Leonardo awoke to the sound of someone softly crying. He immediately snapped awake as a wave of regret and guilt washed over him. It was what he had feared. She didn’t truly want to be here, with him. “I’m sorry,” he whispered as he sat up. “I shouldn’t have let myself….”
“I didn’t mean to wake you,” Takara said, cutting him off as she quickly wiped her eyes. “I just couldn’t hold it back anymore. Please, do not feel bad. You have done nothing wrong.”
“Then why are you crying?” Leo wanted to know.
Takara wiped her tears from her cheeks and took a few steading breaths. “The boy, the black skinned kame, he is not your son.”
“You mean Kuroko.” Leo nodded his head. “No, he is not my son.” At first Leo wondered why she would be asking about Kuroko and then it dawned on him. “Did his father come from here? Did you know his mother?”
“What do you know of them?” she asked in return, barely glancing at him.
“In short…. Kuroko’s father, who had the same name, was a bandit,” Leo answered. “He was seen as a demon because of his skin. He had stolen from me and Usagi, and abducted Jotaro. We tracked him down to a village. He had just killed Umō’s father for threatening to go to the authorities. When we confronted him, he demanded that we pay to get our items back or they, and Jotaro, would be sold. I fought him, and killed him.
“I didn’t know about young Kuroko until later,” Leo continued. “Kuroko eventually told me that his father saved him as an egg and that his brothers’ and sisters’ eggs had all been broken for fear of their father’s ‘demon taint’ being passed on to his children. His mother later died before he hatched.”
“Oh,” Takara said softly, looking down.
“Did you know his mother?” Leo asked again. “Was she a friend of yours?”
“I am the boy’s mother,” Takara answered, keeping her eyes fixed on the floor.
Leonardo felt his heart sink. “What?”
“I can’t believe that Kuroko told him that I am dead,” Takara mumbled. “But at the same time, I am not surprised. He tended to lie often.” She lifted her head to look into Leo’s eyes. “The color of his skin made life hard for him. They all called him a demon but I believed that there was good in him. I was his only friend as a child, and only his mother loved him. When she died, I took pity on him and… offered him my services for free. I later laid a clutch of three eggs. When they hatched Kuroko took the one that looked like him and left. I never thought I would see him again.”
Leo had to swallow past the lump in his throat. “Do you want him back?” he asked, fearing the answer. He had grown to love Kuroko but, as much as it pained him, he wasn’t going to keep him from his mother.
“What did you plan to do with him?” Takara asked.
“I was going to take him with me, back to my home and raise him as my own,” Leo replied.” Life where I’m from isn’t going to be easy for him, but I saw it as a better fate than he had here. At least he would be loved. I was going to train him, as my father trained me.”
Tears filled Takara’s eyes. “It doesn’t bother you, that he is tainted like his father? You don’t fear the kind of monster he could become?”
“He’s not tainted,” Leo argued. “Kuroko was no demon and neither is his son. They just look different.”
“I will not take him from you,” she whispered through her tears and she managed a soft smile. “For all the lies Kuroko must have told him, the part about him being an outcast here was true. And his son will be treated no differently. He will have a better life with you.”
Leo took a deep breath and let it out slowly. “That is something he should decide. I cannot keep something like this from him. He deserves to know the truth. We will tell him in the morning.”
Takara smiled. “You are a good man.”
Leo reached up and wiped the tears from her cheeks and then placed a chaste kiss on her forehead. “Let’s get some sleep. And in the morning, at breakfast, we can talk to Kuroko about his options.”
“Okay,” Takara agreed softly.
They both lay down on the tatami and she curled up in his arms. It wasn’t until her breathing steadied into a rhythm of slumber, did Leo allow himself to fall back asleep.
…..
The next morning Takara softly kissed Leo awake. Leo opened his eyes and was greeted with a warm smile. He had to admit, it felt nice waking up next to someone.
They got themselves dressed and headed into Usagi’s room for breakfast. Usagi and the children were up and sitting at the small table. Akemi was with them, holding slumbering Hana against her chest and her child was sitting next to her.
“She was kind enough to sleep in with us,” Usagi said as Leo entered the room. “Any time Hana woke in the night, Akemi tended to her.”
“Thank you,” Leo said as he sat down next to Kuroko. “You have been kind.” Takara sat on the other side of Leo but her eyes stayed fixed on Kuroko.
“How was your night,” Usagi asked, attempting to hide his smile as he sipped his tea.
