Raking his eyes up and down, Donatello thought to himself, 'Not bad, not bad,' taking in Leo in his Edo-period yukata and haori with an appreciative smirk. One drawn brow raised, he wondered how much time alone he could spend with his disaster twin.
The self-proclaimed genius was considering closing his artificial portal for a bit, 'Just to test the science!' he internally asserted, when out bounced a short, orange-masked turtle mutant.
"Aaaand I missed the window," Don deadpanned as he watched said turtle sporting an orange sleeveless short-length yukata practically cartwheeling straight into Leo's arms.
"LEO! I made you a bento box! It's got all of your favorites!" Mikey enthusiastically greeted his older blue-masked brother with a tackling hug.
Cockblock or not, Leo couldn't help himself but laugh as he stepped back to regain his balance, always having a soft spot for their youngest brother.
A fact the ornate box turtle mutant exploited to its full advantage every chance he got. Michelangelo happily nuzzled Leonardo's face as Raphael stepped through the portal, easily carrying everyone's bento boxes with one hand, "Where's Usagi?" the hulking snapping turtle mutant asked as he looked around the grassy clearing.
Straightening up, Leo cocked his head at their eldest brother, "Inside the okiya. The infiltration has already begun," he answered with thinly veiled annoyance. "As you can see, we have everything under control as my plan is going without a hitch."
"Huh. More for us, then," Raph quipped, nonplussed. With that, he set his bundle down and undid the knot of the large furoshiki cloth and set out the bento boxes, color-coded for each turtle. He opened the white one in the middle for sharing. Everyone settled and opened their own boxes, revealing onigiris, vegetables, and treats Mikey specifically prepared according to everyone's preferences.
"So tell us about this plan that is obviously going without a hitch, as you claim," Donnie directed to Leo before lazily taking a disturbingly huge bite into his purple basil onigiri.
Leo huffed at his fellow middle-kid's lack of confidence, "I'll have you know," the red-eared slider started with as much sass as he could muster, "I'm positive Usagi will have the target located by nightfall! By which time I swoop in with my odachi and get us out of there, bring her to our client, and we'll be done! Like I said: easy-peasy, lemon-squeezy." Pointing to his brothers with one hand gripping a half-eaten blue spirulina-powdered rice ball, he continued, "And the less people involved, the less messy it would be. So thank you for the food, but you can all go straight back home and I'll meet you guys at the lair in a few hours, capisce?"
~~~~🐇 🐇 🐇 ~~~~
"You're new."
"Hai, ojou-sama, I was recently sent here to begin my training," Usagi answered with eyes kept low, not bothering to sound female as he inwardly cursed his ninja companion, whose ally-status he was having second-thoughts with at the moment. He froze when he felt on his chin the paw of the lady he was serving lunch for, lifting his face up.
"A male geisha, in this day and age," she mused, sapphire eyes studying his face intently. His tourmaline eyes met hers then and kept his face neutral as he confirmed beyond any doubt, here before him was Akari, the lost daughter of the white tiger clan, under the layers of her luxurious silk kimono, her white fur and dark stripes gleamed in unmistakable rarity.
"My apologies, I am no geisha. Please, do not be alarmed," the ronin calmly started, "I am here to rescue you and bring you home to your clan," he said in a low voice. He knew his time alone with the premiere geisha of the okiya is limited before she gets summoned again to her duties of entertaining her wealthy dannas. "I will give the signal to my companion to let him know that we've found you. He will arrive past midnight when you retire after your last client leaves and we'll help you escape."
She dropped her hand as her eyes widened, trying to take it all in, then schooled her features into perfect stillness. "Tonight, then?"
"Yes, Akari-san. The Hakutora clan has entrusted me the task to find you and keep you under my protection," his face turned most solemn, "And I swear to deliver you safely, upon my honor and my life." Usagi stood up and bowed, then reassured her with a smile, "Until you are finally reunited with your family," and left to go outside and give Leo the signal.
