I've had my last..."
"Okomowhat?" Raphael blinked. "Why didn't you buy pizza?"
"Well, I thought we could try something else every once in a while," Don said as he sat down. "And Okonomiyaki certainly seems similar enough to pizza, doesn't it?"
"It's just not right!" Michelangelo complained. "Look how thin the poor thing is... did they even put it into the oven?"
"Okonomiyaki isn't baked in the oven, Michelangelo," Splinter said with an amused glint in his eyes. "It is grilled."
"GRILLED? You can't GRILL pizza! It's a sacrilege!" Mike gasped.
"Well, I think Donatello's right, it's okay to have something else now and then," Leonardo said.
"Hey, this stuff isn't half bad," Raphael said as he took his first bite.
"Wha...? Hey, leave some for me!" Michelangelo protested.
"Why, I thought you didn't want to eat any of this Omo... Onoko..."
"Okonomiyaki!" Donatello said.
Raphael nodded. "Right, that's what I meant."
"Well, that doesn't mean you can just let me starve here," Michelangelo said with a pout. "C'mooon, gimme some of this stuff!"
When they were all eating, Donatello remarked: "Oh yeah, this girl you met, Mikey... I met her sister."
"You mean Akane?" Michelangelo asked, never stopping once with eating.
"No, her sister, Kasumi! Looks like they are nice enough after all, just like you said. Poor thing got herself lost in the sewers. Unlike her sister, she wasn't even a good fighter."
"Well, it's not like the sewer rats are dangerous or anything..." Leonardo shrugged.
"Yeah, not since we got rid of Rat King," Raphael smirked.
"Rats weren't the problem... but Mousers were," Donatello said.
"What?" Mike gasped. "I thought we scrapped every single one of Baxter's metal munchers."
"Not all of them, apparently," Don shrugged. "They attacked her out of nowhere... and hadn't I stepped in, they would have taken a bite out of her arm for sure."
"Saving a defenseless person is always a noble thing to do," Splinter nodded. "Even more so as she, like us, can't let herself be seen by the rest of New York's citizens."
"So, what do you say, Master Splinter?" Leonardo asked. "Should we pay them a visit or at least invite them?"
Splinter stroked his beard. "Well, Michelangelo didn't get much of a chance to learn more about the girl he met... but now that Donatello also met one of these sisters, things have changed. My son, what do you think? Is she trustworthy?"
"Kasumi certainly does not seem like the kind to tell on us," Don said. "Besides, if they are outcasts too, siding with us is really the best chance they have in a city like New York."
"Don't you think that's a bit hasty?" Raphael frowned. "We know nothing of these girls! Every time we met another mutant, he was either trying to kill us or was directly involved in one of Shredder's schemes."
"Not all of them!" Michelangelo protested. "Don't you remember our frog friends? I say we talk to them!" Besides, he was hoping to meet Akane again...
"Raphael has a point," Leonardo said pensively. "We don't know that much about them... and it wouldn't be the first time that Shredder tricked us."
Donatello shook his head. He couldn't possibly imagine that a girl like Kasumi would betray them.
"Sensei, your opinion?"
Splinter smiled. "Listen to what your feelings are telling you, my sons. Then you will make the right decision."
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(Posted Tue, 20 Jan 2009 21:49)
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