Changes: chapter 3
#3 of Changes
Disclaimer: I do not own the turtles, or any of it's characters. Only Zero.
Please R&R Enjoy!
Chapter 3: Dance of steel
It had been a week and a half since Zero had met the turtles. He and raph had something, but since the Casey Jones incident, had yet to try anything. The day before, the turtles had gone against a thief and a hord of nano machines dubbed "Nano"
The turtles were able to defeat him, but what became of him was a mystery. Today though, Zero was going to train and choose his weapon. He had to tell them that it was not 1 weapon which called to him. But he suspected master splinter to know that already. He sighed as he sat up from his bed.
It was early morning, zero got ready, putting his hair in its usual ponytail and frowned. Today was different, in feel, but he couldn't tell what, it was just training. He had put on his jogging pants and a T-shirt as he walked out and towards the dojo.
Once inside, he saw Leonardo and Master Splinter seated in meditation "Hey Guys" Zero said, he was a night Owl, but a morning person in the mix. He stretched and Raph walked in, Yawning. He noticed Zero and waved.
"Donnie should be here soon, He pulled an all nighter studying that nano machine." Raph said, but no one looked surprised.
Soon Donnie came in, rejuvenated by coffee. Zero would not drink straight up coffee. it, in his opinion, was an equivalent of acid. "Mikey still asleep?" Zero finally asked, a second before Mikey walked in. The turtle had his joyous face, and he sat down with everyone.
Master Splinter was the first to speak "today's lesson will be for Zero here. He gets to try out a weapon of his choice. Everyone please go outside, this must be his choice."
Everyone but the rat left Zero "Now then" he walked up to a large weapon rack in the back, holding up many weapons"How..." he asked
"Donatello, Leonardo, and Raphael spent a few days forging weapons for you. Now, which weapon calls to you?" he asked.
Zero looked at each one "To tell you the truth, all of them" he said, but Splinter smiled
"Ahh, this will be a surprise to the others. But tell me, why does each one call to you?" he asked.
Zero frowned in thought "I don't know. Each one represents a different type of extension to myself. It's hard to explain." he sighed "at least the full brunt of their gifts won't be wasted" he said. "For today, I will choose different ones for each turtle" he picked up the first weapon, and awaited his first opponent.
After he had chosen his first weapon, Leonardo was his first sparring partner. Leo looked confused by his choice, and another glint in his eye "you have the weapons on the wrong hands"
Zero had chosen a Katana and a wakazishi as today's weapon. His dominant hand held the wakazishi while his left hand held the katana. "Believe me, I don't" he said.
After splinter called to start, Leo charged, swinging sideways at zero, who flipped back and started forward, a succession of stabs from his wakazishi. they were blocked quickly but he swing the katana in the end, flat blade going down.
Leo shot back quickly, avoiding the swing "... what was that?" he asked, indicating the way zero fought
"the wakazishi provides a speed and distraction before the Katana comes in for a final blow" he said.
The fight went on a little longer, and Leo was smiling as they crossed blades. He looked to he having fun.
After disarming leo's second katana, he walked over to the rack and set them up "Thanks for the weapons Leonardo, you and your brothers should know this. I choose all of them" but Leo had that glare again. A moments happiness it seemed
After training, the four turtles had gone against different weapons. Donnie was against a kasurigami. Mikey was facing a pair of Sai. And Raph was against Tantos.
Zero lost half of the fights, Donnie had disarmed him, and raph had pinned him. Zero had slung Mikey, but before that, made the mistake of hitting the turtles plastron, which hurt like hell.
Leo, Mikey, and Donnie were in the living room watching a movie. Raph had retreated to his room. Zero was in the middle of sneaking into said room.
Inside the room was dim, a hammock, a few magazines littered about, 2 posters hung up. Raph was on a Weight bench, reading a motorcycle magazine. He looked over and sighed, setting down the magazine "Hey" he said.