“Educational,” Leo answered, causing his friend to raise a fuzzy brow. “There is something I need to discuss with Kuroko.” He turned to the young turtle and placed his hand on Kuroko’s shoulder. Chewing slowly, Kuroko looked up at Leo in confusion. “There is something you need to know,” Leo explained.
“You told him?” Akemi asked, looking at Takara in surprise. Takara could only nod in response. Usagi set down his tea cup, interested in what was about to happen.
“Your father wasn’t entirely truthful with you,” Leo told Kuroko. “Your father was from this town and the people here were cruel to him. However…, your mother and siblings are not dead. Your father took you from them after you hatched.”
“But,” Kuroko whimpered, wiping the tears from his cheeks. “You told me that you’ll be my dad now. You can’t leave me here. If they treated him bad, they’re gonna treat me bad too.”
“Don’t leave Kuroko,” Umō wailed before breaking into tears. Her tiny hands were balled into fists as she rubbed her eyes. “He’s my brother.” Leo looked over to see Usagi scoop her up in his lap. Jotaro also climbed into Usagi’s lap with a few tears in his eyes.
“I’m telling you because you have the right to know,” Leo soothed, keeping his tone even and calm. “It’s your decision if you want to stay here with your mother or come with me.”
“I wanna go with you,” Kuroko sobbed, his voice breaking with emotion. He lunged forward, colliding with Leo to wrap his arms around Leo’s neck. “You make me feel normal and special at the same time. Everyone else looks at me like a monster. I want you to teach me to be like you. I don’t want to end up like my father. If I stay here, I’ll end up like my father. I wanna be your son, not his son. Please.”
“Would you at least like to get to know your mother?” Leo asked softly, wrapping his arms around Kuroko. His emotions were overwhelming and struggled to hold back his tears. “She wants to get to know you.”
“Is it her?” Kuroko asked, pointing to Takara while keeping his face buried in Leo’s neck.
“You are so smart,” Leo replied, patting Kuroko’s shell. “She is your mother, yes.”
“Does she want to take me from you?” Kuroko asked, his voice muffled against Leo’s neck.
“She’s actually decided to let you come with me,” Leo answered. “She just wants to spend a little time with you before we go.” Leo pulled Kuroko down so that he could look the young turtle in the eyes. “We have a little less than a week left. Why don’t we spend that time with her?” Leo looked over at Usagi. “If that’s okay?”
Usagi nodded. “I had planned on staying here for the final days of your visit.”
Kuroko looked past Leo at Takara for a moment before looking Leo in the eyes and nodding. “Okay.”
“Good,” Leo smiled. He moved over and gestured towards Takara. “Go ahead. I won’t go anywhere.”
Kuroko stiffly made his way to stand in front of Takara. His head was down and his hands were balled at his sides. “Hi,” he mumbled, shifting from one foot to the other.
Takara reached up and brushed her fingers along Kuroko’s cheek. “Hi,” she said back, smiling despite her tears. “You have no idea how happy I am to see that you’re okay.” She took his hand in hers and tilted her head so that she could see his face. “Do you like red bean buns?” Kuroko nodded in response.
“I like red bean buns!” Umō announced, bouncing in Usagi’s lap.
Takara giggled and looked at Jotaro. “What about you? Do you like red bean buns?”
Jotaro nodded, “Yes, ma’am.”
“I know of a wonderful place that makes the best red bean buns,” Takara said, shifting her gaze back to Kuroko. “We can all go there for lunch.”
“Okay,” Kuroko replied, glancing up at her.
“Is it near where the kame live?” Leo asked. “I would like to experience the culture here.”
“No,” Takara shook her head. “I can take you there later without him. However, we should keep him from that part of town. They would not receive him well.”
“They will see me as a monster,” Kuroko mumbled. “Even if they don’t say anything, I can see it in the way they look at me. Everyone I’ve ever met has looked at me that way.” He turned to look at Leo. “Leonardo-san never looks at me that way.”
“That is because he is a good man. You are lucky to have found him.” A sad smile spread across Takara’s lips. “I’m sorry,” she said softly, drawing Kuroko’s attention back towards her. “Everyone else is afraid of what they don’t understand.”
“You don’t look at me that way either,” Kuroko said as he moved closer to her. “But it’s still different than the way Leonardo-san looks at me. You look at me the way Akemi-san looks at her baby.”
“A mother loves her child,” Takara replied. “I know you are not a monster and I have loved you from the moment you hatched.” Kuroko fell into his mother’s lap and wrapped his arms around her. Takara wrapped her arms around her long lost son as tears of joy ran down her cheeks.
