the hunt - 2 - [rottmnt Donnie - COMPLETED]

#13

"Do you think he is dead himself and that is why he was able to reach you like your siblings in this in-between world? Draxum had tried everything to reach us, but even he had failed." pondered Donnie aloud, his arms wrapped tightly around Shiro from behind, who stood naked by the large ceiling-high window, watching the snowflakes still falling. The wind had died down noticeably, the roof terrace of her huge suite was full of snowdrifts, and further back the tarmac could be seen again with all the small, busy machines fighting the white masses.

She hadn't been able to stay seated when she'd told Donnie, had gotten up in a huff and walked across the room to the window to look out, fists clenched, into the white and gray picture of the world.

Now he stood behind her, his chin touching the top back of her head. Had he grown? The displaced thought flashed through her mind, and she sighed heavily, trying to hold on to his arms he had wrapped around her to steady and hold her. With success. A law of nature, over and over again.

"I don't know, Donnie. I've searched for him. But found nothing. Nothing. I do not even know what he looks like." she said wanly.

"Have you never met him...?"

"No."

The turtle sensed her anger and tilted his head at her. Shiro's body tensed again. Her fingers dug into the muscles of his forearm.

"Shiro... what...?"

Her voice was rough when she answered.

"They were raped, Donnie. All the female descendants of Ikuto and Tomoe. To keep the line going. At any cost." she said between clenched teeth.

Donnie felt a huge lump in his throat, and the thought that Shiro would have met the same fate if she hadn't been able to free herself took his breath away and stirred a raging anger inside him.

He didn't know what to say to that. It was cruel. Despicable.

"There was no reason for me to find him." she said angrily.

Donnie carefully opened his arms and took Shiro by her shoulders, turning her to face him. Her eyes blazed.

"Shiro..." he whispered.

"I'm afraid of what will happen if I find him, Donnie." she said, tormented and full of hate. "But I have to. I know he has answers."

They looked at each other, Donnie feeling her emotions find their way to him. He nodded grimly. 

"You're not alone, Shiro. I'll help you." he said in a firm voice.

Then her expression softened and became vulnerable again.

"I know." she replied, wrapping her arms around his neck.

—

"And I was like, 'you are portal chopped'..." said Leo, looking up at the ceiling in the gaming room where he sat on the sofa with Usagi, not daring to look at him. He felt like a show-off, a phony of the awkward kind. But the rabbit had asked how it had turned out with the Krang, and after he had changed his clothes (Leo had to pull himself together a lot when he had seen Usagi in his own blue hoodie), the turtle had told, full of joy that they could tie up again. 

Whatever Usagi had been up to outside, he seemed more collected now than before.

"I know, hilarios..." added Leo in irony, because there was only silence beside him. He shouldn't have told... Heavens, why did he always have to act like a prat?

"And you had no idea that Mikey could open this portal to rescue you...?" asked Usagi then, to the turtle's relief.

"No, we all didn't know." confirmed Leo. He turned his face to the side, blushing, and had to smile, since that sentence was asked one-to-one by Shiro back then. The day she had looked into his Ninpo when they had trained together, the day before they had ALL started training together. How he missed training with her! How much he missed her! Soon she would be home! Again, his feelings mixed and confused him. He looked at the ceiling one more time and tried in vain to sort himself out.