Zero smiled a little "Hey yourself" zero took a seat beside him "so..." he left it hanging, his words drew a blank, and he looked back to raph.
The turtle was just staring at him. "umm, raph...?" he asked, waving a hand in his face.
Raph blinked, snapping out of his daze "Leo is jealous" he said at last, zero's eyebrow raised.
"Pardon?" that was not expected at all. He racked his brain, but he didn't see anything besides Leo glaring at him after the sparring match.
the turtle shook his head "Not that way. He noticed I've been spending more time with you, but I can't tell if it's me he is jealous at, or you" he said.
That made zero think another scenario. During the spar, Leo had looked happy. "Wow..."
Raph smiled a little "so... what did you come in here for?" he asked. Zero returned the smile, he seemed to be doing it more and more.
"I guess I wanted to see you silly" he put his hand on raph's. The skin was a little rough, mostly because of all the training and weight lifting the turtle did.
Raph grins "is that so? Nah, you must have had another reason. Now here is a question... why do you hate sports?" he asked. Zero looked at him, this question had come up before while watching tv.
"sports is so not my thing. I like artistic and creative. Art, stories, books. I just don't see a point in sports" he said.
After the whole nano incident, raph asked him to come over to casey's to watch a football game, but zero had declined and stated his dislike for sports.
He sighed and looked at raph, his eyes held a great passion, love, and care. He had a fire in those eyes that made the golden amber eyes seem molten.
His own amber eyes didn't have his fire showing, he wasn't like Mikey, he didn't smile all the time. Time had made him with a frown, but the eyes themselves said different about himself, they didn't show his fire, not all of it, but his care and his mood.
He leaned in and touched his forehead to raph's, and they locked eyes. Their Heads tilted up and before they knew it, they were kissing. It was small at first, but it grew and zero wrapped his hands around the turtles neck, raph around his waist.
it was short lived, the door opened "hey raph..." Mikey was shocked, and quieted immediately. He shut the door behind him in haste and walked up to them.
In shock, the two had broken away from each other. They faced Mikey, Who oddly wasn't showing emotion "Raph..." he said, smile spreading "Congratulations guys!" he said excitedly.
Zero sighed, recovering "Umm... no screaming and freaking out?" he asked.
Mikey looked confused "...what? Why would I do that?" he asked, his brow, of it can be called that, furrowed
Something in Zero clicked "wait... you mean your..."
"Gay? Yeah, I thought it was obvious" Mikey said innocently.
Zero sat back down "damn... I never saw it. It never clicked till now."
Raph said something at last. "don't... you know..." He was about to ask something, but Miley finished it.
"Don't tell Leo... yeah"
"Don't tell Leo what?" he suddenly walked in, looking utterly clueless and confused like a cat staring at dog food.
Mikey thought quick "I had to kill a bug for raph" he said "he didn't want you to know" Mikey never stuttered, it was surprising. Leo raised a brow but didnt press.
"Zero, Raph? Donnie wanted to see you guys" he said as he walked out.
Zero let out a breath he didn't know he was holding "Fucking timing of the devil" he said at last. Mikey laughed and waved. He skampered off to his room, a smirk on his face
"that turtle is smarter than he looks, or Leo is just horribly clueless." he said. He couldn't choose between the latter or the former.
In Donnie's lab, zero and raph had just walked in before Donnie closed the door behind them "Let's have a chat, shall we?" Donnie asked. Raph looked a little scared, or shocked. Donnie walked to his computer and sat down "When did this happen, and when were you going to tell me?" Donnie asked.
Zero blinked "After meeting Casey, and I don't know... Mikey knows, We're playing it safe around Leo and Splinter, and we were going to tell you actually" he said. Donnie nodded
"I'm not talking about your and raph's relationship, even of its obvious to a genius. I'm talking about the scars on the shellcycle" he said sternly.
Donnie took medic and mechanic stuff very seriously. raph looked at him with relief and new worry "You knew we were together?" he asked.
Don sighed "eyes never lie" was Don's reply, and he took out paint and shoved it into Raph's hands, along with a toolbox
"Now, your going to fix your bike this time. You know how to fix it, have fun" with a large smug smile, he went back to work.
Raph grumbled, and went to work on his bike. It was weird, he suddenly wanted to watch Tv. He sighed and walked out.
It was 2 hours before Zero visited Leo, who was training in the dojo "Ok Leo, spill" he said, but Leo looked at him funny "why are you pissed at me?" he asked.
Leo raised an eye at him "Who said I'm pissed at you?" he asked. Zero walked over to the rack and pulled out a kasurigama. He turned towards Leo
"A bet, I win, you tell me everything, you win, I drop the subject forever" Leo agreed too easily, and changed it. It was a loser tells the other everything now. When did he realize something was up?
he felt what raph seems to feel, Leo sometimes acted like a cocky bastard, be it accidental or on purpose.
Leo drew his katanas, and bowed. Zero bowed back and smiled. He jumped back, and spun the kusurigami by the chain, both blade ends spinning in a circle. He heaved, and grabbed the chain, and a hooked sickle went for a katana. Leo went to block, but the angle was odd, the katana shot out of his hand.
He drew the sickle back and waited. Leo didn't move from where he stood, both hands on one katana now.
Zero spun the kaurigama by the middle of the chain again, and this time threw it. it spun rapidly, slicing air like a saw.
Leo dodged, and Miley walked in "Hey Dudes... AHH!!!" he shut the dojo door as a sickle jabbed into it, nearly splaying into him.
"Sorry Mikey!" Zero yelled and quickly retrieved the kasurigami from the door. He had dodged a few slices to get to it though.
They went at it for awhile, and attracted an audience. Master Splinter was seated, and was casually sipping tea.
The fight was going on evenly. Leo couldn't get close, and zero couldn't land a blow, so they had to call a draw. Leo asked Zero to go to his room, and zero agreed, but became a little worried.
Leo's room, which Raph had dubbed the Forbidden zone, was the cleanest room Zero had ever seen. Dust couldn't even survive in it by the looks of it.
"the deal was who won spills. Seeing as it was a draw, we both spill" Zero said at last. Leo nodded in understanding at that
"I'll start I guess. You've become a brother since you joined us. You have fun with Mikey, help with Donnie, spend time with raph, and spar with me this last week, and it's been great. There have been bad things, such as the Casey incident. And after that, you and raph had gotten better acquainted. Me and raph hadn't bickered in awhile, and sparring with you has dwindled. I just want to know, does no one like me anymore?"
The small rant worried zero a little. But he shook his head "everyone loves you Leo. Your overreacting a little. And I guess I also must hold my side of the bet"
He sighed as Leo just looked at him. "go on" Leo said at last. Zero frowned and started telling him about the Casey incident. And what transpired that day, leaving out Mikey because he wanted to keep his promise.
After he was done, Leo was looking at him intently before finally said something unimaginable "if your going to date my brother, Master splinter might like to know, and your going to have to jump hoops before I give my blessing. You've proven a few things all the same. Your not needy, you can fight, Raph will calm down for you, and that look in your eyes, but mind me, I will not allow anyone to hurt Raph, he deserves happiness. Are we clear?"
I smiled "Crystal... Hey? You know what, let's have a family meeting, I think he needs everyone's ears together" Leo nodded in agreement
"you better go to him, he needs you, he deserves you" Zero nodded and stalked out the room, waving at Splinter as he walked by. The rat grinned to oddly at him... had he been eavesdropping? No, he wasn't that kind of rat...was he?
Zero walked into The garage, where raph was working on his bike still. Donnie was typing away at The computer. Mikey was there, listening to music. Everyone stopped what there doing, and turned towards him.
"Guys, I have news that might be interesting... you might want to hear this... in going to hold a family conference. No more hiding...what do you say raph?"
Raph set down his wrench and approached Zero "I say... what are we waiting for? I think no one will care, seeing these two don't"